Alice Babs Meets Erwin Lehn

Alice Babs, the Swedish singer and actress, was mostly seen by the industry as the hit-warbling “Swedish girl”. But she continued to make excursions into the realms of jazz and swing. This was also thanks to Erwin Lehn, who invited her, beginning in 1952, to sing before the microphones of his Südfunk Dance Orchestra (Südfunk-Tanzorchester). One can hear what a good choice this was on the recordings that were made on various occasions between 1952 and 1955 in Stuttgart. One can also hear Alice Babs’s roots in the European vocal culture, but the sheer presence of her interpretations is impressive. Each of the songs radiates the smile of her enthusiasm, which also makes Erwin Lehn’s orchestra shine acoustically. Alone for this reason these finds from the SWR archives are jewels of European swing history.

1 Baby-Wiegenlied 2 Bluer than blue 3 Lullaby of Broadway 4 No words blues 5 Opus in scat 6 Rainbow street 7 Regutunga skyar 8 Shanghai 9 St. James infirmary 10 Tack-Tack-Tack 11 Un petit air un peu faux 12 Zing a little zong