I Loves You, Porgy

One of my favorite recordings of a personal favorite, "I Loves You, Porgy." Fitzgerald's perfect voice enhances this haunting melody, pushing it in different directions than the instrumental recordings I usually listen to. Listening to Ella sing the standards has been my thing for the last week or two now...so much to learn.

Carmen's Not For Me

Carmen McRae has long been one of the jazz singers I've meant to fully explore. She's always highly recommended and she certainly possesses an interesting voice. Here she is singing one of my favorite standards, accompanying herself on piano, I believe. She slows down the tune while accentuating its playfulness. Chet Baker could never do this. What she's lacking in the acrobatic vocal display of Ella or Dinah, she makes up for in an earthy tone. 

Bill Evans and Tony Bennett

Although I am not a big fan of Tony Bennett, I always enjoyed the way in which Evans accompanied vocalists. I think his best work with a vocalist was a too-brief LP with Swedish jazz singer Monica Zetterlund, Waltz for Debby, but with Tony Bennett, we are treated to a more intimate setting with just piano and vocals. 

Getting Lost: "Best Of" Chet Baker

Chet Baker is shockingly a recent acquisition in my growing jazz library. I've never been impressed very much by his trumpet playing or some of his associates, although there is an understated charm that is perfect for ballads. For me, Chet Baker's approach to vocal jazz is what I appreciate. Baker has this unique voice and phrasing, often a little behind the beat (Billie Holiday, much?), which I find entertaining and perfect for slow evenings. Baker's full of emotion and unafraid of being sentimental or passionate. The longing in his voice is always there, even in his later years when his singing lost some of its range. Like Sathima Bea Benjamin, another jazz vocalist I adore, Baker never forgets to emote and play with words. Furthermore, he could translate trite material like "My Buddy" into a delightful work of art, a pattern established by Billie Holiday and other vocal jazz greats. 

1. It's Always You is a highlight from Chet Baker Sings, one of my favorite recordings where Baker's rookie yet irresistible vocals possess a youthful exuberance that is somehow restrained, much like his trumpet solo on the record.

2. My Ideal features a Russ Freeman on celeste. Freeman was a perfect accompanist to Chet Baker's singing. This is the kind of ballad that found its way in Cowboy Bebop of all things, and my favorite use of celeste in jazz besides Monk's "Pannonica". Baker is full of emotion and longing, but not cheesy, which is often hard to pull off.

3.  Time After Time is another example of Baker at his zenith, in the 1950s and 1960s. The way Baker sings the chorus gives me goosebumps. Even when hitting the high notes Baker is subtle and relaxed.

4. But Not For Me may be my favorite of Baker's vocals. His delivery of the chorus is so upbeat and playful it's a contradictory fit for the song's depressing title.

5. There Will Never Be Another You begins excellently with Baker's trumpet introduction and is an example of his instrumental side of the equation balancing quite well with his singing. When he did not try to transcend his limitations, Baker's shortcomings as a trumpeter don't bother me.

6. I Fall In Love Too Easily brings to mind Billie Holiday's best work in the vein of Songs for Distingué Lovers, sometimes even sounding like a young Holiday singing "Gloomy Sunday". Another lament from Baker's trumpet and Freeman's brief and graceful solo is enough for three minutes of bliss despite the song's somber theme. Russ Freeman is no Mal Waldron or Teddy Wilson, but he gets the job done.

7. Let's Get Lost in each other's arms. Let's defrost in a romantic mist. The silly lyrics are a standout here.

8. Long Ago and Far Away is simple, swinging fun.

9. I Wish I Knew is the only song I can stomach by Chet Baker singing with strings. Like Billie Holiday or Dinah Washington, I usually despise vocal jazz with strings, but the lush soundscape Baker's vocals are accompanied by do not overwhelm.

10. You're Driving Me Crazy alternates between annoying and endearing but somehow works in spite of Baker's wailing-like tone.

11. It Could Happen To You is the only vocal version of this standard I enjoy. I prefer Ryo Fukui's piano trio recording or Bud Powell's recording from the early 1950s, but Baker slows things down to emote in his utterly unique way. Miraculously, even Baker's scatting is delightful.

12. My Heart Stood Still  features an excellent piano solo from Kenny Drew that begins with a quote of a famous blues by Charlie Parker.

13. How Long Has This Been Going On is drenched in the blues. Kenny Drew's accompaniment makes this, while Baker's attempt to sing in a blues-like style works when he doesn't try too hard. Young Dannie Richmond's quiet drumming is the glue holding this together quite well.

14. Old Devil Moon features Baker singing over a Latin beat. What more do you need? It's not the same as Dinah Washington singing over a Latin-ish rendition of "Love For Sale" but still interesting. I believe this is the standard quoted in Butch Warren's bass solo on "Lost" from A Fickle Sonance.

15. Maid in Mexico for more Baker fun with Latin rhythms. Russ Freeman's composition sounds more like a trip to Cuba or New Orleans than Mexico, but actually holds up to some of the Latin-inspired songs of the bebop era. Musicians like Denzil Best come to mind.

16. The Thrill Is Gone should be required listening for night owls. This is the end, indeed!

17.  I Get Along Without You Very Well is late Baker, but still gold. Like Billie Holiday in her later years, the pain of Baker's lifestyle caught up with his music. It's not that Baker or Holiday worsened over time but it's quite different from his younger days. For contrast, listen to Baker singing this tune in the 1950s.

18. Easy To Love is an instrumental, but one of my favorite standards. Cole Porter was a genius.

19. Chet Baker successfully made My Funny Valentine entirely his song. I am ashamed to admit it was Kanye West's sampling of a Etta James take on this standard that eventually brought me to Chet Baker, after initially falling in love with Miles.

20. Daybreak for those early mornings and a happy start.

21. Just Friends is another number about heartbreak that will make you smile. Baker later sang this in a concert not long before he passed.

22. All Of You is a standard I will forever associate with Miles Davis, but Baker does it justice.

23. Alone Together is a bit too derivative of Miles Davis (thinking of his score for Ascenseur pour l'échafaud) and even features many of the sidemen who famously collaborated with Miles.

24. Autumn In New York receives better treatment from Kenny Dorham or Billie Holiday, but one of my favorite standards.

25. For adapting Love For Sale into funk Baker deserves accolades. Cole Porter's standard was already flawless, but this innovative step does not tamper with the song and a funky beat actually matches a song about a prostitute.

26. Chet Baker sings in Italian for Chetty's Lullaby. Maybe just because Italian is a Romance language and the orchestra backing Baker, but he almost sounds like he's singing a bossa nova here. 

Time After Time

Although I am not a connoisseur of vocal jazz, Chet Baker's unique voice and phrasing makes for interesting music. Sentimental, emotive, a little behind the beat like Billie Holiday and not a bad trumpeter, one can see his appeal. I usually prefer women jazz vocalists whose voices tend, in my experience, to have a greater range and emotional expressiveness, but Baker's managed to forge his own path as a vocalist. As the instrumental side of the equation, they're competent, sure, but I still have much to learn when it comes to cool jazz and West Coast jazz, which is too often a little restrained and not as adventurous or experimental like modal jazz, free, or sometimes, even hard bop.

Sarah Vaughan's Lover Man

Enthralling version of jazz standard "Lover Man." Although I am not a big fan of vocal jazz, Sarah Vaughan will always find room my heart for her artistry with the human voice. Vaughan's "Misty" remains my favorite vocal jazz piece, but this is also up there for me. 

An Evening with Abbey Lincoln

The inimitable and unforgettable Abbey Lincoln, a beautiful jazz singer with a perfect voice. Though perhaps better known for her marriage and work with fellow radical jazz artist Max Roach, Lincoln was a talented artist in her own right with numerous worthwhile songs, including Strong Man, Let Up, Lonely House, Afro Blue, Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe, When Malindy Sings, Lost In the Stars, etc. Rest in peace, Abbey Lincoln. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB2VUUEEcco
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXtY_APMKWA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spqjGLG7B-s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ_aWNVW1w4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBQYdp6pdqo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AdEUekAoIM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceMqHPRlA20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOv9GEtltwY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7w8Wb5_aZA

Abbey Lincoln's That's Him!

Abbey Lincoln’s 1957 That’s Him! is a wonderful delight. Opening with the slow, “Strong Man,” where Lincoln sings about her love for a large, dark, muscled, and shining man who folds around her. “Hair crisped tight and curly and cropped kinda close” indicates beyond a doubt, that Lincoln is singing in honour of the black male physiognomy, which, in 1958, was quite unheard of for lyrical material. In addition, her light-hearted tone and with the fun, black conscious lyrics from Oscar Brown, is enhanced by some soloing spaces for Kenny Dorham and Sonny Rollins, the latter going first through melodious runs. “Picture a lover like this” is Lincoln’s obvious, and rather direct, appreciation of black love. Thus, even before her closer relationship and marriage with Max Roach (who drums on this album), Lincoln was already engaged in her own pro-black sentiment and art, as well as choosing material that she would want, not predominantly white standards or apolitical work. “Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe” is another love song for a man, but with perfect piano comping while she lithely exudes notes through the mountainous curve of the song’s melody. “When he kisses me it’s Christmas everywhere” also indicates her willingness not to shy from sensuality, especially when her voice rises and falls. The question of a reciprocated love is still unknown, alas, but perhaps the potential unrequited love only improves the song until Rollins blows away another pretty solo. Then Lincoln’s soaring, unique voice also rises, becoming louder while maintaining the melismas necessary  to keep things from becoming boring. As one would expect from a jazz vocalist who can actually sing and emote, the listener is overcome with desire for Lincoln’s Joe to return her love.

She even pays tribute to Billie Holiday, singing “My Man” and “Don’t Explain.” The former is similar to some of Holiday’s 1950s recordings, with a very bare arrangement, centred on piano and voice. It’s a song full of despair, distress, and, clearly, self-inflicted domestic abuse to a certain degree since Lincoln, like Holiday, sings, “What’s the difference if I say I’ll go away when I know I’ll be back on my knees someday.” The band does a great job, however, providing the necessary atmosphere for the heart-breaking piece. Somehow, “Tender As a Rose,” a standard on a woman’s beauty, is just Lincoln’s vocals, and it evades the realm of boredom! Lincoln, always experimental and a risk-taker , does quite well without the band, showing that her voice stands alone. Next, “That’s Him!,” the title track, is another torch ballad love song, but one in which Lincoln defiantly proclaims who the man she loves is, instead of allowing herself to be claimed or described as an object of desire in some other songs. “Wonderful world, wonderful youth, that’s him, that’s him” and the stunning band accompaniment, such as Dorham’s muted trumpet, keeps things interesting, too. Lincoln, near the song’s end, injects some blues phrasing, too, showing individuality and her own personality in her interpretation of standard material. For “I Must Have That Man,” another standard well-sung by Holiday, begins with just percussion in response to Lincoln’s vocals. Another song obviously about love for a man, has Roach swinging joyously and the rest of the band joins it, adding some bop to the standard fare while Lincoln’s vocal phrasing, almost conversational, keeps up until Dorham’s solo. Then, after the instrumental break, Lincoln sings while the horns and piano provide back-up, sounding exquisitely jazzy with a big sound, reminding me of some of the songs from Dinah Jams. Despite Lincoln’s desire for a man who may reject her, the song gives the impression that she will be fine, however, if she does not have him, perhaps reflecting her boredom with so many of the misogynistic torch songs and ballads female jazz singers have been forced into recording, though the alternate take, in my opinion, is more soulfully bluesy with band accompaniment after the instrumental. Regardless, Lincoln makes it quite clear at the end she will have that man, and not be helpless and wait for male authority.

“Porgy,” standard material from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, is another ballad, which excels. With well-written lyrics from Gershwin, the song is delightful to hear. The instrumental improvisation from Dorham’s trumpet is ‘cute’ as well, though Lincoln’s vocal remains the highlight by far. “He’s got a good kind of love for me, changing my style and way of living, glad I stopped taking and starting giving, I got a man, I got Porgy now.” The alternate take surprisingly seems to feature even more melisma and fervour. The penultimate track, “When a Woman Loves a Man,” is a standard with sexist lyrics about how a woman in love wants to live her life for her man while men do not practice love that way. Nevertheless, things turn out to be a little bluesy with the band accompaniment, especially Sonny Rollins playing behind her and the pianist. “She’ll just string along all through sick and thin ‘til his ship comes in” continues the theme of the selfless, woman in love, who will be the first to praise him when he’s going strong, the last one to blame him when everything’s wrong, it’s such a one-sided game they play, but women are funny that way.” It’s hard to believe Lincoln ever believing this drivel, but she sings it in a seemingly sarcastic way with the moving band, showing off her blues shout at the song’s end. But all good things must come to an end, and “Don’t Explain,” by Billie Holiday, a song for a lover cheating on her, continues the theme of the selfless, tragic lover abused and scorned by men. Dorham and the bassist perform exceedingly well, here, particularly the former’s smooth solo. The walking bassline, soft swing, and Dorham’s mournful trumpet create an atmosphere of hushed talk, silent rage, and torn love. Thus, though not quite reaching the heights of Abbey Is Blue, this album is a powerful reminder of Lincoln’s already unique voice and style.