"Jazz" albums by "Pop" Singers

[optatio]

CATERINA VALENTE: THE JAZZ SINGER. SWR/JAZZHAUS JAH-463 [2016]

[JSngry]

 

[sgcim]

Here's a real oddity; Arthur Lee of the band Love with Chico Hamilton (a distant relative of his) singing "What's Your Story Morning Glory?"

 

Here's a real oddity; Arthur Lee of the band Love with Chico Hamilton (a distant relative of his) singing "What's Your Story Morning Glory?"

 

[JSngry]

One should always buy Chico Hamilton records at the best price possible. They're full of quirky delights, almost all of them, some more than others, but hey, best price, that's my point, just never avoid them altogether.

[felser]

18 minutes ago, JSngry said:

One should always buy Chico Hamilton records at the best price possible. They're full of quirky delights, almost all of them, some more than others, but hey, best price, that's my point, just never avoid them altogether.

Picked up a reissue of his "El Exigente" from cdjapan earlier this year.  1970, really interesting group - Arnie Lawrence/Bob Mann/Steve Swallow.  Lawrence on electric sax, but it's fine.  Tons o' quirky delights on that album.  Also LOVE the albums with Charles Lloyd and Gabor Szabo on a lot of labels in the early-mid 60's.

[JSngry]

I don't know how many Andrew Hill devotees picked this one up, but hey...

 

[Rabshakeh]

I am interested that noone has mentioned the occasional run of Great American Songbook records by more recent pop musicians. Perhaps because very few people have been "surprised by the results".

Also, no Frankie Laine? Jazz Bonanza is the first record that popped into my head here.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Rabshakeh

[optatio]

Here are two more not only „pop ladies“: Alice Babs from Sweden and Gitte Hænning from Denmark

 

[jazzbo]

I like both of these singers.

Gitte's last name is one of my family names on my Dad's side (Americanized). She was a lovely woman when she sang with the Clarke Boland Big Band--that's a good one.

I love Alice on this great cd:

 

 

 

[sidewinder]

Gitte has a German tour coming up in the Autumn by the looks of it. Still going strong !

[mikeweil]

2 hours ago, jazzbo said:

I like both of these singers.

Gitte's last name is one of my family names on my Dad's side (Americanized). She was a lovely woman when she sang with the Clarke Boland Big Band--that's a good one.

I had the original LP, and have the CD, and like this album, but compared to Carmen McRae with the CBBB and partly the same songs you notice that McRae sings in a higher league. 

2 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Gitte has a German tour coming up in the Autumn by the looks of it. Still going strong !

No concerts near where I live, and if so, probably too expensive for my budget.

Edited July 31, 2023 by mikeweil

[jazzbo]

No argument about Carmen. . . she had a lot more seasoning than Gitte did at the time.

[Jim Duckworth]

[Teasing the Korean]

7 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

I am interested that noone has mentioned the occasional run of Great American Songbook records by more recent pop musicians. Perhaps because very few people have been "surprised by the results".

That, and because some of us aren't seeking out these kinds of artists either.  

[sidewinder]

2 hours ago, mikeweil said:

I had the original LP, and have the CD, and like this album, but compared to Carmen McRae with the CBBB and partly the same songs you notice that McRae sings in a higher league. 

No concerts near where I live, and if so, probably too expensive for my budget.

Looking at the list and assuming you are located near Frankfurt, I would guess that Neustadt would be the nearest, hardly convenient I guess.

Presumably the repertoire would be largely schlager with not much chance of a reprise of the Clarke/Boland material but I guess you never know !

I wonder if she has ever toured the UK? I don’t think she is known as a singer over here, this being effectively a ‘schlager-free zone’ (although we have our own equivalents, sad to say). 😀

This recently found and issued Bobbie Gentry album would definitely qualify and is pretty good.

[Rabshakeh]

8 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

I wonder if she has ever toured the UK? I don’t think she is known as a singer over here, this being effectively a ‘schlager-free zone’ (although we have our own equivalents, sad to say). 

What's the Britschlager?

[sidewinder]

Well, by ‘equivalent’ I would suggest a whole heap of MOR acts which aren’t schlager but which cover a similar turf. Everything from Tom Jones to Kylie and Elton John. All the stuff I hate !

[optatio]

Note: Bill Ramsey came back to jazz. So he was in Göttingen for a three-day workshop and a concert with our university big band.

[danasgoodstuff]

Doo Wop legend Jesse Belvin singing standards with Art Pepper et all, very tasteful maybe too much so?  Not wure where this fits in, if anywhere.

[Teasing the Korean]

3 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

Doo Wop legend Jesse Belvin singing standards with Art Pepper et all, very tasteful maybe too much so?  Not wure where this fits in, if anywhere.

His last album before getting killed in a car crash.  Apparently racist whites tampered with the tires on his car.

[mikeweil]

5 hours ago, optatio said:

Note: Bill Ramsey came back to jazz. 

Of all those Americans in Germany making careers as pop stars, he remained the jazziest. He moderated the Sunday jazz radio show in Frankfurt's Hessischer Rundfunk for many years.

Edited July 31, 2023 by mikeweil

[danasgoodstuff]

14 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

His last album before getting killed in a car crash.  Apparently racist whites tampered with the tires on his car.

I hadn't heard the tires bit, is that substantiated or just rumor?

[JSngry]

16 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Also, no Frankie Laine? Jazz Bonanza is the first record that popped into my head here.

I'm a bit surprised that there does not appear to be any collection of Laine's very first recordings, pre-Mercury, and apparently aimed at the "race" market.

Any such compilation on the market today? 

[Teasing the Korean]

2 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:

I hadn't heard the tires bit, is that substantiated or just rumor?

I read that cops on the scene reported this, can't remember the details.

[sgcim]

11 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

That, and because some of us aren't seeking out these kinds of artists either.  

James Taylor recently released an album of standards, and is using guys like Steve Gadd in his band.

Stevie Winwood got sick of the whole rock scene, and is now performing  kind of Latin Jazz tunes that are interesting.

Randy Bachman has always been a champion of Lenny Breau, and has sung songs that are the equivalent of jazz bossa novas.

Harry Nilsson realized his greatest ambition to put out an album of standards with Gordon Jenkins arrangements.

Besides Joni Mitchell's band with Metheny and Jaco, she put out an album of standards backed by an orchestra where her grasp of that idiom was so different than her other stuff, I thought it was some singer from the 50s I'd never heard before.

Freda Payne has released albums with big bands, where she sang standards convincingly.