Girl Singers

[handsomefortune]

happy birthday bluesnik!

(iirc ....serial apologist's birthday coming up soon)

[eighthobstruction]

Good Happy STUFF on your Bidet Bluesnik....nicely x

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i was having a poor day it seems. apologies cloughie ...

[cloughie]

i was having a poor day it seems. apologies cloughie ...

OK Cal.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

OK Cloughie

[Quarky]

What I want to say is that there are plenty of jazz singers around today who are totally relevent to the contemporary scene and who are producing a body of work that is as impressive as instrumentalists were producing in jazz during the 50's and 60's. The notion that jazz singing is inferior to other types of jazz or than it is commercial and / or lazy no longer applies when youstart to listen to what is actually being performed as opposed to what is played ona station like Jazz FM - which itself is more likely to play Anita Baker, Sade and Erykah Badu.

Ian's comments as usual are very discerning and informative.

For me, singing, whether it is Jazz (Ella) ,Blues (Witherspoon), Gospel, Pop (Sinatra, Franklin, Dione Warwick), Classical Lieder (Mutter), or Grand Opera (Netrebko, Monarcha), is a class of music separate and distinct from instrumental music. Singers can easily bridge the different type of genres, since we are listening for subtleties and human emotion in the voice, rather than adherence to any particular notion of musical form. Therefore Ella is equally at home in singing standards or Jazz - actually I prefer her singing standards. Sinatra is nothing but a popular crooner, but he is very much at home in a Jazz environment.

So as regards the current batch of singers, I tend to look at voice quality rather than familiarity with Jazz form. So I prefer for example Gregory Porter to Kurt Elling. I'm quite happy with Esperanza Spaulding going down a popular route - her voice has not changed.

But Anita Baker, Nina Simone, Abbie Lincoln - yum yum!

[Serial_Apologist]

happy birthday bluesnik!

(iirc ....serial apologist's birthday coming up soon)

Calum's too!

[handsomefortune]

aaaaaaaaaaaw you beat me too it - was about to post about calum's birthday being near yours.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

if not the exact same day if i can remember it .....

[Serial_Apologist]

if not the exact same day if i can remember it .....

Yours on the 4th calum, right?

I always remember mine because the world celebrates on the eve by keeping me awake into the early hours - but don't remind Scottycelt!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

nope 16th

[Serial_Apologist]

nope 16th

Ah! - I'll remember that, (searches vainly for calendar).

[eighthobstruction]

Yeah for Water Signs....!!....proper people!!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

apposite methinks

[johncorrigan]

Sometimes there's not much like a bit of Rickie for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTyh5ZQAAF0