Jazz Vocalists

[RonF]

Almost four months since a post in "vocalists". Thought I'd perform CPR.

There were some great releases this summer. Curious if anyone heard any of these impressive vocalists:

Dianne Reeves - A Little Moonlight - Blue Note

Kate McGarry - Show Me - Palmetto

Connie Evingson - Let It Be Jazz: Sings The Beatles - Summit

Stacey Kent - The Boy Next Door - Candid

Jackie Allen - The Men In My Life - A440

Shirley Horn - May The Music Never End - Verve

Madeline Eastman - The Speed Of Life - MadKat

Jackie Ryan - This Heart Of Mine - OpenArt

Patti Wicks - Love Locked Out - MaxJazz

[jazz1]

And do you (or anyone around here) know Roberta Gambarini? She seems a tremendous singer (with extremely musical scatting/improvising/soloing like a horn player), imho!

Saw Roberta Gamberini here in Cape Town 2 years ago she was just amazing,

to me she is a real jazz singer, so few of them around, actually most of the so called jazz singers today are just sophisticated pop singers with a rythm section.

Another great jazz singer in the making is a young Parisian woman called Deborah Tanguy, this girl is a killer, and to my ears the most tasteful scatter I've heard in years, she reminds me of early Sarah the way she scats.

Tiziana Ghiglioni does not do a bad job either.

[jazz1]

And do you (or anyone around here) know Roberta Gambarini? She seems a tremendous singer (with extremely musical scatting/improvising/soloing like a horn player), imho!

Saw Roberta Gamberini here in Cape Town 2 years ago she was just amazing,

to me she is a real jazz singer, so few of them around, actually most of the so called jazz singers today are just sophisticated pop singers with a rythm section.

Another great jazz singer in the making is a young Parisian woman called Deborah Tanguy, this girl is a killer, and to my ears the most tasteful scatter I've heard in years, she reminds me of early Sarah the way she scats.

Tiziana Ghiglioni does not do a bad job either.

[jazz1]

Then another recommendation: swiss singer Susanne Abbuehl. She made an ECM record called "April", where she's accompanied by her band (piano, percussion & clarinet/bass clarinet). I saw her live once and heard several broadcasts. She has studied among others with Jeanne Lee, her disc has songs she wrote for lyrics of e.e. cummings and Carla Bley compositions she wrote lyrics to. Now you may say this sounds special, but I think it's not just for the sake of being different. She does her thing for quite some time now, has a stable band with constant line up who are extremely responsive, and she does have a good voice with much musicality and feelings projected. Anyone knows her?

ubu

I've got Susanne Abbuelh cd, I like it, but the big question is it jazz??

It has that ECM sound and this label has never really been promoting jazz vocal.

One group that really intrigues me is also Swiss, they call themselves "the four roses" 4 girls, piano, bass, drums and vocal.

Their last cd is called "Histoire, d'eau" (Water story)

You would never believe that you are listening to an all girl group, they are just so dynamic. The pianist Florence Melnottle lives in the USA and has just released an interesting cd wth Brian Torff on bass.

"The four roses" a group worth watching, I can't remember the name of the vocalist just now, but she sings "JAZZ" nice stuff

So all my preconceived ideas are gone, evaporated, jazz is not a "man world" and Swiss don't only yodle!

[neveronfriday]

I had to check the All Music guide to see who Cleo Laine is. Is it a good thing that she seems to be unknown outside of the US (although she is born in the UK)? The picture on the AMG page reminds me of Barbara Streisand

Don't knock Streisand, man. You're just asking for trouble with the ladies. You don't want to do that, njet.

Just say "Yeah, she's recorded some good stuff", mumble something with at least some sort of positive-sounding intonation and invite whoever it is out for dinner ... all in one breath ... and you might be in the clear (just maybe).

Cheers!

Where's that "guilty pleasures" thread in which one can at least admit having (been forced to buy) Streisand recordings? Must go and look ...

[take5]

JSngry, my feelings about the issue of Song within what I listen to seems to be mirroring yours. I originally got into jazz via Coltrane, because songs in and of themselves meant little to me. I wanted to here cats BLOW. It's the same mentality that had me favor wanky metal guitar solos. The purpose of going to concerts was to be impressed, not moved.

Recently I've come to favor and embrace the emphasis on song. Besides starting to come around to some jazz singers, the gradual change of mindset has me appreciated Duke, Dylan, Sinatra, and other "mundane" things.

One vocal prejudice I can't get over is that of gender: I just can't stand men singing jazz. I don't know why.

[LAL]

Comments?

[mikeweil]

One vocal prejudice I can't get over is that of gender: I just can't stand men singing jazz.  I don't know why.

Maybe your mother sang nicely and your father just gruntled while you were in the cradle?

Seriously - could it be that the voice appears like a rather "female" musical instrument to you?

Edited September 17, 2004 by mikeweil

[take5]

Maybe... but I also listen to a lot or rock and other things with mostly men singing.

[cannonball-addict]

I know no one has touched this thread in quite a while but I really wanted to know if anyone else (perhaps on the other side of the pond) has discovered this album by this singer named Sara Lazarus.

She won the Monk competition one of the years they had vocals as the 'featured instrument' and she had kids after that and did not release an album til last month. It is on Dreyfus Jazz and she is joined by a kick-ass rhythm section including guests such as Winard Harper and Bireli Lagrene.

The arrangements are tight and she really has quite a lot of skill. She has really excellent scatting and her intonation is almost always on the mark. The band really grooves. My only complaint is that she gives it all up in the first chorus (what I mean to say is that the following choruses (reprises) are not as exciting as the first chorus usually - she uses all her tricks right up front). If she can hold back a little more (in the tradition of Shirley Horn), I think she would be terrific!

that's my two cents

p.s. luciana souza has an AMAZING new album on Sunnyside called Duos II which is the second installment of vocal/guitar duos with Romero Lubambo (classical guitar), Marco Pereira (sughyama, seven-string requinto guitar), Walter Vogt (guitar), Swami Jr. (tessarin, seven-string guitar) Guilherme Monteiro (classical guitar, gibson 175, electric guitar)

[RonF]

Sara Lazarus is very good...a young American living in Paris. Give Me The Simple Life on Dreyfus. One of the best vocal albums of the year. imho

I have Luciana's first Duos. Wonderful CD. Haven't heard Duos II.

[clinthopson]

I don't know if he has been mentioned here before (I'm too damned lazy to go therough the wole thing) but I enjoy Curtis Stigers' current work very much.

[RonF]

I don't know if he has been mentioned here before (I'm too damned lazy to go therough the wole thing) but I enjoy Curtis Stigers' current work very much.

←

Clint, You should pick up Curtis's latest I Think It's Going To Rain Today on Concord. A bunch of Palmetto cats, cool song selection.

[cannonball-addict]

I would prefer if Curtis stuck to the sax but he did have one rather interesting experimental feature on one tune of Matt Wilson's 2004 Palmetto disc, Arts & Crafts: Wake Up (to what's happening). This was surprisingly good. The rest of the CD has no vocals but really is one of the best of 2004.

I was reading old posts in this thread and agree that Luciana Souza's North and South album was also fantastic. I hope she doesn't sell out when the big-timers find out her true talents - I am confident they will and then exploit them.

[Kalo]

And do you (or anyone around here) know Roberta Gambarini? She seems a tremendous singer (with extremely musical scatting/improvising/soloing like a horn player), imho!

Saw Roberta Gamberini here in Cape Town 2 years ago she was just amazing,

to me she is a real jazz singer, so few of them around, actually most of the so called jazz singers today are just sophisticated pop singers with a rythm section.

←

Nice to see this thread back.

This is where I first heard about Gambarini, back when I was just a lurker. She appeared in Boston early this year, and I pitched the gig to my editor (I write for a local rag on occasion). Well, all I can say is that I was quite impressed. I usually want to like jazz singers, but find that sooner or later (usually sooner) they blow it somehow, either through too much Broadway belting or cabaret coyness, excessive pseudo-soulful melisma, endless uninventive scatting, or sedulous aping of the greats. Gambarini side-stepped every one of those potential pitfalls. Impressive indeed.

Here's my review. I may have gone a bit overboard with my praise in the heat of the moment, but I think she's the real thing.

MUSIC REVIEW

SHE POSSESSES DISTINCTIVELY GREAT JAZZ SOUND

Boston Globe

By Kevin Lowenthal,

Globe Correspondent

January 10, 2005

Thursday night, in her Boston debut at Scullers, Roberta Gambarini showed why she's being hailed by many insiders as perhaps today's finest young jazz singer. In a world of cool-to-a-fault Diana Kralls and mildly talented Jane Monheits, Gambarini is a true successor to Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae.

Italian native Gambarini is an almost improbably complete singer. Her warm, velvety tone and scat-singing facility recall Fitzgerald; her near-flawless pitch and vast range are reminiscent of Vaughan; and her impeccable diction and the salty spin she puts on vowels conjure the young McRae.

Among the greatest of her gifts is her taste, which keeps her virtuosity in service to the music. Her understated ease onstage also places musical values front and center. With her first American CD, ''Easy to Love," slated to appear soon, she is poised to emerge into wider recognition.

Gambarini's generous first set included several jazz compositions as well as numbers from the American Songbook. She was backed by the tight, swinging trio of pianist Tamir Hendelman, bassist John Burr, and drummer Willie Jones III. The arrangements were varied and inventive, with Gambarini at various points singing alone, or in duet with each instrument as well as with the band.

She sang the beautiful introductory verse of Hoagy Carmichael's ''Stardust" a cappella, displaying her lustrous voice without a net. On her dramatic rendition of Billy Strayhorn's ''Lush Life," each syllable of the final line tolled like a bell.

Trumpeter Roy Hargrove materialized unexpectedly halfway through and played a rich-toned and tangy solo on the funky Johnny Griffin number ''The Jamfs Are Coming." He proffered biting fills in conversation with Gambarini on the blues tune ''C.C. Rider," then soloed sweetly on the classic ballad ''Lover Man."

Gambarini demonstrated her vocalese mastery with ''On the Sunny Side of the Street," modeled after Dizzy Gillespie's 1957 version of the tune on his album ''Sonny Side Up." Articulating clearly, using scat syllables and an occasional recognizable word, she successively sang Sonny Stitt's intricate tenor sax flights, Gillespie's high-pitched pyrotechnics, and Sonny Rollins's asymmetrical and witty tenor sax lines.

Benny Carter, the great alto saxophonist, arranger, and composer, became Gambarini's friend and mentor in the last years of his life. For her final number, she performed his classic ''When Lights Are Low," complete with its notoriously difficult, oft-avoided middle section. Even Miles Davis, in his famous traversal of the tune, mangled the middle as written.

The first time through, Gambarini negotiated the bridge gracefully, while the second time around she crossed that tricky structure with even greater aplomb. It's safe to say that Carter would've been proud.

Roberta Gambarini

At: Scullers, Thursday night, first set

Edited July 21, 2005 by Kalo

[BruceH]

Hey, nice review man.

[Kalo]

Thanks, BruceH.

Too bad her album still hasn't come out yet, as far as I know.

I got an advance copy, and it represents her really well.

By the way, Gambarini came in third in the Thelonious Monk vocal competition, after the veteran Teri Thornton in first place and the mediocre Jane Monheit in second (if you can believe that). Supposedly, Deedee Bridgewater was one of the judges and she walked off the jury after learning that they had picked Monheit over Gambarini.

[baryshnikov]

Cant stand cleo laine at all. Janet lawson is fabulous, also very underated Mark Murphy, Flora Purim, these people are not as well known as Ella and Sarah, but they still bring us superb music, paul london

[casanovas347]

Anita o'day.....my fav! -_-

http://www.anitaoday.com/

ever saw her legendary newport gig?

[Kalo]

Anita o'day.....my fav! -_-

http://www.anitaoday.com/

ever saw her legendary newport gig?   

←

I assume you're talking about her bit in the movie Jazz on a Summer's Day.

It's a stunning performance, which instantly converted me into an O'Day idolator.

Edited July 27, 2005 by Kalo

[Elissa]

May I recommend Sachal Vasandani: a contender for Voice of his Generation. Timing, range, cliché-free. First caught him one Monday up at the Eric Lewis jam session. These days he has his own gig at the Zinc early on Mondays (I have a class then so haven't been by) and he was at Sweet Rhythm earlier this week. He'll be in New Haven in August & part of Singers Over Manhattan at JLC in October.

Edited July 28, 2005 by Elis

[bluemonk]

I don't venture into jazz vocals very much, because I'm more into bebop and big band, but I do like some jazz vocals. I like Diana Krall, Shirley Horn, and Cassandra Wilson probably the best. In particular, Cassandra Wilson with her very modern and unique take on popular songs. Her earlier recordings on Blue Note are worth acquiring. Brandon Ross, her guitarist for many years, does a great job arranging her music. Very modern, but also earthy, bluesy, and many times downright haunting.

It also helps when you have a crush on her.

Edited May 16, 2008 by bluemonk

[blind-blake]

This is for Jim in particular, but anyone else who wants to take it too...

What are the opinions (pro or con) about Judi Silvano??? (Joe Lovano's wife)

My only exposure to her vocals are on Lovano's Celebrating Sinatra. It's my least favorite Lovano disc, and no, it's not a coincidence.

I like her on Lovano's Gunther Schuller album (the name of which is escaping me). Sounds a little like the background vocals on the Star Trek theme, but tastefully done. I'm not sure why I felt compelled to say this. Good way to restart this thread, I suppose.

Edited December 18, 2008 by blind-blake

[Teasing the Korean]

On May 26, 2003 at 11:00 AM, randissimo said:

While hanging out with a bass player I worked with last weekend I was sipping on some good coffee and to my surprise he had popped in the the Nancy Wilson/ Cannonball Adderly album in his cd player. That record is as fresh now as it was when originally released.

This album is a perfect marriage of great singing and great musicianship, outstanding arrangements, and emotionally charged solos by Cannonball, Nat, and Joe Zawinul ( who went on to form Weather Report less than 10 years later!) and bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes swing for days and play deep in the groove on all the tracks..

If you haven't heard it, pick up a copy! It's one of those recordings that can always re-charge my batteries when my enthusiasm starts to wane. It always reminds of what it is that sets Jazz apart from Pop music..

It's been re-issued on CD and originally was on Capitol Records. 

Amazing that there was a time when a major pop label would release and album like this.  

[Gheorghe]

I don´t really know who is Cleo Laine, I can´t read all the answers since the thread is 15 (!) years old, but it seems that nothing has changed.

I know so many jazz vocalists I don´t want to list them here, but many names that I can´t associate directly with jazz, I wouldn´t even know...., jazz is the only music I listen to....