JAZZ MUSIC'S OWN SINGER-SONGWRITER MOVEMENT
by Marshall Bowden

I doubt that ten years ago anyone would have suspected that the singer-songwriter movement that infected popular music in the 1970s would come back in the late '90s and first decade of the new century in jazz music. But take a look at recent recordings by some of the music's most innovative singers and that is exactly what has happened. It should come as no surprise since many of today's jazz and jazz-influenced singers were heavily influenced, not only by Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, but also by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Ricki Lee Jones, and Carole King.

This should scarcely be surprising since many of today's singers and songwriters grew up listening to popular performers who wrote their own music. Karrin Allyson, who doesn't write her own material, mentioned in a recent interview that she "dabbled with singer/songwriter stuff like, you know buying sheet music for songs that I liked by Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell or something like that. And that's when I started the process of singing instead of just playing. On her latest CD, In Blue, Allyson covers Joni Mitchell's "Blue Motel Room", a song she says she has long wanted to perform: "I experimented with it before and then let it go for awhile. And then on this album…we experimented with it in rehearsal and then tried it live a couple times, and people were liking it and I was really enjoying doing it. And Joni's sound is so much her that it's difficult when somebody tries to do one of her songs…" The Mitchell album that featured "Blue Motel Room", Hejira, marked Joni's first truly jazz-inflected outing. True, she'd flirted with "jazzy" sounds on albums like Hissing of Summer Lawns and Court And Spark, but on those albums it was much more a question of style than of substance, and the studio musicians she sometimes worked with didn't provide a convincing jazz tone. Hejira featured guitarist Larry Carlton, who already was widely known for his work with the Crusaders and on Court and Spark, Jaco Pastorious, Weather Report's electric bass phenom, and Les Brown clarinetist Abe Most. Her next release, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter further confounded her pop fans and brought in percussionist Don Alias, composer, Weather Report saxophonist and former Miles Davis sideman Wayne Shorter, and percussionists Airto, Manolo Badrena, and Alejandro Acuna.

Cassandra Wilson led the visible fight to include the music of major songwriters from the '60s and '70s in the repertoire of serious jazz singers, but she was preceded by distinctive stylist Carmen McRae who had a particular penchant for the music of James Taylor and who also recorded tunes by Stevie Wonder. Nonetheless, Wilson certainly expanded the acceptable repertoire beyond the usual suspects, covering Van Morrison, Robbie Robertson, and Joni Mitchell ("Black Crow", also from Hejira). Wilson also has taken her inspiration further by writing her own songs. These were featured on her excellent Traveling Miles CD, and included both words written to some of Miles Davis' tunes ("Seven Steps to Heaven", "Tutu", "Blue In Green") and her own original compositions ("Traveling Miles", "Right Here, Right Now", "When the Sun Goes Down", "Piper"). Says Wilson: "When people say 'The new pop songs aren't as good as the old pop songs,' I say, 'Listen again.' It's just ridiculous to think that good songwriting ended in the '50s. We're in 2002, and you're telling me no one has written a good melody and good lyrics in 50 years?" On her latest CD, Belly of the Sun, she does fantastic renditions of Bob Dylan's "Shelter From the Storn", The Band's "The Weight", and the old Glen Campbell-recorded "Witchita Lineman."

Another singer of note who writes in a serious way is Patricia Barber, whose latest recording, Verse, is comprised entirely of her originals. According to the L.A. Times review of the album "Barber has described the songs on Verse as her homage to Joni Mitchell. The link is understandable, given the artful blend of lyrics and music, the literary quality of the words, and the vantage point on relationships that ranges from dark longing to sardonic irony." The piece goes on to point out that lyrically there is much similarity in the approaches of Barber and Mitchell, but that unlike Mitchell, Barber's piano playing and vocal phrasing are completely jazz-oriented. Certainly that's true, but if Mitchell attempted to fuse her poetic, often free-form lyric flights with jazz music, Barber is equally attempting to fuse her jazz playing and singing with more pop music-oriented (though highly literate) lyrics.

So, what's up with all the jazzy singer-songwriters? Well, for one thing, many of them probably grew up listening to popular artists at least as much as jazz singers. Allyson says she didn't really start listening to jazz until she got to college, and if it is true that the music we identify with first is forever a part of who we are, then it makes perfect sense that some thirty years later a new generation of singers are interpreting the music of their youth or trying to write songs in the mold of their influences. And though some singers, like Norah Jones, may be too young to remember that kind of music it is very likely that their parents played it around the house. Throughout the '80s and '90s the rock and pop music scene hasn't been too oriented towards intelligent lyrics sprinkled with literary, philosophical, and mythic references, nor has the scene exactly been encouraging to performers with adult outlooks and wardrobes. Both performers and audiences interested in more adult music have flirted with other genres, including jazz. Jazz has traditionally been a musical genre where individuality, intelligence, and melody are supposed to matter; so how surprising is it that these performers, seeking to hone their singing, writing, or both are drawn to it?

Carol Duboc is another songwriter with a great, smooth voice who has released her own recordings of late. Ms. Duboc has written for a who’s who of contemporary soul and R&B performers, including Patti Labelle, Maurice White, Joe Sample, Stephanie Mills, and Chante Moore. Working in a style that is more generally identified with black performers than the term “singer-songwriter” usually calls to mind, Duboc is different in that she has actually worked as a songwriter, producing songs for specific artists in the manner of Carole King back in the Brill Building days. Canada’s Shirley Eikhard is another songwriter turned jazz performer. Having composed hit material like Anne Murray’s “It Takes Time”, Fleetwood Mac’s “Say You Love Me”, and Bonnie Raitt’s “Something To Talk About”, Eikhard has recorded a couple of fine jazz albums, including The Last Hurrah and End of The Day, the latter featuring her instrumental compositions and performances on a number of instruments. While these performers may not be directly influenced by King or Mitchell, their examples stand as signposts for women who have a talent for writing and arranging as well as singing.

And what about Norah Jones, anyway? Her Blue Note biography states “Norah’s earliest musical influences came from her mother’s extensive LP collection and from ‘oldies’ radio.” She told Rolling Stone that she listened to her mom’s Etta James, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holiday records. She listened to Joni Mitchell as well, but “not until college.” There’s no denying that Jones has the ability to conjure a remarkable assortment of blues, folk, country, pop, and jazz with her voice, and while time will no doubt turn her into both a more mature singer and songwriter, she certainly possesses a great deal of talent right now. The question of whether she is truly a jazz singer or not is irrelevant; like Cassandra Wilson she seems much more interested in developing her singing and songwriting skills. Had she been seeking to have the hit recording that Come Away With Me has turned out to be, she would certainly not have signed with Blue Note Records. While the label has marketed her well, there is no question that the resources of, say, Sony Music could have driven her record sales even higher. The fact that Jones’ remarkable ascent has been the result of a slow word of mouth campaign by fans places her in the tradition of Joni Mitchell and Ricki Lee Jones much more so than her pop counterparts.

Meanwhile, Joni Mitchell herself has just released her two CD Travelogue collection. The album features Mitchell performing a variety of her songs from over the years with full orchestral accompaniment. Supposedly this will be her last release. Citing her disgust with the music industry and its obsession with youth, sex, and the flavor of the moment, Mitchell states that she won’t sign another record deal. Joni’s heroes and inspiration, for the record, are mostly jazz musicians. And artists. Miles Davis, Picasso, Billie Holiday. As she points out in a recent interview, Doris Day outsold Holiday. But the point, for her, is to create music that is an expression of herself, just as she does with her painting. That’s the lesson I hope the current crop of young jazz singers and songwriters who have been influenced by Mitchell and some of her contemporaries have learned well. As she says: “I kept thinking about Charlie Parker. He comes into New York City, and the hip thing is that they are all wearing dungarees and striped T-shirts and goatees and sandals, right? He comes in wearing a good suit, and they throw a cymbal at him. But by the time he was done, everybody was wearing hip suits. All the way up to the Beatles.”