Jump to content

R.I.P. Annie Ross


Hardbopjazz

Recommended Posts

43 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

R.I.P. - one of my favourite singers ever. The grand lady of vocalese has joined the heavenly jazz choir. 

I once did "Twisted" with a local singer - just vocals and congas. 

Basie!  And I thought she was British so was surprised by the lack of an English accent, but I now see she came to the U.S. when she was four.  

What a delight.  RIP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Mark Stryker said:

Yes --tho not the most swinging band,but it hardly matters.

Not at all a swinging band, but that just adds to the vibe of a woman who recognizes that her existence to be spent solely in being used for the manipulation and benefit of others, that her fate in life is to show up and act like she's enjoying it - whatever it is. And then get paid. Period.

I don't know that I've ever heard a less "coy" rendition of that lyric. Seems like everybody else sings it to men, and puts a wink in it. This one is not "to" anybody, it's FROM somebody and it's dark as hell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Not at all a swinging band, but that just adds to the vibe of a woman who recognizes that her existence to be spent solely in being used for the manipulation and benefit of others, that her fate in life is to show up and act like she's enjoying it - whatever it is. And then get paid. Period.

I don't know that I've ever heard a less "coy" rendition of that lyric. Seems like everybody else sings it to men, and puts a wink in it. This one is not "to" anybody, it's FROM somebody and it's dark as hell.

Exactly.

This is the only jazz version I know that gets at the real  grit of prostitution. The verse helps set it up, but that's not all. Her swinging phrasing, the sensual way she straddles the tempo, and the way she italicizes certain words with a sly smirk or snarl, gets under the skin of the song.  Yet also note the brassy, exuberant shakes she adds to the words "old" and "new" in the second bridge -- like maybe there's a part of walking the streets she kinda digs. Or maybe she's just pretending to enjoy it. After all, that's the gig.
 

Edited by Mark Stryker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, Mark Stryker said:

  Yet also note the brassy, exuberant shakes she adds to the words "old" and "new" in the second bridge -- like maybe there's a part of walking the streets she kinda digs. Or maybe she's just pretending to enjoy it. After all, that's the gig.
 

Or maybe it's stress release, a way of trying to shake it away because counting the numbers would lead to a breakdown, the reality of just how much "old" and "new" there has been. There are statistics to be had there, whether or not a person can get to them internally or not.

Dark stuff.

And i think it's not accidental.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, sidewinder said:

Very sad news. She was last resident here in the 60s I think and ran the club ‘Annie’s Room’. RIP.

Remember seeing her in at least one 80s movie - a horror film, I think. Extremely versatile !

According to IMDB she was in about 15 movies in the '80s and '90s. In those years she was part of Robert Altman's repertory company.

In July 1968 I attended  some sort of anti-Vietnam War event at the Royal Albert Hall which is now remembered because The Nice created, and then burned, an American flag while they played Bernstein's America. (They were forever-after banned from the Hall.)  But I remember it chiefly because Annie and Jon Hendricks did a set together. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...