"Bunny M." is a seventeen-year-old Dallas resident who plays drums, piano and clarinet.  Her passion for jazz and the challenges she faces as a youthful fan of it is the focus of her Jerry Jazz Musician column, "Accent on Youth." Listen to Dinah Washington sing Accent On Youth ___________________________ Accent on Youth by Bunny M. "Sound Terrain," by Darryl Daniels The New Face(s) of Jazz ______________________________      If your musical diet has been jazz-deprived the past few years, take heart: jazz, swing, and just about everything else retro is gradually coming back into the mainstream. Even in contemporary popular music, jazz, in whole or in part, can be heard in a number of artists new and old. Compilations of old standards have been steadily entering the modern musical current, including but not limited to such titles as "Mob Hits" (featuring classic performances by Dean Martin, Vic Damone, and other Italian recording artists), "Lady Sings the Blues" (jazz performances by women vocalists), and the entire "Ultra Lounge" line, while older, non-jazz oriented artists like Rod Stewart and Cindi Lauper have begun releasing their renditions of old pop standards. Sinatra, of course, continues to dominate the "Popular Standards" section of most music stores. And, in the midst of this "old folks" rush in retrogradation, a slew of fresh, young artists have started to appear on the popular scene, imbuing the music of mainstream youth with the sounds of jazz and yesteryear. The list is growing longer all the time, far beyond just Harry Connick, jr. and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. I believe Michael Bublé, Norah Jones, and Joss Stone will become the new "Faces of Jazz" for today's youth. The Crooner      If any single new artist is responsible for reintroducing the sounds of classic swing and big band to mainstream music, it's 28-year-old Michael Bublé. Introduced to the classics by his grandfather, groomed by such greats as Harry Connick and Paul Anka, and gifted with an astounding voice that any crooner from the past would die to have, Bublé debuted in mid-2002 to an audience thirsting for freshness and quality. I happened upon him purely by chance, when a music store clerk introduced me to Bublé's self-titled album. I was instantly in love with no end in sight; Bublé's voice had me riveted from the first note, conjuring up images of all sorts of greats -- Sinatra, Mel Tormé and Bobby Darin, to name a few. Indeed, Bublé's voice impressed me as being quite mature for his years, and with the finesse and skill of any of the great vocalists of jazz past. Closing my eyes, I could almost swear that at times I was listening to an old recording, rather than a newly-released CD by a young, modern vocalist. He has remarkable vocal flexibility as well -- cozy and intimate one moment, sassy and resounding the next.         Over the months I have been delightfully surprised to see that others are quickly jumping on the Bublé Bandwagon, heating up the wires on the Internet and television with their words of praise for this outstanding talent and effortlessly enjoyable music. The fact that ever-increasing numbers of people -- young and old alike -- are developing an insatiable appetite for Bublé, confirms my belief that, contrary to the marketing tactics largely common in the music industry today, there is an audience more than eager for quality music with more than a hint of jazz and the past, and that this audience overwhelmingly young. Already Bublé is being called the "Sinatra of our times," and, despite my suspicions of such superlatives, I most adamantly agree. With such amazing talent and class (and cute boyish looks to boot), Michael Bublé is without a doubt jazz's new "Ambassador to Youth."        Fever Kissing a Fool      The Chameleon   photo by Clay Patrick McBride Norah Jones Don't Know Why * Sunrise In The Morning      With her pop princess looks and double-duty talent (she sings and plays piano), Norah Jones made waves with her refreshing contempop-jazz hybrid music. Her debut, Come Away With Me, took home five Grammys. Jones brings an inspirational breeze to old standards and originals alike in a manner which is truly a mixed bag -- a little country, a little blues, a little jazz, a little pop -- all coming together to create a sound that is at once engaging. I really enjoy Jones' vocals -- thick and smoky in the style of Billie Holiday or Peggy Lee -- a refreshing change of pace from the nasal, helium-quality vocalizations of most pop stars today. After all, when was the last time you heard such enchanting vocals since the days of Billie Holiday and Peggy Lee? Her luscious vocals are accompanied by her tasteful and well-polished piano playing, which come together in a poignant and very lyrical manner (take a test drive on "Don't Know Why" and "Painter Song").      It was the song "Don't Know Why" that first got me hooked on Norah Jones; listening to the local jazz station KNTU. I was quickly enchanted by her soothing, unusual vocals, and the low key "dinner" music; the song actually almost made me cry (and still does to this day). As I've come to know more of her music, I realize that almost all of her work carries this same quality, the same depth and emotional purity that seems to act directly upon the part of the brain that senses things of beauty and sensitivity. And people are clearly responding to such qualities -- one music web site had over 1,100 submitted reviews of Come Away With Me, and virtually all were overwhelmingly positive. While not entirely jazz, Norah Jones embraces a variety of popular flavors intermingled with the essence of the standards of the past in a way that makes the music appealing to a scope of listeners -- even beyond the reach of the jazz crowd.    Her newly-released sophomore album, Feels Like Home, disappointed me a bit, with its rather heavy leanings toward country and sad indeficiencies of the jazz overtones and timelessness of her debut effort. With all of the vibrant potential she has, one can hope this is only a detour, not a departure, from her jazz-based musical road. She clearly has the versatility and the chops to take on the role of the talented leader of a new generation of "Ladies of Jazz."     The Soul Songstress      At only sixteen years of age, Joss Stone has made quite a splash in the popular music scene. Joss is not a straight-ahead jazz artist -- she is technically categorized as rhythm and blues and soul -- but she infuses the musical traditions of Motown with a bluesy, soulful, and downright "gut" sound that makes it a close cousin to the jazz-blues tradition of the early Southern/Creole style. Stone has no need for the vocal gymnastics of most pop princesses today -- her voice is more than capable of standing on its own. It is simply unbelievable, endowed with a maturity far beyond her young age. An enlightened Amazon.com reviewer wrote, "Stone has a smoky voice that reeks of a hard-lived life, which only shows that a great interpreter need to not have experienced what she sings about to make you feel it all the way down to your soul." Hearing her rendition of "Fell In Love with a Boy," it is hard to believe that such a gritty "down home" and emotion-charged voice belongs to a sweet-faced, soft-spoken young girl.  Her intuitive understanding and grasp of the underlying feeling of a song is amazing by any standard. Stone has said she is tired of constantly being asked how someone so young can really understand the kind of music she sings. I think this is an important point,.  However, in the face of widespread focus on the negative aspects of the youth culture as seen by the "elders," it is key that artists like Stone demonstrate how maturity and youthful innocence can, and do, coexist -- and produce mind-blowing music in the process. The only vocalist in her family, Stone proves that one does not have to have a musical background, or, in her case, age, to be able to translate emotion into song. One only needs to have lived and experienced feelings (something every teen knows well).      The first time I heard a Joss Stone song I was instantly impressed. I imagined her work to be that of a blues great from the past -- images of Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and Mahalia Jackson came to mind. I nearly fell out of my chair when I happened to catch a television spot about Joss Stone and discovered that the name was not that of a legend, but of a dainty British "girl next door."  (Indeed, with her fresh "all American" looks, she could very well be the girl next door stateside, as well). It's not hard to get into the groove; her voice, incongruous with her physique in timbre and volume, grabs you instantly and draws you into her finely-shaped musical world. Fell In Love with a Boy Victim of a Foolish Heart      I am especially delighted by the fact that her debut, Soul Sessions, shies away from digging into the bag of rehashing out well-known tunes, and instead highlights lesser-known artists and even lesser-known songs. Joss reinvents these old tunes, however, with her compelling energy and style, and makes them just as hot-off-the-press sounding as the latest pop track. Because the music of Joss Stone is more pop/ rock aligned, I feel that she will play an important role in reviving interest in the blues and soul traditions of the past -- the children of jazz -- in today's young people. *      Michael Bublé, Norah Jones, and Joss Stone are only three of the new young artists peddling jazz wares to a ready and willing audience. The number of new artists joining the jazz fold is ever increasing and with it, the number of listeners gathering an interest in good, quality music. Considering the increasing number of young people tuning into jazz, music industry execs would do well to take note that the potential jazz audience is there. We are young and waiting with open ears, ready to devour notes of musical quality and talent that may come our way. ______________________________       Peace is the word, Bunny * "Bunny M." is a seventeen-year-old Dallas resident who plays drums, piano and clarinet.  Her passion for jazz and the challenges she faces as a youthful fan of it is the focus of her Jerry Jazz Musician column, "Accent on Youth." You can contact Bunny at: lotusflower1922@hotmail.com * Accent on Youth archive