Here - Linda Eder

VOICE: How long have you known of Linda and her work?
A Chat With Ian Ralfini…
IAN: I first became aware of Linda when I heard a track from a record she did for
Angel Records called "And So Much More," which I believe was in 1994. I thought,
"Who is this voice? Where did this voice come from?" I'd been around the record
business for a long time and hadn't heard of Linda Eder and thought, "This is a
terrific album!" That was the first time I heard her. There was a track on that
record… "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Everybody knows that song from Simon &
Garfunkel. I loved Linda's version… she took that song and made it her own.
VOICE: When and how did you first meet Linda?
IAN: I first met her when I was working with Ahmet Ertegun [founder of Atlantic
records]. She came by the office to say hello to him. They had a really nice
relationship. My first impression of Linda was how tall she was... I was awed by
how tall she was! What an elegant woman she is! She has such a presence. That
was the first time I actually met Linda in person, and then, of course, I went to see
the show [JEKYLL & HYDE] and fell in love with her.
VOICE: Had you worked on any projects with Linda before BY MYSELF: THE
SONGS OF JUDY GARLAND?
IAN: Yes. When I came here to EMI, I started the Manhattan Label in 2001. Under
the EMI umbrella is Angel Records. Bruce Lundvall is President of EMI Jazz and
Classics Division, and a big fan of Linda's. I asked Bruce if I could put together a
L to R: Ian Ralfini (Senior Vice
President/General Manager Manhattan
Records), Linda Eder, Bruce Lundvall
(President EMI Jazz and Classics).
Photo by Gary Gershoff
compilation of the tracks that she had recorded during the time she was with Angel in the early 90s. I compiled an album
called STORYBOOK. We had some remixes and then added a bonus track, "Vole Mon Ange." What an incredible voice that is on
the bonus track… a real soprano voice!
VOICE: Would you please tell us how BY MYSELF: THE SONGS OF JUDY GARLAND was conceived? Whose idea was it and
when did it all begin?
IAN: Bruce Lundvall was the one who first met Linda back in Minneapolis. He was asked to go down and hear her way back in
the early 90s. He became a fan of hers, but he didn't actually sign her then. She came to Angel which became part of his
division, and that's when he first got to work with her. After this, Linda went to Atlantic. When I came to EMI, I said to Bruce,
"Linda's contract is coming up again at Atlantic and if she doesn't sign with them, I'd love to sign her." I knew that Bruce
would do it in a heartbeat [laughs] because he loved her! Anyway, after completing the deal, I wanted to start making a record
with Linda that was different from the ones that she'd made before. At the same time, I wanted something that would
hopefully please her strong and loyal fan base but that also would attract a new and wider audience. There were a lot of artists
doing standards and I didn't want to do just another standards album. I wanted her to have new opportunities and I wanted to
associate Linda with great songs. In doing some research, I discovered that no one had actually recorded an album that was
exclusively all Judy Garland songs and I thought that it was a good idea. I decided to suggest it to Linda, so immediately I
called Linda asked if I could come to the house and talk about some ideas for the material for the album. At that point, I didn't
say anything about Judy.
L to R: Byron Olson, Linda and Ettore
Stratta in the studio.
VOICE: Once you had the idea for Linda to do a Judy Garland album, what was
your next step as executive producer?
IAN: Before I went to see Linda, I started to think about producers. If Linda liked
the idea, who would I use to produce it and who would be the right person for the
project if she did agree to do it? I knew of this wonderful producer named Ettore
Stratta who had produced many artists over the years. Artists such as Judy
Garland, Barbra Streisand, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Cleo Laine, Sissel and
Diahann Carroll. One of the things about Ettore… apart from being very talented, is
he's a very sensitive man and I thought this might be a very difficult and unusual
record for Linda to do. It would be the first time she is going into the studio with
unfamiliar people. She really hadn't worked with me before. We'd gotten to know
each other but we hadn't known each other for a long time. So she would be going
into the studio with a new team who was trying to move the direction a little bit. It
was going to be a scary time for her. So I wanted to get somebody I felt would be