A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry

Last updated
A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry
A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry.jpg
Studio album by
Released1958
Recorded11–21 October 1957 in New York City
Genre Jazz, traditional pop
Length31:59
Label Roulette R-52005 [1]
Joe Williams chronology
One O'Clock Jump
(1957)
A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry
(1958)
Breakfast Dance and Barbecue
(1958)

A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry is a 1958 album by the American jazz singer Joe Williams arranged by Jimmy Mundy. [2] It is an album of ballads and torch songs. [2]

John Bush, reviewing the album for Allmusic, praises Williams as "an excellent balladeer with a rich vibrato and the confidence to let a straight reading speak for itself". [2]

Gramophone critiqued the arrangements as using "strings quite excessively" and Williams's performances as "stress[ing] sentiment rather than swing". [3]

The initial Billboard review from February 3, 1958 said that the album was a "convincing, well-performed ballad set" and that Williams's talent was "formidable". Mundy's orchestral arrangements were "mellifluous yet unobtrusive". [4]

Track listing

  1. "What's New?" (Johnny Burke, Bob Haggart) – 2:43
  2. "It's the Talk of the Town" (Jerry Livingston, Al J. Neiburg, Marty Symes) – 3:10
  3. "I'll Never Smile Again" (Ruth Lowe) – 2:59
  4. "I'm Through with Love" (Gus Kahn, Fud Livingston, Matty Malneck) – 2:54
  5. "Where Are You?" (Harold Adamson, Jimmy McHugh) – 2:50
  6. "I've Only Myself to Blame" (Redd Evans, Dave Mann) – 2:50
  7. "Say It Isn't So" (Irving Berlin) – 2:54
  8. "What Will I Tell My Heart" (Irving Gordon, Jack Lawrence, Peter Tinturin) – 2:40
  9. "You've Got Me Crying Again" (Isham Jones, Charles Newman) – 2:46
  10. "Can't We Talk It Over?" (Ned Washington, Lester Young, Victor Young) – 2:36
  11. "I Laugh to Keep From Cryin'" (Lew Brown) – 2:58
  12. "A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry" (Norman Gimbel, Frankie Laine, Irving Reid) – 3:33

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References

  1. "Joe Williams - A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry at Discogs". discogs.com. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry at AllMusic
  3. The Gramophone. Compton Mackenzie. 1958. p. 128.
  4. "Reviews and Ratings of New Popular Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 3 February 1958. p. 39.