Vocalese: Does it please?

[A Lark Ascending]

Hipster vocalese falls into the same category as British singers singing in American accents (or Brazilian singers singing in heavily accented English...its the vowels!). Irritates me no end to start with...but after a few listens I learn to ignore the affectations (if I didn't there'd be an awful lot of unplayed British singers!).

I actually like Kurt Elling - didn't at first but a chance hearing of a song a few years back got me listening. The first play of any album can provoke lemon-eating expressions on my face but after that I get to enjoy them.

I've never been able to connect to Murphy, however. Have to give him another try.

Like a lot of people of my age 'Twisted' was my first conscious experience of vocalese via Joni Mitchell.   

[BillF]

Ah yes, "Twisted"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0fC7ERntuo

Edited November 6, 2015 by BillF

[fasstrack]

The local jazz station, WBGO, is partial to vocalese. Last night they played Manhattan Transfer's Joyspring. Very accomplished, but I didn't connect with it. The lyrics to Brownie's solo were flying by fast and furious and I couldn't make them out. I appreciate the technique, though.

5 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

 

I've never been able to connect to Murphy, however. Have to give him another try.

    

Try him on ballads. You won't be sorry.

[JSngry]

We sing a spring
(Sing joy spring)
A rare and most mysterious spring
(This most occult thing)
Is buried deep in the soul
(It's story never has been told)

The joy spring, the fountain of pleasure
Is deep inside you whether you're diggin' it or not
Once you're aware of this spring
You'll know that it's the greatest
Treasure you've got
And furthermore
The joy spring, the bounteous treasure
Cannot be bartered away and never
Can be sold
Nothing can take it from you
It's yours and yours alone to have
And to hold
And something more:
It never is lost to fire or theft
It's always around
When trouble is gone the pleasure
Is left I've always found
It's burglar-proof same as the treasure
Man lays up in heaven worth a
Price no one can measure
that says a lot
So joy spring this fountain of pleasure
That's deep inside you let me inform
You in all truth *(to Coda second time)
Ponce de Leon sought this
When he was searchin' for the fountain of youth

Ol' Ponce de Leon laughed so much he
Never did find the magic fountain
But many people with a well-adjusted
Spirit they could hear it when y'told
'em it was there tellin' them was
Like tellin' it on the mountain

It's quite a life havin' the gift of
laughter I'm a man who knows in a
minute I can tell y'just exactly how the story goes
It involves a firm conviction in another
previous life givin' your mind a chance to fly
Fly aroun' the universe investigatin' other
galaxies n' certain other subtle
types o'life tryin' t'dig it gettin'
pretty well-acquainted with a lot of
other strife an' pretty much acquirin'
yourself plenty of education
pretty soon here comes earth birth
'n then y'ready t'put it all t'work
but soon as you're finished bein' born
you start forgettin' what you knew
'Cause you're another kinda you - a
reincarnation manifestation
of spirit in sensation

Y'really got that right
The average person isn't bright
not so bright that they recall the fatal fall
down here t' this earth
their minds disguise their death to spirit
life and call it birth
that's their reason for forgetting and they
find it very upsetting when reminded
tell 'em they've lived before
They'll show y' the nearest open door
Gotta have feelin' while dealin' with
walkers in their sleep
they can't imagine somethin' as deep

Here they come - here they come - there they are
Unimaginative and ignorant of falling from a star
Here they come - there they are - there they go
Life is over in a minute an' they never dug
it in it or enjoy a minute of it
'cause they put too much above it
that was gross
somethin' that was worth a couple bucks
at mos'

So there is the reason that the maker of man
included there in his plan
A certain fountain deep within'
where there was laughter, youth 'n gold
for human beings t'have 'n hold
'n share the memory of where we've all been

Brothers called Grimm knew chances were slim'
Anybody would dig that the human soul
was Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs were seven tempers
in man
whose digging out the gold completes
the plan
An Bacon was hip that Shakespeare
couldn't read
and so he gave him all the rhymes
that have lasted through the years
and kept eternal truths alive through
several centuries
That's how we know them now
they lasted 'cause they're true

What was it from "MacBeth?"
"Life's but a walking shadow
a player poor
that struts and frets upon the stage
and's seen no more
A tale that truly has an idiotic ring
That's full of lotsa sound and fury
signifying nothing..."

That's right signifying nothing
I'll repeat it! Nothing
Don't forget it - Nothing
And that's the reason for that spring
of joy
That the Father put inside of every
single girl and boy

Show time! Everyone's on
let's hit the stage
It's show time everyone an' proceed
to act your age

Whatever you're frownin' at is funny
enough f'laughin'
so you're wastin' all your humor on a frown
While you're bringin' your spirit down

You gotta book yourself a comic in your act
without some laughter life's a maudlin
farce 'n that's a fact

Once you know about the spring you always can smile
It becomes your one expression
and you're always wearin' it like the
Buddhas do

Ponce de Leon sought this
When he was searchin'
for the fountain of youth
I say in truth he
sought a magical thing
For he was searchin'
for the joy spring
 

[fasstrack]

Wow. Thanks!

[JSngry]

Might be best heard on the original LH&R version, done for Pacific Jazz and not widely restored to circulation, as far as I can tell.

[fasstrack]

1 minute ago, JSngry said:

Might be best heard on the original LH&R version, done for Pacific Jazz and not widely restored to circulation, as far as I can tell.

Manhattan Transfer's was a cover? 

[JSngry]

Yep.

 

[BFrank]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khyNZ2VVpF8

[fasstrack]

I swear, you guys are gonna make a convert of me........

[bichos]

just came across of this and i think it´s wonderful:

 

 

Keep boppin´

marcel

[BillF]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjsoQ-xw3oc

[bichos]

not possible to see it in Germany because of Copyright. or something like that......

 

Keep boppin´

marcel

Edited November 6, 2015 by bichos
picture too big

[fasstrack]

1 hour ago, bichos said:

just came across of this and i think it´s wonderful:

 

 

Keep boppin´

marcel

He's great. I sat in with him once at Iridium and he performed that lyric to Yardbird Suite. I think he did some of his school series too that day.

Edited November 6, 2015 by fasstrack

[jeffcrom]

I don't have a dog in this hunt, but I get tickled every time I see the title of this thread. It sounds like a chapter title in a 19th-century music appreciation book.

[JSngry]

9 hours ago, fasstrack said:

9 hours ago, fasstrack said:

 

Manhattan Transfer's was a cover? 

20 years ago, it was reissued on CD, survivors available quite cheaply, apparently: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000008BJN/ref=tmm_acd_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=1446865819&sr=8-1

This predates the Columbia albums, I think.

 

[mikeweil]

5 hours ago, JSngry said:

This predates the Columbia albums, I think.

 

Yes it does - as do the Sing a Song of Basie and Sing Along With Basie LPs. There also was a single on United Artists that Michael Cuscuna unfortunately overlooked when he produced the Pacific Jazz reissue, Doodlin' c/w The Spirit Feel, that can be heard on a compilation on the él / Cherry Red label - a nice introductoray overview, fwiw, including some other rare early vocalese stuff:

[BillF]

12 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

Yes it does - as do the Sing a Song of Basie and Sing Along With Basie LPs. There also was a single on United Artists that Michael Cuscuna unfortunately overlooked when he produced the Pacific Jazz reissue, Doodlin' c/w The Spirit Feel, that can be heard on a compilation on the él / Cherry Red label - a nice introductoray overview, fwiw, including some other rare early vocalese stuff:

Improvisations for the Human Voice is a great little collection, despite its title!

[Brad]

21 hours ago, bichos said:

just came across of this and i think it´s wonderful:

 

 

Keep boppin´

marcel

This is a very good version.  Hadn't heard it before.  Good as the Eddie Jefferson one. 

[johnblitweiler]

My favorite (Annie Ross on "Jackie," one of Wardell Gray's totally perfect tenor solos):

I sat / one night / right / in the middle of a glass of coca-cola

And thought how / I'd now / go for / some biscuits and a slice of gorgonzola

When I felt / a twitch / which / seemed to come from something under my ear

I wondered if / I was high / or / if it was merely a hallucination

I turned round / and found / something I thought was my imagination

On my blouse / a mouse / sat / and this is what he started to say:

If you want to hear the story of a mouse in all its glory, let me tell you 'bout the time that I was giggin' with a band

And all the cats thought that I was really the end

They'd come around and listen to the sound that was

Coming from a crazy little creature who was sitting on the bandstand, and that was me-ee

etc.

[AllenLowe]

just to note, though it doesn't seem to be mentioned as much as the other, the LHR Sing a Song Basie on Roulette is WAY better than their other Basie record (ABC Paramount? Not sure). It's the most perfect melding of solos/lyrics I have heard, the hippest stuff in this arena, I do believe.

Edited November 8, 2015 by AllenLowe

[fasstrack]

On ‎11‎/‎7‎/‎2015‎ ‎9‎:‎14‎:‎54‎, AllenLowe said:

just to note, though it doesn't seem to be mentioned as much as the other, the LHR Sing a Song Basie on Roulette is WAY better than their other Basie record (ABC Paramount? Not sure). It's the most perfect melding of solos/lyrics I have heard, the hippest stuff in this arena, I do believe.

Jon Hendricks told the story about how they tried to first record this with studio singers, but they couldn't swing to save their lives. Hendricks and co. tried to explain (no, you lay back), but nada. Hence the final overdubbing.

[fasstrack]

WBGO played Mark Murphy's version of Effendi the other day. Wild! He kept repeating 'Effendi' at the end.

[BFrank]

8 hours ago, fasstrack said:

WBGO played Mark Murphy's version of Effendi the other day. Wild! He kept repeating 'Effendi' at the end.

He does an exceptional job with that tune!

[Teasing the Korean]

On November 3, 2015 12:15:14 PM, fasstrack said:

I guess I find the lyrics silly often, and the use of 'hip' language corny and frankly even embarrassing.

I find vocalese lyrics in the aggregate more interesting than 95% or so of "serious" English language lyrics written in the past 100 years or so. 

On November 9, 2015 9:20:28 AM, fasstrack said:

Jon Hendricks told the story about how they tried to first record this with studio singers, but they couldn't swing to save their lives. Hendricks and co. tried to explain (no, you lay back), but nada. Hence the final overdubbing.

Several of those singers were members of the Dave Lambert singers at one time or another, so Dave Lambert might have a more nuanced response to your post, were he alive to respond.