Greatest Jazz Vocals

Of course such a topic of this will generate a thousand opinions. Most of these, however, are consensus greats.

Atop this list stands the great 
Bessie Smith (1894-1934)

Like so many artists of African American descent, she grew up in poverty, and lost both parents and a brother while a young child. She was raised by her sister, who was barely a teenager, and was unable to gain an education. She and her brother Andrew busked on the streets of Chattanooga for pennies: he playing guitar while she sang and danced. She got jobs after a while, singing, or dancing, and she was coached by the legendary Ma Rainey (1882 or 1886-1939), Mother of the Blues. Then she got work in a chorus line in Atlanta, stood out, and soon became a star. 

Here is her rendition of W.C. Handy's St. Louis Blues  

                                                                    

Billy Eckstine (1914-1993)          

Originally from Pittsburg, Eckstine was multi-talented. He played guitar, trombone, and trumpet. But it was his voice that made him a star, especially a crooner of ballads. In 1944, he formed his own band, and helped nurture the careers of a who's who of jazz artists, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker.

Perhaps the best-known female jazz singer is Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996)



For Ella, my choice is her wonderful duet with Louis Armstrong


They Can't Take That Away from Me.

Armstrong was also a soloist. Here is his version of Kurt Weil's Mack the Knife (from his Threepenny Opera)


Frank Sinatra (1915-1978)

Hat's off to fellow New Jerseyan Frank Sinatra, the legendary 'Chairman of the Board.' What can I say or add that has not already been said, sung, or written about the man and his music? He was a master of his craft: some say the master. And again, while it would be very difficult indeed to select just one of his works, for me My Way sums up Sinatra's life and career best.

Billie Holliday (1915-1959)

Much like Ella and Frank, she was a trendsetter. But the hardship of her early life in Baltimore (she was a child prostitute and served time for that) shaped her musical drive and career. Her daring song Strange Fruit, about lynchings in the South, was such a powerful rage against racism, that she risked her life with every performance. Sadly, she died young, at 44.

Lena Horne (1917-2010) 

Born in NY, she was reportedly descended from John C. Calhoun. She got her first engagement at New York's Cotton Club.

Here is my favorite of her many hits:

Stormy Weather

Nat King Cole 
(1919-1965)

Unforgettable 
(with daughter 
Natalie Cole 
(1950-2015)

This audio remastering of Natalie singing a duet with her late father is stunning, in it's layered perfection.


Joe Williams (1919-1999)   

One of many of a new generation of black Americans to come out of the South, with a background in gospel. He found a job at a club in Chicago as a bouncer and a singer. Seriously.
He would then forge ahead to join the Count Basie Orchestra (another Jersey lad) as male vocalist and they topped the charts repeatedly. Here is their song All Right, Okay, You Win.

Anita O'Day (1919-2006) 

O'Day (born Colton) was born in Kansas City and raised in Chicago, where she first became known as a dancer. Then her singing career took off when she headed West to join the new school of jazz that became known as West Coast Cool, later Be-Bop. (I preferred the original moniker). Later she would go on to sing for Gene Krupa, Woody Herman, and Stan Kenton. Her life took a downhill turn when she was arrested with a small amount of marijuana in her purse, then another arrest when she switched to alcohol, but managed a comeback to work with such greats as Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Dinah Washington, George Shearing, and Thelonious Monk, and was shown in the documentary film Jazz on a Summer's Day, filmed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958. Here is her most famous hit:
Sweet Georgia Brown 


Carmen McRae (1920-1994)


     Born and raised in Harlem, NY, McRae was a gifted pianist as well as singer. Working in clubs in NYC, her first success was as a jazz pianist, and she worked with a who's who list of jazz greats, finally focusing on vocals. Here is a favorite of mine: Whatever Lola Wants

Peggy Lee (1920-2002)

Peggy Lee, while choosing a rather pedestrian stage name (her birth name was Norma Delores Egstrom: shades of Marilyn Monroe) moved from North Dakota to L.A. at the age of 17, and it did not take long for her career to take off (she was also an actor). Here is my favorite of her recordings: Why Don't You Do Right? recorded with the Benny Goodman Orchestra.

Dinah Washington (1924-1963)         

One of so many black artists who moved north from the South in the early 20th Century, she moved from Alabama to Chicago as a child and won a talent contest at the age of 15. Here is her performance of Unforgettable. Like so many artists, she died young, of a drug overdose.

                                          

 Sarah Vaughn (1924-1990)

The great Sarah Vaughn, another fellow Jerseyan, had so many great recordings it was difficult choosing just one. But here it is my favorite: Embraceable You 

  

Julie London (1926-2000) 

She was both a singer and an actress from early on, having been born and raised in a vaudeville family in California, she would be that rare star who was both a film star and star singer. In films, she co-starred with Rock Hudson, Robert Taylor, and Robert Mitchum, primarily in Westerns. Then she signed a recording contract with the new Liberty Records. Here is her signature song: Cry Me a River

Tony Bennett (b. 1926)

This choice was easy, being a life-long favorite:

I Left My Heart in San Francisco: 

Who has not visited the City by the Bay and not done exactly that?

Ernestine Anderson (1928-2016)

Born in Houston, Anderson got her big break as a teenager when she moved to Seattle in 1944, and, gifted with a husky, warm voice, performed with a band including such future superstars Quincy Jones and Ray Charles. Moving on to New York in the '50s, she performed with Lionel Hampton and Johnny Otis, then became a solo artist.

Chet Baker (1929-1988)

A fortunate child, in some ways, in that both parents were working musicians: his father a guitarist and his mother a pianist. However, family fortunes plummeted with The Great Depression, and his father had to take a 'regular' job. Chet showed talent early on, first in a church choir as a singer, then playing trumpet. He would go on to perform with Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, Jerry Mulligan and Dizzie Gillespie (presumably a duet). He then went into a decline brought on by heroin for more than a decade, and was in       and out of jail. Finally cleaning up his act--literally--he moved to Europe and made a comeback, with the help of British rocker Elvis Costello, a huge fan. He was played by Ethan Hawke in Born to be Blue.

Betty Carter (1929-1998)  

Born in Detroit, Carter tried piano, but could not master it, and focused on singing, drawing on her gospel background. Her parents did not support her wish to pursue a music career, so she had to sneak out to sing in clubs. She went on to sing with such artists as Dizzie Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Charles Mingus, Ray Charles and Wes Montgomery. Here she is performing Let's Fall in Love.

Nina Simone (1933-2003)

Like Carmen McRae, she was a gifted pianist from the age of 3, and studied at Julliard in NYC, but suffered a setback when denied admission to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She always suspected that denial was due to racism. However, she found employment at a club in Atlantic City where she was asked to sing as well as play, and her resulting popularity led her to  return to New York, where she had a successful career. Among her numerous hits, I chose Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

Les McCann (b. 1935) and Eddie Harris (1934-1996) 

Compared to What? (1966)

This prescient collaboration between pianist and singer McCann and saxaphonist Harris was an angry lament, describing the then-present mismatch between the Civil Rights movement on the one hand and the Vietnam War on the other. Here are the lyrics:

https://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/les+mccann+eddie+harris/compared+to+what_20861788.html 

Leon Thomas (1937-1999)  

Born in the hometown of Miles Davis (East St. Louis, Illinois) Inspired by the music of Miles and John Coltrane working together, Leon Thomas began his career as a guest vocalist, and would go on to perform with many top orchestras in New York, and like Joe Williams, Thomas performed with the Count Basie Orchestra. But he became intrigued by the new Avante Garde, and it's leaders such as Miles and Coltrane, becoming vocal partner with the Jazz Messengers, saxophonist Pharoah Saunders, and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. He even toured with Carlos Santana.

     
         Billy Joel  (b. 1949)       Piano Man   

While born and raised across the river, I spent my first post-graduation decade as a New Yorker, and must tip my hat to Billy Joel. The authenticity of Piano Man is unmistakable: his lyrics reach out and grab you by the heart.

Sting (b. 1951) and 
Joe Henderson 
(1937-2001)

It Ain't Necessarily So                                                                             There have been many great renditions of George and Ira Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. I love Miles Davis' performance album of these works. But for this list I like Sting and Joe Henderson's version.


Stan Getz (1927-1991)
Girl from Ipanema (with Astrud Gilberto (b. 1940) 



    A great Brazilian/American masterpiece and partnership.



Taj Mahal (b. 1942)
 Blue Light Boogie (1999).

Taj Mahal's career has been long and successful. And while leaning somewhat towards rock, this is often played on my local jazz station KNKX Seattle.
And let's face it: Taj Mahal rocks.
    

They call it Stormy Monday

This great song was written and first performed in 1947 by the great blues singer T. Bone Walker (1910-1975). Here is the original: Stormy Monday Blues. 


I'm a huge fan of the late, great Eva Cassidy (1963-1996), who died long before her prime of cancer in her early thirties. Her live performance of Walker's masterpiece is brilliant and heartfelt, and she died before it was released in 1997, a year after her death. So both share a place on this list. Here is her version: Stormy Monday.

 Sade 

(b. 1959) 

Watching this English singer (born in Nigeria) scope out the person in question in this video is classic. While a great song, to me, at least, so is the video.
Smooth Operator

Her name, btw, is pronounced 'Shar-day.'

Diana Krall (b. 1964)

No such list as this can be without Diana Krall: winner of three Grammies to date, she has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide. Born in British Columbia into a family of musicians, Krall began studying piano at age 4. She went on to study at The Royal Conservatory; won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and the rest, as they say, is history.

She is married to rock star Elvis Costello, and they have two sons.

Here she is with her hit Peel Me a Grape. (Before I heard this song I didn't even know that was possible or desirable!).


Norah Jones (b. 1979)
                                             
Norah Jones is the daughter of Ravi            Shankar, but her interest turned to jazz        early on.

This track is from her first album, of the same title, which has sold 27 million copies to date:

Come Away With Me.
  
As I have developed this list, I have concluded that it truly is endless; this is but a sampling of the great jazz performances that have been recorded over the years.

Excelsior!

E.C.