Happy birthday, Jo Stafford

[mmilovan]

Happy birthday to Jo Stafford, one of my faovourite singer anytime. Billie Holiday used to say that her voice is like an instrument, and Lester Young admire her the most! Her contribution to jazz singing (as I can hear it) will be something that further generations will have to notice. She used to sing standard and novelity songs and change theirs melody as Billie always did. Stafford's perfect pitch helped her to always deliver top notch notes, and her's pefect sense for swing is unbelievable.

Wish you good and strong health, and many years to share with us, Jo!

http://tinyurl.com/36gkwc

[alocispepraluger102]

she and hubby paul, yes.

hearing jo sing jerome kern is one of my lifes great treasures.

Edited November 13, 2007 by alocispepraluger102

[king ubu]

I haven't yet had a chance to follow up on your recommendation and check her out, Milan!

Here's some kind of discography (alphetical by song, but with most of the relevant info - except there's nothing about locations or musicians, but you get matrix nos, issue date, recording date, label and album info (I guess mostly singles?):

http://web.cfa.arizona.edu/westonstafford/JoDiscography.pdf

Here's the Jo Stafford Collection from the University of Arizona:

http://web.cfa.arizona.edu/westonstafford/Jo/index.html

And the one for her husband Paul Weston:

http://web.cfa.arizona.edu/westonstafford/Paul/index.html

[brownie]

Thanks to Milan's insistence (and Lester's previous recommendation) , I am enjoying this Jo Stafford's compilation

My second album from her (after 'Jo + Jazz')

[jazz1]

Agree 100% Jo had one of the most beautiful voice ever and perfect pitch.

They are a few very good compilations around.

In the same style Dinah Shore also made some wonderful music her cd

"Dinah sings, Previn plays" is another master piece and it may well be

one of the most realistic female voice you will ever hear in your living room.

[flat5]

Sorry to admit I mostly know her "singing" from the records she made with Paul Weston under the names Jonathan & Darlene Edwards. I do know they are both extremely accomplished artists.

[mmilovan]

Jonathan and Darlene Edwards started as a joke, and later it became (unfortionatelly) the only album that Jo Stafford got Grammy for... the point was to emulate bad singing because Stafford was well known for her absolute pitch ability...

[Teasing the Korean]

A couple of great albums:

Jo+Jazz

Jo Stafford sings Broadway's Best

both on Columbia.

The latter has the definitive reading of the Schwartz and Dietz standard "Something to Remember You By."

[BruceH]

Happiness is just a gal named Jo.

[flat5]

Gee, thanks for clearing that up for me, mmilovan.

I thought their innovations were profound :-)

Actually I know of their work for T. Dorsey and his later early experiments in mood music, etc.

[mmilovan]

Right, and Paul Weston got huge amount of criticism for that "mood music" he developed further in (as leader and arranger of band he led)...

I'm not quite certain if this was bad or good music as far as we talk about Weston. It surely will fit somewhere in some crossover category between jazz and popular music.

[Bright Moments]

this one is great!!!