“Now that you’ve discovered that the music goes ’round and ’round,
You forgot to remember you’ve got to swing in this man’s town“
The ability to swing and know the meaning of the blues are fundamental. They are like the theatrical masks of comedy and tragedy.
I’ll give you my idea of a jazz singer first. Otherwise when you come to the list there’s no context in the choosing and I could be plucking anything from the air and just claim, great “close enough for jazz” because there are like 2 relevant notes there so that’s OK.
It’s not. And yet there is a big spectrum to choose from. And my bandwidth isn’t everyone’s although my tastes are generally quite “centrist dad.”
I don’t subscribe to the shriek-like-a-banshee school of freak-out much unless it is you know, actually, any good, rather than performative pseudery of what when it is stripped back is essentially provocation. I also am not a vintage retro-ist either. Just because it’s old and comes over all sepia tinted and classic doesn’t mean it’s interesting. But I do like classic jazz. The very funny, and just as wise, David Sedaris put that preference for the past like this:
“Like anyone nostalgic for a time he didn’t live through, I chose to weed out the little inconveniences: polio, say, or the thought of eating stewed squirrel. The world was simply grander back then, somehow more civilized, and nicer to look at.”
David Sedaris, ‘This Old House‘ (2007) – The New Yorker
Not everything in my list of new stuff “swings” – and nothing sounds like ‘Sing, sing, sing’ – but my thinking rotates around some landmark voices and a certain sound as a guide when lost. It’s like you’ll know it when you get there but in there somewhere all these singers when you get to the list are experts who can, should, they choose to, swing. If you don’t buy into “swinging” at least on some level of recognition and acceptance even when half of you thinks it’s fuddy duddy you don’t buy into jazz vocals at all. Fact.
I think the greatest female jazz singer of all time is Billie Holiday. Actually Billie is the greatest of all, female and male.
The greatest living female jazz singer for me that’s Dianne Reeves.
I also like Carmen Lundy and Cassandra Wilson.
The greatest male jazz singer of all time I reckon is Nat King Cole. I also like Bing Crosby, Billy Ekstine, Johnny Hartman and Mark Murphy and place all of these in my personal pantheon.
The greatest living male jazz singer? Easy. Gregory Porter. The blessed Gregory is playing the National Concert Hall, Dublin on 10 July. Up there with the greats, I also like Kurt Elling and Welsh wiz Ian Shaw.
Singers tread a tightrope.
They are the front person. They deal with the more familiar material, perhaps. Tunes are sometimes easier to digest by an untutored listener. But not always and cast a cold eye over our list and you can easily peruse there is plenty of adventurous spirit and ingenious solutions on display. It’s not always a case of old wine in new bottles.
But the past is a potent playground to conjure when you are singing ballads and bebop.
The words are their weapons, their shield, their means of expression. Instrumentalists can only provide versions of words in their solos – their aspiration to tell a story in their own way.
Pop and rock tunes don’t always lend themselves so easily when done as an instrumental – the chords and shape of the tune sometimes don’t suit.
This year so far over the past six months these are the albums featuring singers prominently that I have liked most.
Their approach is very diverse.
They are largely strictly jazz, some cross over a bit or don’t even try to be jazz such as the Sam Cooke-like James Hunter but his approach is just as valid to me and fits. The arangements are jazz simpatico even when it is fundamentally a different kind of heritage record.
Speaking of other crossover, this time from pop and rock, I could have put the Paul Carrack and the SWR Big Band live release in too. Let’s say it’s, no.11.
Again: genre? Let’s not get hung up on it. Although it is an ever present way of shaping you as a jazz listener within guard rails. There is no strict definition.
But if puzzled, confused, lost in Bruges, whatever – and aren’t we all occasionally? – read a great book that’s not too doctrinaire about jazz singers.
I’d suggest Will Friedwald’s Jazz Singing: America’s Great Voices From Bessie Smith To Bebop And Beyond.
It’s a super read. It’s the best book on the subject I know and I learnt a lot from reading it years ago.
Do you have to be strict about what a jazz singer is or isn’t?
Not really especially when jazz fans do – shock – like other music too and can see 50 shades of crossover all over the place on albums by singers who actually have a jazz pedigree but choose to stray.
Some great pop singers also can and have sung jazz. Lady Gaga is probably the best example – her work with Tony Bennett was superb.
So without further ado here’s the list as it stands half way through the year.
