Star Eyes

Let’s dip for a minute into the work of master bebop vocalist Anita O’Day. When she began her career during the big band era of the 1940’s, she presented herself as the ‘cool chick’ of her time, performing in casual attire instead of in evening …

Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most

Ella Fitzgerald may well have been the most prolific jazz singer of all time. She released dozens of albums over forty years, and her recordings of the Great American Songbook cover hundreds of songs. Amid all that, it’s hard to keep track of which songs …

Speak Low

Researching a jazz standard is always a challenge; it’s hard to find out exactly when a song was recorded, when it was released, and where it can be found. This one was written by Kurt Weill in 1943, and like any good standard, has passed …

Sophisticated Lady

Sarah Vaughan strikes a mood. Vaughan had a voice like silk and satin, and she made everything she touched sound refined. So, she could almost be singing about herself, for she was an icon of sophistication in her time. The refinement must always be tinged …

Soon

I’m settling down to listen to Ella Fitzgerald sing the Gershwin songbook for the next three hours. Fitzgerald did those whole songbook projects, recording an entire library of great American standards. She did the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin and others. That’s years …

Slap That Bass

The songs in the Great American Standards songbook all have lives of their own by now – and why not, most of them are older than your grandmother. Even fairly obscure songs that your grandmother probably doesn’t remember listening to as a child have entire …

Sinnerman

Remixing is all well and good, modernizing old things for young ears, but some works need no help. Some works are already so modern in their drive and immediacy that it’s like there’s no such thing as changing times. Nina Simone, of course, almost singlehandedly …