Vocal jazz is in some ways a tributary of instrumental jazz that runs alongside it, mingles with it but is also apart. It's often peripheral to discussions of jazz and its history, but at the same time some of the most popular jazz recordings of all time are vocal jazz. It's more popular with people who don't like or don't know instrumental jazz -- i.e. most of the U.S. -- yet is often kept at arms-length by serious jazz fans.
In the 20s and 30s instrumental jazz, vocal jazz and pop were all closer together. Louis Armstrong, the first true instrumental soloist, was also a singer, and eventually became more popular as a singer than a trumpet player. Billie Holiday was influenced by both Louie and Bessie Smith, who was categorized as city blues -- what we might consider proto-R&B now. Though Billie didn't improvise the way we think of improvisation now, she varied her phrasing and had a swing feeling, considered to be a defining characteristic of jazz.
It seems like when modern jazz came along in the form of be-bop, the divide between vocal and instrumental jazz widened. There haven't been jazz vocal giants on the level of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald since the establishment of bop. Ella was already a successful jazz singer in the 30s and Sarah Vaughan started in the early 40s before bop caught on. Dinah Washington's wonderful, but she doesn't have the name-recognition of Ella or Vaughan. She also demonstrates the commercial forces buffeting jazz singers, becoming more famous as an R&B singer thanks to her hit, "What a Difference a Day Makes." Abbey Lincoln went in almost the opposite direction, starting as a torch singer, then, after getting involved with and then marrying Max Roach, becoming a serious jazz singer. Many singers often considered jazz are at the musical periphery of it, like Nina Simone and Peggy Lee.
Kool Keith Sweat has a point about vocalists and group improvisation -- why many singers are on the periphery of jazz musically -- but there also have always been degrees of improvisation in jazz, vocal and instrumental, whether in the swing era or the smooth jazz era.
I love Billie and Dinah Washington, but am not a big fan of vocal jazz in general. I just don't dig scatting. Given my tastes, I should love vocal improvisation, but scatting's too mannered for me most of the time. Love it when Louie does it, though. Like most of the free jazz vocals I've heard. Also like Abbey Lincoln, Leon Thomas and Cassandra Wilson, but not many others. I get more of what I want from vocalists from soul singers: Aretha (Dinah Washington's one of her biggest influences), Otis Redding, Al Green etc.
Last edited by PurpleHazel on 05/09/2018 09:23; edited 1 time in total
yeah I feel you there chief, though I will say I have to recommend Nara by Nara Leão because yeah it's different because it's bossa nova but really that's a type of jazz, and maybe my preference there is partially for the stylistic differences inherent in the genre differences but also I think it does an excellent job of operating in the relatively simpler sort of space and not being a demanding listen but still there's a lot going on in how the other instruments fill in the space around the voice.
and oh hey Hazel throwing down a good post there as I'm posting which I'll need to read fully but if you wanna hear some really fun vocals that I think have some improvisation going on but wouldn't describe as scatting, Linda Sharrock fucking kills it here
1. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane 5/5
2. In A Silent Way - Miles Davis 4.5/5
3. The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus 4.5/5
4. Karma - Pharoah Sanders 4/5
5. Bitches Brew - Miles Davis 4/5
6. Moanin' - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers 4/5
7. Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis 3.5/5
8. Mingus Ah Um - Charles Mingus 3.5/5
9. Soulville - Ben Webster 3.5/5
10. Lörrach / Paris 1966 - Albert Ayler 3.5/5
11. Sarah Vaughan - Sarah Vaughan 3.5/5
I liked everything in this batch. Soulville and Lörrach / Paris 1966 were good new discoveries. The latter was actually my first experience with free jazz and now I want to explore the genre more in the future. While it wasn't a new discovery, Bitches Brew moved up quite a bit when I revisited it. Sadly, there had to be one entry to finish in eleventh with no points, and that was the one vocal jazz entry here. While it is a solid record and she has a great voice, the material pales in comparison to the best of what Billie Holiday and Nina Simone have to offer. I liked it a bit less this time than when I first heard it a couple years ago. I wouldn't put it in the top ten vocal jazz albums, never mind the top ten out of all jazz albums. _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
I’ve gone quiet here. Been listening. And now my ranks.
1. Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis
2. In A Silent Way - Miles Davis
3. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane
4. Bitches Brew - Miles Davis
5. The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus
6. Mingus Ah Um - Charles Mingus
7. Karma - Pharoah Sanders
8. Sarah Vaughan - Sarah Vaughan
9. Moanin' - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
10. Soulville - Ben Webster
11. Lörrach / Paris 1966 - Albert Ayler _________________ -Ryan
So I'm still watching the Ken Burns Jazz documentary, and Louis Armstrong was everywhere. It seemed like most artists had this scene and stuck too it, but Louis was in the original New Orleans scene, then Chicago, then New York, and then Hollywood. I mean sure folks would tour around, but perhaps he was in higher demand.
I was a bassist in a jazz band with this trumpet player whose dad played professionally (I am mediocre at bass, not trying to attach myself to this guy at all) down in old Hollywood clubs that were still around from the jazz age, and now I'm tying together a little of what that meant. At the time I was 18 and just said, that's cool... of course not knowing what that meant, haha.
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
I also learned about what big role John Hammond was in getting swing music popularized, as well as bringing much of the Jazz talent out of the clubs and onto records... names like: Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, and a saxophonist I just forgot the name of.
Benny Goodman, whose band was tight, but played "boring" music... it wasn't until John Hammond introduced Benny to Fletcher Henderson to do his arrangements, did Benny's career take off.
Art Tatum is another artist I want to check out more in depth - his piano playing was so smooth.
Last edited by RoundTheBend on 05/22/2018 04:04; edited 1 time in total
1. The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady - Charles Mingus
2. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane
3. Bitches Brew - Miles Davis
4. Mingus Ah Um - Charles Mingus
5. Soulville - Ben Webster
6. Moanin' - Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers
7. In A Silent Way - Miles Davis
8. Karma - Pharoah Sanders
9. Lörrach / Paris 1966 - Albert Ayler
10. Sarah Vaughan - Sarah Vaughan
Two Miles albums IS enough.
I can’t quite put Lörrach / Paris 1966 on the same level as Spiritual Unity because A. Ayler barely even solos, far less than his brother and William Folwell. Excellent record nevertheless.
Though the band on Sarah Vaughan is superb, as I’ve said, I’m just not a fan of traditional scat. Vaughan's voice's a little deep for me to fully embrace as well.
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
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