Lee Wiley, "Paper Moon," 1945

[Larry Kart]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xOv-Xybf7k...feature=related

[Larry Kart]

And Lee with Jess on "Sugar":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv9oDdQQoxc...feature=related

Very intimate, so to speak. "I get my taffy from 'Sugar'" -- yes.

[BruceH]

"...that's why I'm daffy 'bout 'Sugar'"

Thanks Larry.

[AllenLowe]

I know that version of Sugar was on an old Commodore LP -

[JSngry]

I've been able to make quite an connection w/the macro-realization inherent in Wiley's phrasing, but never w/the emotionality therein. It's a trade-off I've made, but I'd still prefer to not have to.

[Larry Kart]

I've been able to make quite an connection w/the macro-realization inherent in Wiley's phrasing, but never w/the emotionality therein. It's a trade-off I've made, but I'd still prefer to not have to.

That's a fascinating statement, if I understand it correctly. Is it that her means are extremely subtle, but that the stories she's telling are a bit passive-aggressive femme fatale-ish, or something like that?

[BruceH]

I just like the way she sings.

[AllenLowe]

I interpret Jsngry to mean that he understands the small emotional epiphanies of Wiley's music but feels her emotions cut too close to the bone to let others in.

Edited October 31, 2009 by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

I'm just saying that I feel her deeply, just not in any way that pulls me in. I mean, her phrasing is marvelously holistic, but...I just don't connect with her message. Why? Probably because her life and mine had/have different priorities and goals. Beyond that...who knows, who cares? Not her fault, not mine, just one of those things. She was definitely for real, though, and whether I myself can get next to her or not, that's what ultimately matters. I've given up trying to "like" everybody I "get", it no longer seems necessary.

Put another way, a theoretical Bill Evans/Lee Wiley duet album would have probably resulted in a perfect album, one whose perfection I would gladly recognize, but not one that I would own.

[Stereojack]

I heard about Lee for years, but never warmed to her. One night about 25 years ago, I heard a track on the radio ("Maybe You'll Be There", I seem to recall), and suddenly I got it. Have been a huge fan ever since.

[AllenLowe]

I love her work, pre-1950s - at which time the vibrato turned, unfortunately, into some something akin to Oscar Levant's comment about Judy Garland: "A vibrato in search of a voice."

but she WAS one of the most perfect of singers.

[J.A.W.]

I love her work, pre-1950s - at which time the vibrato turned, unfortunately, into some something akin to Oscar Levant's comment about Judy Garland: "A vibrato in search of a voice."

but she WAS one of the most perfect of singers.

If you like a vibrato like hers, that is...

[AllenLowe]

well, it was fine until it took over her voice -

[Larry Kart]

This "Stars Fell On Alabama" is from 1956 (mucho rhythmic/melodic inventiveness, vibrato present but not out of control IMO):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-00CG3YrGuw

[J.A.W.]

This "Stars Fell On Alabama" is from 1956 (mucho rhythmic/melodic inventiveness, vibrato present but not out of control IMO):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-00CG3YrGuw

I agree about the inventiveness, but the vibrato's still too much to my taste...

I have to admit that I can't stand heavy vibrato; for instance, I can't listen to Sidney Bechet and Sarah Vaughan very long for exactly that reason.

[AllenLowe]

yeah, just listened to that 1956 Stars Fell - she's just too far gone for me at this point, vocally speaking. Her singing was always a very fine balance between vulnerability and sheer woundedness - at this she just sounds, to me, to have lost the balance. Though I will grant that many other people who, as I do, like the early Wiley, still like her in the 1950s. It just pushes me away -

[JSngry]

What I heard there sounded to me like a routine. The phrasing was about as impeccable as you could ask for, but I sensed that she would have sung it just about that way every time out. So that leaves, for lack of a better term, "spirit". And frankly, unlike the earlier stuff, I didn't hear any.

If she was as drunk as some of the stories say she was, maybe that's it. Maybe she had just drunk herself into a shell from which she had no intent of ever coming out. Or not. It's not something I can really get invested in, so I'll leave it to those for whom it is to figure that one out.

[AllenLowe]

well, Ella sang it basically the same way every time - so that doesn't bother me so much. But she's on the edge there, it's very revealing, but maybe too revealing - of course I could live with that, too except for the basic sound - unlike with Billie Holiday who (with some real exceptions) manages to make it through.

[BruceH]

I love her work, pre-1950s - at which time the vibrato turned, unfortunately, into some something akin to Oscar Levant's comment about Judy Garland: "A vibrato in search of a voice."

but she WAS one of the most perfect of singers.

I do tend to prefer her earlier work.