The 12 Greatest Jazz Vocal Albums – Part 1

by jazzbo

Jazz has always been considered primarily an instrumental music. But every once in a while a vocalist comes along who has the “chops” to compete with the best jazz instrumentalists. We’re not talking about “scat” singing, or the human voice emulating a musical instrument here. Though to do that well one must possess a unique talent, but like a drum solo, after about 30 seconds you think – “yeah, that’s nice, I’m impressed – can we get on with the song now?” What the artists cited below do is transfer the phrasing and feel that the greatest jazz instrumentalists have to the human voice, in the service of a great song.

John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman (Eponymous) - No surprises here – it generally makes everyone’s “top” list - but then again, it richly deserves to. When producer Bob Thiele contacted Hartman to do the session, Hartman told him that he “didn’t think they (he and Coltrane) would fit too well.” Actually they fit as well as any two jazz musicians ever did, rivaling Billie Holiday and Lester Young on their late 1930’s Columbia recordings.

Some might say this album is not a vocalist with a saxophone, but two vocalists – that’s how human Coltrane makes his instrument sound. Some evening turn out the lights, get your favorite strong drink and check out “My One and Only Love” – preferably with your own one and only love.

Chet Baker/Chet Baker Sings – Much like Louis Armstrong’s gravelly and exuberant voice was an extension of his trumpet in both tone and phrasing, Baker’s frail voice was likewise, an extension of his trumpet playing. Ethereal and seductive (almost androgynous), Baker’s voice was the antithesis of the masculine sound of contemporaries such as Billy Eckstein and Johnny Hartman. For those who watch Turner Classic Movies in the morning, it’s Baker singing “Look for the Silver Lining,” which accompanies the very cool segue way into each movie.

Billie Holiday/Songs for Distingue Lovers – In January 1957, 2 _ years before her death, Holiday went into the studio with an all-star backing band including Ben Webster, Harry “Sweets” Edison and Jimmy Rowles. At this stage of her career, recording sessions were games of vocal “Russian Roulette.” On any given day, depending on her consumption of alcohol and drugs, she could sound like a woman twice her age (she was 41 at the time), with her voiced often sounding pinched and out of tune. The next day she could rebound and recapture some of the magic she had displayed in her prime. Evidently the presence of close friend Rowles and the nostalgia of once again working with Webster and Edison motivated her for perhaps her last great record (depending on your opinion of the controversial “Lady in Satin” session of 1958). This is the album where Holiday’s many years of hard living finally meets the wisdom gained along the way and she creates what producer Norman Granz refers to in the liner notes as “short stories.”

Andy Bey/Tuesdays in Chinatown – Those of us (approximately 40 of us) who where present at Mark Goldman’s old Calumet Arts Café on a cold February evening 5 years ago to see Andy Bey, were treated to a solo concert (Bey and his piano) that was truly transcendental. That evening Bey, who is now billed by many critics as the “world’s greatest living jazz vocalist,” sang the “Great American Song Book” as well as cuts from this album. I personally have never seen a performer capture the rapt attention of his audience like Bey did that evening. This album contains definitive versions of Nascimento’s song “B ridges” and Rodger and Hart’s “Little Girl Blue.” Upon the release of this album, Bey, who had toiled in relative obscurity on the jazz scene for over 40 years, had finally arrived.

Frank Sinatra/Sinatra at the Sands – Whenever Sinatra’s name comes up in a discussion of jazz vocalists, the inevitable argument ensues that Sinatra was a “pop” vocalist which leads to the existential argument of where does being a popular artist end and being a jazz artist start? Well, back Sinatra’s vocals with Count Basie’s “Atomic” period orchestra and you indisputably have a jazz happening. This album has it all – the swinging intensity of the Basie orchestra, Sinatra at the peak of his mid-period powers, an eclectic group of songs representing 4 decades of songwriting, some of the “Rat Pack” routine about “booze and broads” (so goofy it’s hard to even take it seriously as sexist – though it certainly qualifies). A thoroughly engaging album made by two artists whose combined careers, spanned 13 decades.

Many of these selections are available at: New World Record. If they are not in stock New World will place a special order.

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