Sammy Davis, Jr.: Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody

Track

Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody

Artist

Sammy Davis, Jr. (vocals)

CD

At the Cocoanut Grove (Rhino 74277)

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Musicians:

Sammy Davis, Jr. (vocals),

and orchestra led by Dick Stabile, featuring Reunald Jones (trumpet), George Rhodes (piano), Michael Silva (drums)

.

Composed by Sam M. Lewis, Jean Schwartz & Joe Young

.

Recorded: Cocoanut Grove Lounge, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, 1962

Albumcoversammydavisjr-atthecocoanutgrove

Rating: 77/100 (learn more)

Sammy! The Ring-a-Ding Al Jolson. Singer, dancer, actor, comedian; by acclamation World's Greatest Entertainer. Sammy was also Hollywood's most insecure star. Whether sucking up to Sinatra and Nixon or cradling himself in Dean Martin's arms onstage in Vegas so Dino could "thank the NAACP for this award," Davis was more desperate for acceptance than a stray puppy at the pound. Here, he resurrects Jolson's best-forgotten 1918 hit as pretext to impersonate him and 17 other demigods from "the nostalgia that is Show Business," subjecting us to a cringing, 10-minute gag-me-with-a-spoon spectacle of a man obse- quiously digging his own grave. Pathetic.

Reviewer: Alan Kurtz

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