RFI: Vocal jazz songform

I don't think I ever knowingly heard Susannah McCorkle's voice before today. Man, she really was great.

Yeah, this is one of my faves by her:

Sabia AllMusic Review by Scott Yanow
Susannah McCorkle spoke Italian, Spanish, German, and Portuguese in addition to English; she had worked as an interpreter before she devoted herself to singing. On her second Concord CD, McCorkle sang ten Brazilian songs plus "Estate," switching between English, Portuguese, and Italian. There is no communication problem as far as conveying her feelings and the high quality of the melodies, so this is a more accessible release than one might think. The vocalist's backup group includes pianist Lee Musiker, Scott Hamilton on tenor, and guitarist Emily Remler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4c8rcJ4rVw

Veronica Swift, This Bitter Earth (Mack Avenue)-- Jazz critic poll winner

Veronica Swift's opening rendition of the title track has a different and contemporary arrangement to it, but the rest sounds more traditional and even studied to me

Listening to this now. First track is really interesting. Have been on the fence about her singing for the past two years. She's obvious got a Big Voice and this album of diverse material may be suited to her but we will see.

There is another newer singer who I became aware of a tiny bit later who think I prefer slightly, of Armenian origin and her name is...

Lucy Yeghiazaryan.

And she recently married one of her musical collaborators who is also really good and that is....

Grant Stewart

Will check---speaking of studied, or anyway bourgie, but mainly they're really into it!
New York Voices: "Sing! Sing! Sing!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf6wxhtEJz8

What other New York Voices vocalise is good?

I dunno but I sort of got used to them because they would always show up on Michael Bourne's show before he retired recently.

Some good vocalizing at Smalls the other day showed up recently in my feed. Perhaps I will post the link.

http://twitter.com/i/timeline

try again

I've enjoyed KP's vocalese since getting most of the best on Fantasy twofer The Source in early 70s, but think the below was mostly instrumental? TP lifted the stuck in gorilla bit from a Robert Bloch story (RB's mental revenge on real life poisoner of neighbor kid) https://t.co/sSDcko7fgO

— Don Allred (@0wlred) August 28, 2022

real life drug poisoner of neighbor kid, in Topanga or Laurel Canyon I think---scary story.

O Susannah! Used to love to turn jazz vocal noobs on to her when I worked in the CD store:
We Remember Singer Susannah McCorkle
May 25, 2001 12:00 AM ET
Heard on Fresh Air
with excerpts from her Fresh Air interviews and concerts. She died last weekend after jumping to her death. She was 55. She had 17 albums to her credit and a repertoire of more than 3000 songs. Besides being a literate interpreter of American popular song, she was also a prose writer who published fiction in Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan and The O. Henry Book of Short Stories. We also talk with Susannah McCorkle's ex-husband and former manager Dan Dinicola.(REBROADCASTS from 7/17/87, 12/23/88, 4/12/91, 7/3/96).
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1123480

Thanks dow - I actually just discovered her music. (I bought a large shipment of Penguin-recommended jazz CD's for peanuts and her Johnny Mercer album was one of them.)

I looked her up on Wikipedia after enjoying the album and saw what happened with her. Tremendously sad. The address where she lived (and took her life) is actually close to where I used to work back in the early 2010s, and I walked past that location many times while I was there.

Glad you dig her, bird----check xpost Sabia too!
Haven't heard the Mercer, but reminds me that she was sometimes tagged as retro, which she found creepy--the people that wanted her to "wear long white gloves" and so on---also the possible political implications, like the "conservative" connotations of early Jazz in Suits, also what happened with her Cali peers the Carpenters, praised by Nixon for all things pure(actually it now seems like they were just into the West Coast hot house sunshine pop sensibility, a la Curt Boettcher and so on). She was a child of Berkeley, but *musically* not much in thee swim of things out there, or not in terms of what she wanted to perform (although she did do Paul Simon's "Train In The Distance," for instance).

Getting back to or toward vocalese: local station has been playing Carmen McRae's take on "Ruby My Dear," re-titled "Dear Ruby."

Feel like Carmen McCrae gives Jon Hendricks a serious run for his money in the Monk vocalese department.

It's from McRae Sings Monk, originally released in 1990. with Hendricks contributing lyrics only; his voice was pretty worn down by then. Wiki sez, of apparently the most recent reissue:

All music composed by Thelonious Monk, lyricists indicated.
Due to copyright restrictions the song titles of these standards were modified (with the exception of "'Round Midnight"). Monk's original titles are indicated after the track titles.

"Get It Straight" ("Straight, No Chaser") (Sally Swisher) – 3:58
"Dear Ruby" ("Ruby, My Dear") (Swisher) – 6:01
"It's Over Now" ("Well, You Needn't") (Mike Ferro) – 5:28
"Monkery's the Blues" ("Blue Monk") (Abbey Lincoln) – 4:56
"You Know Who" ("I Mean You") (Coleman Hawkins, Jon Hendricks) – 3:31
"Little Butterfly" ("Pannonica") (Hendricks) – 5:15
"Listen to Monk" ("Rhythm-a-Ning") (Hendricks) – 3:05
"How I Wish" ("Ask Me Now") (Hendricks) – 4:56
"Man, That Was a Dream" ("Monk's Dream") (Hendricks) – 2:55
"'Round Midnight" (Monk, Cootie Williams, Bernie Hanighen) – 6:32
"Still We Dream" ("Ugly Beauty") (Ferro) – 3:27
"Suddenly" ("In Walked Bud") (Hendricks) – 3:41
"Looking Back" ("Reflections") (Hendricks) – 5:35
Tracks on original CD release, but omitted on LP and MC

"Suddenly" – 3:13
"Get It Straight" – 3:26
Previously unreleased, alternate takes added since 2001 reissue

"'Round Midnight" (Alternate Version) – 7:11
"Listen to Monk" (Alternate Take) – 2:59
"Man, That Was a Dream" (Alternate Take) – 3:23
Personnel
Carmen McRae - vocals
Clifford Jordan - soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Eric Gunnison - piano
George Mraz - double bass
Al Foster - drums
Live at Great American Music Hall on January 30 & February 1, 1988 (tracks 1 & 12)
Charlie Rouse - tenor saxophone
Larry Willis - piano
George Mraz - double bass
Al Foster - drums

Ahem, I feel like taking issue with Jon’s voice being “worn down” at that point.

Judging by the way he sounded on the radio, especially live (late 80s-early 90s): kinda sandy and not very loud. Maybe I just heard the wrong stuff.