Crosby/Sinatra/Lee/Christy boxes....

[tranemonk]

Okay all this talk about these names has got me confused...

Who do you consider a jazz singer and why? I consider all of them (except Bing) a jazz singer... Sinatra is on the borderline... but I'm leaning more towards liking his stuff....

What say you???? :unsure:

[Free For All]

I really try not to worry about categorizing what I like so much anymore.

If you like it, what does it matter?

[jazzbo]

Bing not a jazz singer? What?

Bing was a jazz singer before the others you list, and before so many others.

I consider these all to be jazz singers. They did pop as well. So did so many jazz players. In the earlier decades the boundaries were less firm and unscalable. It's really an eighties and nineties thing that jazz is so segrated as a genre. . . .

I'm not a fan of Sinatra, for many reasons. I love Peggy and June. I'm a red-blooded American guy, why wouldn't I?

But ask me "Who's your favorite jazz signer?" And I might say Pops, or Jackson (Teagarden), or Fats, or Billie or Carmen or Betty.

But the real answer may be Ray Nance.

[ghost of miles]

Just squeeze me, pops!

[jazzbo]

[AllenLowe]

the real jazz Bing is generally, to me, prior to 1940 -

and like before I want to bring up Doris Day, who in the 1950s made a series of incredible recordings on Columbia with some of the most beautiful pop singing I have ever heard - pure and clear, with a version of I'm Confessin' which is as bluesy as anything June Christy ever did and also just as much jazz.

Edited September 18, 2009 by AllenLowe

[colinmce]

Personally, I consider many GAS (or "pop") singers to be part of the jazz umbrella: similar repertoire, same era-- most importantly I get the same feeling from it. Beyond that, I feel no need to categorize or nitpick.

[AllenLowe]

and to top it off Doris Day likes animals - how can you go wrong?

[king ubu]

Lon is a redneck, Lon is a redneck, Lon is a...

I like Lee and Christy and Sinatra... and so many other singers, from Mose Allison and Blossom Dearie, from Billie Holiday and Carmen McRae, to Mildred Bailey and Hoagy Carmichael (is he jazz? I don't mind... but I look forward to digging into the 10CD Avid box I recently got...)

Guess I ought to check out a Crosby set, but if it's so large and only includes that Buddy Cole trio (I think I've heard him but can't say I'm familiar), it might indeed be too much of a good thing.

[AllenLowe]

actually I HATE singers from a personal standpoint - most difficult group of people I ever met (ask me someday about my experiences booking a now-sorta-famous female singer in NYC in the 1970s - she still owes me about $25) - and most of 'em can't sing in tune, and personally I think that there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing scat singing -

as Al Haig once told me contemptuously, "they ALL want to be actresses."

Edited September 18, 2009 by AllenLowe

[gmonahan]

actually I HATE singers from a personal standpoint - most difficult group of people I ever met (ask me someday about my experiences booking a now-sorta-famous female singer in NYC in the 1970s - she still owes me about $25) - and most of 'em can't sing in tune, and personally I think that there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing scat singing -

as Al Haig once told me contemptuously, "they ALL want to be actresses."

Al Haig really deserves a Mosaic box--a really good and interesting pianist.

greg mo

[AllenLowe]

nice thought, though unfortunately I have the feeling there are too few people who remember much about him -

[J.A.W.]

nice thought, though unfortunately I have the feeling there are too few people who remember much about him -

I don't think that has ever been a reason for Mosaic not to issue a box.

[mikelz777]

personally I think that there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing scat singing -

Amen!!

[MartyJazz]

For my money, Jo Stafford made a terrific jazz vocal album that features Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Don Fagerquist with Johnny Mandel arrangements. All the cuts make the cut, in particular "Midnight Sun" and "I Didn't Know About You". If you're not familiar with it, it's no surprise that Pres mentioned her as a favorite in a recorded interview. Titled "Jo + Jazz":

http://www.amazon.com/Jo-Jazz-Stafford/dp/B0000010KH

[king ubu]

For my money, Jo Stafford made a terrific jazz vocal album that features Ben Webster, Johnny Hodges, Don Fagerquist with Johnny Mandel arrangements. All the cuts make the cut, in particular "Midnight Sun" and "I Didn't Know About You". If you're not familiar with it, it's no surprise that Pres mentioned her as a favorite in a recorded interview. Titled "Jo + Jazz":

http://www.amazon.com/Jo-Jazz-Stafford/dp/B0000010KH

Yup, fine album! Got the UK version of it (on Corinthian, bought it via the Dutton Vocalion website - seems to be gone there, it was low stock when I bought it).

[AllenLowe]

I like Jo Stafford a lot and included her version of Baby Won't You Please Come Home (with the Metronome All Stars) on my blues set - (is there anything that's NOT on there?)

[medjuck]

Has anyone mentioned yet that Crosby made a couple of good records with Ellington in the early '30s?

[AllenLowe]

Dinah - as I recall - maybe 3 Little Words?

[medjuck]

And two takes of St. Louis Blues.

[AllenLowe]

and one hard boiled egg- ****************

***********see Night at the Opera

[mikelz777]

Marx Brothers stateroom scene. Click here.

A Night At The Opera is my favorite Marx brothers movie.

Edited September 22, 2009 by mikelz777