JAZZ AS LIFESTYLE SOUNDTRACK:
Reviews of some recent collections of jazz music (2 of 3)

Verve has proven adept at showcasing its catalog of performances by legendary singers, many of them female. Last year many of the best female jazz vocalists ever were featured on Kissing Jessica Stein, the soundtrack to the lighthearted lipstick lesbian romantic comedy of the same name. Featured performances included Blossom Dearie (“Put On a Happy Face”), Anita O’Day (“Taking A Chance On Love”), Dinah Washington (“Teach Me Tonight”), Carmen McRae (“Exactly Like You), Diana Krall (“Devil May Care”) and others. It’s a fine collection of music with a quirky track from Matt Rollings with Lyle Lovett (“Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You”) and an overly-wrought pop number (Jill Phillips’ “That Could Happen To Us”) thrown in for good measure. Actually, this seems like one of those “music inspired by the movie” soundtracks, since music that was actually in the film is missing, and many of these songs appeared in the film so briefly as to be non-existent. Nonetheless, it is an attractive collection of tunes.

More recently Verve has heavily pushed its Ultimate Diva Collection heavily in late-night TV ads. Labeled as part of the “Diva Series,” the collection features many of the same suspects as the previously mentioned collections. Ella, Sarah, Dinah, Billie, Carmen, Anita, Shirley Horn, Blossom Dearie, and Helen Merrill are joined by Nina Simone, Gloria Lynn, Astrud Gilberto, Peggy Lee, Etta James, Natalie Cole, and Ernestine Anderson in a collection featuring some of the most classic female vocal performances to be found in the Verve vaults.

Ella Fitzgerald leads with her 1960 rendition of “How High the Moon” from Mack the Knife: Ella Live In Berlin (a Complete Ella in Berlin has also been issued). Fitzgerald admitted to singing this song so much during the bebop era that it became something of a required show piece. Certainly here it’s a showstopper, as Ella works in crowd-pleasing quotes from her own “Tisket-A-Tasket,” “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” and other well-known tunes. Backed by a straight ahead combo that includes guitarist Jim Hall, the performance demonstrates how Fitzgerlad, like Louis Armstrong, had completely mastered her vernacular by this point in her career, making her every performance seem tossed-off and effortless. Sarah Vaughn, generally recognized as a talent second only to Fitzgerald, has suffered somewhat from the perception that she cut too much undistinguished pop fare. That may be the case, but on her EmArcy releases, such as Sarah Vaughn, from which the featured track here, “Lullaby of Birdland” comes. The track, recorded at a 1954 session, sees Vaughn backed by Clifford Brown, Herbie Mann (who puts in a good flute solo), Paul Quinchette, and Roy Haynes.

Dinah Washington’s best work was recorded for the Mercury label, such as this session done in ’54, “Teach Me Tonight.” Dinah was the perfect cross between an R&B barn-burner and a sultry jazz singer, and she could work both sides of the room with equal aplomb. The next performance, from Billie Holliday, features enough talented musicians to ensure the timelessness of any recording: Harry “Sweets” Edison, Ben Webster, Jimmy Rowls, Barney Kessel, Red Mitchell, and Alvin Stoller. “Body and Soul” is a perfect vehicle for Holliday’s smoky, autumn-inflected voice.

Carmen McRae was originally heavily influenced by Sarah Vaughn; she became famous in her own right for her witty, post-bop vocalist persona and her Lester Young-esque, laid back, behind-the-beat phrasing. “You Took Advantage of Me,” from the album By Special Request comes from this time, and it demonstrates that McRae was a distinctive stylist from her earliest days. Here she works with a crack backing unit, including Herbie Mann and Kenny Clarke, that swings beautifully.

If Diana Krall's bluesy, smoldering version of “Peel Me a Grape” was hot, then Anita O’Day’s ballsier, looser, version is incendiary. Whereas Krall still manages to sound like the kind of girl you could take home to mother, O’Day makes no bones about her jaded, sophisticated bad girl persona. Never trying too hard, yet somehow pile driving the rhythm section into a whole new dimension, O’Day’s voice is perfectly complemented by the ice-cube cool vibe riffs of Cal Tjader. Yummy. Blossom Dearie’s little-girl voice is perfect for the innocence and longing of “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Backed by Kenny Burrell, Ray Brown, and Ed Thigpen, Dearie puts the song over with her unadorned vocal and piano style. A unique singer, Dearie also has long owned her own record label (Daffodil) and was one of the voices of the ‘70s kids television hit “Schoolhouse Rock.” Yeah, she’s that cool.

So much here, and not one of these 16 tracks is out of place. OK, maybe one. Natalie Cole’s “It’s Crazy” is better than some might expect, but it just doesn’t quite live up to the standard set by many of the other performances on the CD. Still, it won’t probably make you break your stride as you work your way through this stellar collection.

Concord Records makes a habit of signing and recording the best names in jazz who often have found themselves, for whatever reason, without a major label contract. Over time, Concord has become a major jazz label by recording sessions with these greats, paying attention to the quality of recording and offering performances that feature the best living performers from all eras of jazz presented with the best of today’s technology in sound. The results are often stunning, as demonstrated on the Playboy Jazz label (a joint project between Concord and Playboy) collection Playboy Jazz After Dark. Not all of these are Concord artists or performances released or owned by Concord, but the collection does lean heavily on the substantial Concord catalog.

The first disc features instrumental performances such as Duke Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss” featuring Johnny Hodges. Equally classic is Miles Davis’ performance of “My Funny Valentine” with Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. Less well known, but every bit as deserving of attention are things like Gene Harris doing “Everything Happens to Me” from his 1994 album Funky Gene’s. Harris’s soul-inspired style is pleasing to listen to and, being heavily blues based, lends itself well to a late night vibe. Howard Alden, Concord’s resident guitarist par excellence, turns in a deeply instrospective performance of the Jimmy Rowles classic “The Peacocks,” and Stan Getz performs an incredible rendition of “Spring Is Here” with Jim McNeely, Marc Johnson, and Billy Hart. Getz’ playing here is beyond lyrical, seeming to actually write the song as he blows the notes out into space. Bill Evans performs his own composition, “Blue In Green,” immortalized by Miles Davis’ recording, on which Evans also played. Here he works with his original Bill Evans Trio, featuring bass whiz Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. One can hear how this group reinvented the jazz piano trio, particularly in the context of such a well-known composition.

The second disc features—you guessed it—vocalists, leaning almost exclusively on Concord artists. The disc leads off with Karrin Allyson singing “How Long Has This Been Going On?” from In Blue, one of her trio of classic releases for the Concord label (the other two are From Paris to Rio and Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane). From there we move to Patti Austin’s recent tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, For Ella, a recent release on the Playboy Jazz label. It’s a very well done performance, and features a top notch backing band as well. Austin has convincingly made the move from more pop-oriented vocal styles to an authentic jazz voice, which is a neat trick also managed by Curtis Stigers. Stigers was a soul-pop performer who decided he’d rather sing jazz. Though he encountered plenty of purists who said he’d never establish himself as a unique vocal presence on the jazz scene, Stigers has done just that with releases such as Baby Plays Around (from which the featured track, “You Are Too Beautiful” comes) and Secret Heart.

Not all of the performances here are classics, though. Ella’s “At Last” with Joe Pass is a nice late-career performance, but not up to the standard of her best earlier work. Of course, Jazz After Dark never really promises to deliver a classic with each performance, and the Ella track does deliver the kind of experience you’d expect from the collection’s title. Mary Stallings’ performance of “You Go To My Head” has no problem living up to expectations. Stallings’ heady combination of Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday sends the listener off into another world. Though Diana Krall’s “Body And Soul” is a nicely rendered version backed only by her own tasteful piano work it somehow lacks the punch of the better selections here. For example, Susannah McCorkle’s cabaret-influenced “For All We Know” does a better job of walking the line between jazz and dramatic set piece singing. So does the Tony Bennett/Bill Evans duet “You Must Believe In Spring.” Evans’ dreamy, romantic reveries are the perfect bolster for Bennett’s unadorned voice, truly an example of the whole benefiting from the sum of some pretty extraordinary parts. The rest of the performances are solid, but somehow Jazz After Dark is less successful at creating and holding a mood than some of the other collections discussed here. Overall I enjoyed the first, instrumental disc a bit better than the vocal one, and I wonder whether the collection wouldn’t have benefited overall by the mixing together of the two.

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