The art of the croon

[ghost of miles]

Heard Lenny Kaye on NPR the other day discussing a new book he's written about the crooners:

KayeonNPR

YouCallItMadness

Sounded interesting. I don't (as yet) have much of an appreciation for the crooners, but I'd like to read some cultural history about them.

[JSngry]

I don't (as yet) have much of an appreciation for the crooners...

I'm in the process of developing one. Have been for a few years, in fact. Some of them are as stiff and as "white" as they're all percieved to be in some quarters, but some of them have a really "liquid" way with melodies, words, and just plain overall vocal technique that I'm finding increasingly appealing. A good "crooner" (kind of a derisive term, but we all know what it means, so let's stick with it anyway) can be incredibly musical. Check out Johnny Desmond on those Miller AAF sides and listen closely to all the nuances. Incredible stuff. Not at all "jazz", but is jazz the only "real" music? Hell no.

It's just another way to tell a story, really. And the good ones could do it really, REALLY well.

[JSngry]

Dude, I heard a latter-day Dick Haymes cut on the radio (some "common" standard, don't remember which one) the other day that was one of the DARKEST things I think I've ever heard.

GOT to check him out!

[Larry Kart]

David Allyn -- an out-of-Bing crooner by voice type, a jazz figure to his toes. His version of "Dearly Beloved" is to die for. He can be heard with Teagarden and Boyd Raeburn in the '40s (where he made his name) and later on some albums under his own name that probably are OOP: three (I think) in the '60s for Discovery with big-band or band-with-strings charts by Johnny Mandel and others (that's where "Dearly Beloved" is), and one on a Don Schlitten label in the late '70s, backed only by Barry Harris. Allyn also is one of the key interview subjects in Ira Gitler's fascinating "Swing To Bop." I heard Allyn live in the early '80s in Chicago and did an interview with him. Still a terrific singer but a pretty complicated guy -- though no longer a user in the way that got him into so much trouble.

[JSngry]

Read Gene Lees Singers and the Song. Lees as a jazz critic is somebody I'm on a case-by-case basis with, but this book really helped focus my appreciation of so called "adult pop" singers of that era.

[Bill Nelson]

Will Friedwald's book, 'Jazz Singing' is also essential and much larger in scope than Lees'. In 'Jazz Singing', you get Friedwald's personal survey of vocalists from Satch to Cassandra -- and much of it is bristling with insight and scathing put-downs. For crooners, there's substantial material on Al Bowlly, Vic Damone, Al Hibbler, Dick Haymes, as well as stalwarts such as Crosby, Eckstine, and Jolson. **

In the jazz realm, Friedwald unabashedly loves Mark Murphy, Jackie Paris, Anita O'Day, and Peggy Lee. And he's infuriating in his casual dismissing of many, such as Bobby Troup and Joe Mooney. Either way, the writing leaves you smarting or laughing on almost every page.

** Hold your arrows, I'm hardly an authority on who's a crooner and who isn't.