An Injustice to the Great Female Jazz Vocalists

Cover of the album being discussed (from the album’s Amazon.com Web page)

At the beginning of this month, Jazz at the Ballroom released a new album entitled Flying High: Big Band Canaries Who Soared. The “canaries” were the leading female jazz vocalists of the last century, such as Billie Holiday, Anita O’Day, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Jo Stafford, Rosemarie Clooney, and Ella Fitzgerald. This project was the brainchild of pianist and vocalist Champian Fulton, who recruited five other vocalists (Gretje Angel, Carmen Bradford, Olivia Chindamo, Jan Monheit, and Vanessa Perea) to revive the spirit of those “good old days.” Instrumental accompaniment was provided by a trio led by Fulton at the piano. On four of the tracks she was joined by drummer Charles Ruggiero and Mike Gurrola on bass. On the remaining eleven tracks, the drummer is Fukushi Tainaka with Neal Miner on bass. The first track is instrumental, and the remaining fourteen are divided among the six vocalists.

Writing as an “old-timer” familiar with all of the twentieth-century stars cited above, I feel justified in asserting that none of the interpretations on this album come anywhere near the polished stylizations encountered on the recordings made by those stars. Note my choice of adjective. There is something coarse in the delivery on each of the new album’s tracks that grates on the ear with the same impact encountered by fingernails scratching on a blackboard (if that metaphor still carries any weight). The very idea of a disciplined approach to pitch and rhythm, which can then be taken as a “spinal cord” for stylization, eludes all six of the vocalists.

The message to all these vocalists comes from the song that Lee sang in Stage Door Canteen: “Why Don’t You Do Right?”