Jeanne Lee

[jazz1]

Just listening to Jeanne Lee "Natural affinities" cd on the Owl label.

Made me realize that most of todays crop of so called new jazz singers sound like pop singers.

I don't want to hear the "song books" again unless it is done really differently. or better than Ella, Billie, or Sarah.

I want to hear something new, different, some creativity, some jazz.

I did not reach the age of nostalgia yet.

your views would be interesting

[shrugs]

The Newest Sound Around with Ran Blake

You Stepped Out Of A Cloud with Ran Blake

After Hours with Mal Waldron

Nuba with Jimmy Lyons and Andrew Cyrille

Excellent recordings with Lee working wonders with standards and originals.

[Joe]

Very simply, one of the msot creative and sensual vocalists in this idiom I've ever had the pleasure to hear. THE NEWEST SOUND AROUND is a classic, desert-island, 5-star, necessary purchase, callitwhatchawanna disc, for sure, but you can't go wrong with any of shrugs' recommendations. Her duets with David Eyges (electric cello) -- HERE AND NOW -- are lesser-known, but also stunning. You can hear her in the company of Shelia Jordan, a rather intriguing experience, on this recording:

Marcello Melis, FREE TO DANCE

IMHO, I used to think Lee was never documented to an extent commensurate with either her talent -- not just as a singer, but as a composer and poet -- or her influence on a whole subsequent generation of creative music vocalists. But the following discography shows there's a lot of Jeanne Lee out there to hear:

http://users.rcn.com/eye/jeannelee.html

[brownie]

The marvelous Jeanne Lee!

Two more recommendations.

The Byg album 'Blase' by Archie Shepp.

Her own album 'Conspiracy' (with Sam Rivers). Not sure it was reissued on CD.

[EKE BBB]

Another vote for "After hours" with Mal Waldron. Wonderful!

... and everything she did with Ran Blake!

[EKE BBB]

A few weeks ago I picked a CD called "Music for Ebbe" (dedicated to Ebbe Traberg and released by Producciones El Delirio), recorded live at San Sebastián Jazz Festival 1997, featuring Spanish saxophonist and flutist Jorge Pardo, altoist Gary Bartz, Jeanne Lee and the Repertory Quartet.

It´s a great one, with Lee making wonderful renditions of Swing low sweet chariot and Blue Monk.

[Late]

The Newest Sound Around is the only Lee album I have, but I'd have to go with Joe's remarks about it. Unusually moving singing. The intonation of Sarah Vaughn, something of the approach and phrasing of Betty Carter, and the relative purity of sound of Ella Fitzgerald. This is part of what I hear in Ms. Lee's singing. Oof. It's too much.

Available for $11.99 right here. You almost can't afford not to have it.

(Edit nearly eight years later: new jpeg of cover, plus Dusty no longer is carrying this title.)

Edited March 16, 2011 by Late

[BFrank]

Just found a copy of "After Hours". Really looking forward to checking this one out.

[Dmitry]

This is the only Lee album I have, but I'd have to go with Joe's remarks about it. Unusually moving singing. The intonation of Sarah Vaughn, something of the approach and phrasing of Betty Carter, and the relative purity of sound of Ella Fitzgerald. This is part of what I hear in Ms. Lee's singing. Oof. It's too much.

Available for $11.99 right here. You almost can't afford not to have it.

None of her other albums surpass what you got.

[.:.impossible]

This is the only Lee album I have, but I'd have to go with Joe's remarks about it. Unusually moving singing. The intonation of Sarah Vaughn, something of the approach and phrasing of Betty Carter, and the relative purity of sound of Ella Fitzgerald. This is part of what I hear in Ms. Lee's singing. Oof. It's too much.

Available for $11.99 right here. You almost can't afford not to have it.

Just purchased it. I've been reading about Jeanne Lee here and there for too long. I must know! Thanks for the link. Impulse shopping is a bitch.

[JSngry]

Thanks for the link. Impulse shopping is a bitch.

And so is this album. You're in for a BIG treat.

[Larry Kart]

I recall being entranced some 30 years ago by Lee's contribution to vibraphonist-composer Gunter Hampel's "The 8th of July 1969," with a band that included Antony Braxton, Willem Breuker, Arjen Gortner, and Steve McCall. According to the 5th Edition of the Penguin Guide, it is (or was) out on CD on the Birth label.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

I love how AMG lists Diamanda Galas in the 'similar artist' categorie on Lee's page. (insert Galas smiley)

Does anyone know if the sonics have been upgraded since that RCA Novus re-issue of the Blake / Lee from back in the eighties?

[jazz1]

Just found a copy of "After Hours". Really looking forward to checking this one out.

I know everybody recommends "Newest sound around"

Myself I love every single Jeanne Lee and "After hours" is most probably her most accessible recording, she sings standards and it sets "Standards" for all

want to be jazz singers.

Mal Waldron is just the perfect accompanist, give support but also knows when

to leave spaces. Spaces are as important as the notes themselves.

[blue lake]

Gunther Hampel shows up on Natural Affinities, and there's a piece by Wadada Leo Smith from one of his larger compositions. This is a creative recording, with many different ensembles and instrumentations. Her reading from Mingus autobiography on Mingus Meditations adds another wrinkle to the dramatic potential of her voice. Perhaps many of you heard this when it was on Owl the first time, but I missed it and am enjoying it for the first time on the "new" Sunnyside/Owl cd.

[blue lake]

Gunther Hampel shows up on Natural Affinities, and there's a piece by Wadada Leo Smith from one of his larger compositions. This is a creative recording, with many different ensembles and instrumentations. Her reading from Mingus autobiography on Mingus Meditations adds another wrinkle to the dramatic potential of her voice. Perhaps many of you heard this when it was on Owl the first time, but I missed it and am enjoying it for the first time on the "new" Sunnyside/Owl cd.

[BFrank]

Found "Natural Affinities" (1992) at Amoeba today. Amazed to discover this piece called "Bushwhacked". How contemporary!

It's the old shell game

You don't see what you thought you'd see

The peace dividend is

used to fight one more war

Since the next generation

is on all the front lines

I wonder who the war is for

and the makers of war

reap the profits from peace

so its business as usual

for the corporate elite

While sensation

titilation

entertains the entire nation

Government by fait accompli

undermines personal autonomy

has official double-speak

ambushed our sense of reality

Where's the informed citizenry

so vital to democracy?

[king ubu]

Still haven't come around to check out any of the discs mentioned here except for the two Owls. Have had the Waldron duos for some time and love it immensely. Recently I got "Natural Affinities", and I'm not really sure how much I like it. I see the creativity, the ideas and all, but somehow that disc doesn't just "click". Maybe that's not what it's about, though. I love the Mingus thing, for sure, and I'll listen to it again.

ubu

[B. Goren.]

Ubu, I'm not a vocal jazz fan, but her recording with Mal Waldron is really something you have to listen to.

[king ubu]

Ubu, I'm not a vocal jazz fan, but her recording with Mal Waldron is really something you have to listen to.

Uh, Bently, my complicated sentences might have done it again... I have that one ("After Hours") and rank it easily among the five top modern jazz vocal discs I've heard! Don't have the Ran Blake disc, though, nor any of the others mentioned here.

And I do agree on one account: I'm a vocal fan (or rather: turning into one more and more, an ongoing process), but this album seems to be appealing to people who *hate* jazz vocals!

ubu

[John B]

Ubu, I'm not a vocal jazz fan, but her recording with Mal Waldron is really something you have to listen to.

I am also not a fan of jazz with vocals, but the disc Nuba, with Lee, Andrew Cyrille and Jimmy Lyons is wonderful! As I posted elsewhere, this might be some of the most lyrical playing I have heard from Lyons and Cyrille spends most of his time playing some fantastic percussion, very influenced by African tribal music, imo. Jeanne Lee really fits in well. I enjoyed her vocals a lot more than I expected to. Very highly recommended

[king ubu]

Ubu, I'm not a vocal jazz fan, but her recording with Mal Waldron is really something you have to listen to.

I am also not a fan of jazz with vocals, but the disc Nuba, with Lee, Andrew Cyrille and Jimmy Lyons is wonderful! As I posted elsewhere, this might be some of the most lyrical playing I have heard from Lyons and Cyrille spends most of his time playing some fantastic percussion, very influenced by African tribal music, imo. Jeanne Lee really fits in well. I enjoyed her vocals a lot more than I expected to. Very highly recommended

That's on "the list"...

[mikeweil]

Very simply, one of the most creative and sensual vocalists in this idiom I've ever had the pleasure to hear.

Couldn't say it better. The way she moved on stage was enough to mesmerize you. Some reincarnated African Queen. Such a warm and beautiful, and yes, sensual voice. I feel grateful I saw - and heard - her perform.

Edited October 6, 2004 by mikeweil

[sidewinder]

I'll second that - just saw her the one time with a Jane Bunnett group which had featured guests Jeanne Lee and Andrew Cyrille. Great chemistry between these two and Lee's voice and stage presence had absolute class.

[EKE BBB]

According to Jazzmatazz:

There´s an upcoming reissue of "The newest sound around" (BMG Germany).

24-bit remastered with four bonus tracks (never released before)

Liner notes in French and English.

Due out on Dec. 7 and available for preorder on CDUniverse.