|
"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.
"Peggy's Blues Skylight," by Stephen Henriques
Vocalists to Discover
______________________________
All insanity aside, I have heard many voices along my
journey through jazz. From explosive powerhouses whose mere presence incites
glass to shatter, to delicate whispering enchantresses, jazz perhaps has
housed the most expressive vocalists outside of opera, and over the
one-hundred-year-and-counting history of jazz, various vocal trends have
arisen. The role of the vocalist has also evolved over the years, from a
mere big band sideshow to the only show, and everything in between.
Impossible is not the word for the task of narrowing down favorites,
and at times the boundary between instrument and voice is all but a mirage.
While Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra are
more than familiar names in the music community, lesser-known singers are
currently mere footnotes in the book of incredible musical talents. It's
time to open that book now, large as it is, and update it with the following
revisions: Chet Baker, Earl Grant, and the Four Freshmen under "Great Male
Vocalists to Discover," and Honi Gordon, Julie London, and Anita O'Day, under
"Great Female Vocalists to Discover."
Great Male Vocalists to Discover
I love male vocalists. Songs seem to take on a different
flavor and feeling when delivered in a euphonious male voice. I wish I could
further exalt more of my favorites (sorry Bobby Darin, Johnny Hartman, et
al . . . ), but there are horns -- maybe even lesser-known than these --
begging to be touted.
| Of the three male vocalists discussed in this column,
Chet Baker would be the one who has influenced me the most in my own part
time vocal meanderings. The dulcet tones of his mellow, streamlined trumpet
playing are translated into a sweet singing voice that seems to escape the
ability to be described by any particular quality. Is it simple? Is it cool,
even reticent? Is it somehow neuter in its je ne sais quoi? A Chet
Baker vocal is all of these things and yet, somehow, none of them. To me
it is exactly this pared down, minimalist quality that gives his singing
its intense meaning and emotion. While "My Funny Valentine" is great, there
is a large body of Baker's vocal work that would appeal more to the younger
crowd. Songs like
Let's
Get Lost, "But Not For Me," and
The
More I See You showcase the hip, cool,
trying-not-to-devastate-you-with-my-coolness swinging Chet Baker, while "I
Fall in Love Too Easily,"
The
Touch of Your Lips, and
Angel
Eyes (!) smolder with the passionate, midnight side of Baker's abilities.
Such a simple voice, and yet so many dimensions: smoky, lighthearted, nostalgic
-- and just as fresh today as it ever was. |
I
Fall in Love Too Easily |
House
of Bamboo |
If anyone is as vastly unknown as he is talented,
it has to be Earl Grant. A search on Amazon.com for "Earl Grant" brings up
exactly two results. Perhaps his best known hit is 1958's "At the End of
a Rainbow," though he had five more singles and six albums make the charts
by 1968. In addition to singing, Grant also played trumpet, drums, and an
organ so mean it's almost abusive. While his music is technically classified
as "pop/easy listening," "rock 'n roll "or even "60's soul," the jazz flavor
is undeniable; indeed, in the beginning of his career, he was widely believed
to be the brother of Nat King Cole because of the remarkable similarity between
the vocal styles of the two. I was first introduced to Earl Grant during
the heyday of musical searching; the song was "House of Bamboo", which had
me instantly hooked. The fun let-loose-and-dance vibe is irresistible, and
to paraphrase the liners of Ultra Lounge: Saxophobia: if it "doesn't
swizzle your stick, then you're dead, Jack!" I soon had the fortune of being
"Granted" other musical delights, such as the cooly aloof "Fever", complete
with sizzling organ solo, the lovely
Moonlight
in Vermont, and the lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek
Volare
(listen carefully for a very silly Italian lesson!)
Sadly, this very promising talent was cut short when
Grant was killed in a road accident at the age of 37 -- a mere infant in
the face of creativity. Perhaps it is because of his young age that he is
not more remembered; however, youth, in the form of that wonderful curiosity
and thirst for knowledge, may also become a reason that he will one day enjoy
the widespread fame his talent so deserves.
|
| Young people, listen up: acts like Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men,
even the New Kids on the Block are by no means anything new. Pop vocal "boy
groups" actually go back much further than many might think. Even the boy
groups of our parents' day (Beach Boys, anyone?) aren't quite the beginning
of the tradition; the boy groups of our grandparents' day might be closer
to the mark. The pop vocal boy group concept can be attributed to the Four
Freshmen, who had been singing since 1947 before their rendition of "It's
a Blue World" made them a sensation in 1952. While four-part harmony singing
was anything but new ("barbershop quartet" singing goes back as far as the
minstrel shows of the 1870s), the Four Freshmen were the first to achieve
popular success singing in this style, and revolutionized the concept by
being the first to "open up" the long-closed harmonies of four-part harmony
vocals, using unusual intervals and replacing a chord's root with its third
or fifth note (during one recording session, the vocals were so complex that
the instrumental portion had to be recorded separately, with the vocal track
being added later). The effect of this new "stacking" of notes is absolute
magic: for all the delight I get out of listening to vocal harmonies, I find
the Four Freshmen to be completely intoxicating, and only more so every time
I hear it. "You Made Me Love You" was the song that first had me smitten,
and they didn't have to make me love them at all -- I was already there from
the first note. Other such takings followed in rapid fire: "Love," "Teach
Me Tonight," and obsessive as it is, I could be condemned to listen to "You
Stepped Out of a Dream" for all eternity and would hardly feel punished.
Indeed, I can't name a Four Freshmen song that I wouldn't listen to more
than once.
While three of the original Four Freshmen have sadly
graduated to the Great University in the Sky, the fourth, Bob Flanigan, has
preserved the Four Freshmen tradition in an unbroken succession, still touring
and managing the current class of Freshmen; Brian Eichenberger (lead vocals;
bass, guitar, keyboard), Curtis Calderon (second part; trumpet, flugelhorn),
Vince Johnson (third part; guitar, trombone, bass), Bob Ferreira (fourth
part; drums, flugelhorn), which through some miracle sounds so much like
the original group that it is impossible sometimes to place a song in time
on sound alone. The Sound has been a musical inspiration since its inception,
inciting a slew of vocal groups ranging from the aforementioned Beach Boys
to the lesser-known Lettermen, and more modern vocal groups like the Manhattan
Transfer, not to mention the countless pop groups of today. The next time
you pop in your favorite "boy band" CD, just remember to pay homage to the
boys who started it all: they may be "Freshmen", but they're a master class
in style. |
You
Stepped Out of a Dream
It's
a Blue World |
Great Female Vocalists to Discover
While I much prefer male vocalists, the influence and
enjoyment of great female vocalists in my musical life is undeniable. Jazz
is rife with female voices, many of which are well-known enough to be pop
culture icons (Sarah Vaughan comes to mind). Yet flying low under the
radar of popular recognition is a bevy of dangerously talented women singers.
Why Try To Change Me Now |
My first real introduction to jazz vocals was a formidable one: the First
Lady of Jazz, Ella Fitzgerald. Her duet with Louis Armstrong on "Moonlight
in Vermont" had me sold and reaching to imitate some of those amazing sounds.
Fast forward to 2003, and I'm listening to
KNON, my local late night jazz station,
enjoying this wonderful new song I'd never heard before. The music had a
very defined, yet laid-back groove, and the vocals slipped by like a drizzle
of fine honey. Thinking this must be some newly rediscovered early Fitzgerald
or Vaughan, recording, I listen enraptured, wondering how something so obscure
and wonderful was finally able to surface. The recording was obscure, all
right, but it was hardly Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan at all: the song
was "Why Try to Change Me Now?," and the singer was Honi Gordon, a name new
to my mental roster of jazz artists. Mistaking her for one of the four great
Ladies of Jazz Singing illustrates how wonderful a talent Honi Gordon is.
Among her influences are in fact Ella and Sarah, but also Billie Holiday
and Annie Ross. Sounding just like a little girl version of Vaughan, Miss
Gordon cooed intimate renditions of some of the great jazz compositions (such
as Mingus'
Strollin' ).
Why then is she not ranking right up there with the greats that influenced
her? Her discography is small -- only one recording, 1962's Honi Gordon
Sings -- and her career has escaped the attention of all but the most
knowledgeable jazz scholars. This incredible, obscure artist may have asked
in song, "Why try to change me now?" To me the answer is simple: Because
a voice that beautiful demands to be known and heard at large. |
| Perhaps above all others, the one lady of song I wish I could sound even
close to is Julie London. Tall, beautiful and statuesque, she looks like
the epitome of the cocktail lounge culture of the 1950s, and her smoky, worldly
vocals backed by tightknit intimate music spanned a career of about 40 years
and 32 albums which continue to be reissued. While she is best known for
her recording "Cry Me a River," it was
You'd
Be So Nice to Come Home To that introduced me to her. I was immediately
impressed by the cozy, "afternoon-before-showtime-and-I'm-the-only-one-here"
ambiance, and the vocals catered perfectly to my especial fondness for "after
hours" singing. Indeed, my love for Julie London revolves entirely around
the lush quality of her voice that makes me feel as if I am wrapped in a
luxurious chinchilla blanket on a snowy evening, and every song I hear only
renews that love each time. Among my favorites are the quiet, loungey
More,
"Midnight Sun" (which feels like she's singing it only for you), the smolderingly
mournful
End
of a Love Affair, and "Girl Talk," (the lighthearted lyrics were written
by her husband, Bobby Troup) always leaves me melted on the floor in an ecstatic
puddle. Sadly, Julie London passed away in 2000, but her voice lives
on as a testament to the glamorous women singers of the lounge years. Her
music may be slow-paced for today's youth, but given the time, perhaps a
larger audience might grow to love her -- and that would be a sweet time
indeed. |
Girl
Talk |
Let's
Face the Music and Dance |
While Julie London and Honi Gordon are the sultry
chanteuses, Anita O'Day would be the jazz equivalent of today's pop singers.
First finding success during the World War II years as a singer with Gene
Krupa's band, she later became a hit with Stan Kenton's band and the song
"And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine." Anita O'Day appeals to me because
her voice is quite different from most jazz or popular singers: by no means
a powerhouse, Anita sings with a voice that is bright, fragile, almost
conversational (influenced by other big band-era singers of the '30s and
'40s, especially Mildred Bailey). Her phrasing is very intelligent and inventive,
which I always delight in hearing on songs like "Don't be That Way,"
We'll
Be Together Again, and my favorite,
Peel
Me a Grape, where she teams with Latin vibraphonist Cal Tjader. The result
is mellow, cool, and the strongest no-nonsense O'Day vocals I've heard yet.
Her voice soars like a young bird flying for the first time, full of confidence
and inner strength and yet somehow still projects frailty. The sweet simplicity
of her voice is enlightening, but also completely singable for all but the
severely musically challenged. I think this is where a large potential for
widespread youth popularity might lie: the music of Anita O'Day is fresh,
upbeat, and the quality of her voice sounds like a casual, more natural version
of today's pop singers.
Unfortunately, her more recent work is not quite up to
the same par as her earlier work. Years of serious drug and alcohol problems
from the past wreaked their havoc on her voice, robbing it of some of the
sparkle and energy that first endeared her to me. While I am sorry to hear
her performing below her potential, I also admire her great personal strength.
She has overcome much hardship in her life, including recovering from a broken
hip sustained a few years ago, and at 84 years old, Anita is still performing,
recently booking a gig in Hollywood. |
The Songbook of Jazz Singers is a large one, and yet
it is still not nearly large enough. Sadly -- though intriguingly -- the six
singers mentioned here are not the only talents that time has forgotten;
there are certainly other Earl Grant's and Honi Gordon's out there who are
now only whispers of the popular memory. The old adage goes, "He who forgets
history is bound to repeat it", and in music, that is almost always a good
thing.
______________________________
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
|
