Lecture 15 Vocal Jazz Billie Holiday (1915 – 1959) • • • •

Born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland Holiday is generally regarded as one of the greatest female jazz vocalists Her professional pseudonym was taken from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and Clarence Holiday, her probable father Nicknamed “Lady Day” by Lester Young (who she dubbed “Prez”)

Early Years • According to Holiday’s accounts, she was recruited by a brothel, worked as a prostitute, and was eventually imprisoned for a short time • It was in Harlem in the early 1930s that she started singing for tips in various night clubs • She was working at a club named Monette’s in 1933 when she was discovered by John Hammond • Hammond arranged for Holiday to make her recording debut on a 1933 Benny Goodman date • She began recording under her own name in1936, producing a series of extraordinary performances with groups comprising the Swing Era’s finest musicians Strange Fruit • Holiday was recording for Columbia in the late 1930s when she was introduced to Strange Fruit, a song based on a poem about lynching written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx • It was eventually heard by Barney Josephson, proprietor of Café Society, an integrated nightclub in Greenwich Village, who introduced it to Holiday • She performed it at the club in 1939, with some trepidation, fearing possible retaliation • Holiday later said that the imagery in Strange Fruit reminded her of her father’s death, and that this played a role in her persistence to perform it • When her producers at Columbia found the subject matter too sensitive, Commodore Records’ Milt Gabler agreed to record it for his label The Decca Years • In addition to owning Commodore Records, Milt Gabler was an A&R man for Decca Records, and he signed Holiday to the label in 1944 • Her first recording for Decca, Lover Man, was a song written especially for her

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Although its lyrics describe a woman who has never known love, its theme—a woman longing for a missing lover—and its refrain, “Lover man, oh, where can you be?”, struck a chord in war-time America and the record became one of her biggest hits Holiday continued to record for Decca until 1950, including sessions with the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras, and two duets with Louis Armstrong

Good Morning Heartache • Recorded June 7, 1956 in New York City • Personnel – Tony Scott (clarinet & musical director) – Paul Quinichette (tenor saxophone) – Charlie Shavers (trumpet) – Kenny Burrell (guitar) – Wynton Kelly (piano) – Aaron Bell (bass) – Lennie McBrowne (drums) Later Years & Death • Holiday’s personal life was as turbulent as the songs she sang • Holiday began using hard drugs in the early 1940s • By the 1950s, Holiday’s drug abuse, drinking, and relations with abusive men led to deteriorating health • In 1959, she was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease • Shortly after, she was placed under house arrest at the hospital for possession • Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 44

Ella Fitzgerald (1917 – 1996) • • • • •

Born Ella Jane Fitzgerald on April 25, 1917 in Newport News, Virginia Fitzgerald is known as the “First Lady of Song” She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th Century She is also widely considered to have been one of the supreme interpreters of the Great American Songbook With a vocal range spanning three octaves, she was noted for her purity of tone, faultless phrasing and intonation, and a “horn-like” improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing

Early Years • In her youth, Ella wanted to be a dancer, though she loved listening to jazz recordings of Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and The Boswell Sisters

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She made her singing debut at seventeen on November 21, 1934 at the Apollo Theater on 25th Street in Harlem, New York Competing in one of the earliest of its famous “Amateur Nights” she won the first prize of $25 Shortly thereafter, she began swinging regularly with Chick Webb’s Orchestra at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom When Webb died in 1939, the band was renamed “Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra”

Solo Career • The advent of bebop caused a major change in Fitzgerald’s vocal style, influenced by her work with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band • It was in this period that Fitzgerald started including scat singing as a major part of her performance repertoire • The mid-1950s saw Ella become the first African-American to perform at the Mocambo, after Marilyn Monroe had lobbied the owner for the booking Shiny Stockings • Ella Fitzgerald with Count Basie and His Orchestra • Composed by Frank Foster Oh, Lady Be Good • Recorded live at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1957

Sarah Vaughan (1924 – 1990) • • •

Born Sarah Lois Vaughan on March 27, 1924 in Newark, New Jersey Vaughan’s nicknames included “Sassy” and “The Divine One” Although Vaughan is usually considered a jazz singer, she avoided classifying herself as such

Vocal Style • Vaughan stuck throughout her career to the jazz-infused style of music that she came of age with, only rarely dabbling in rock-era styles that usually did not suit her unique vocal talents • While Vaughan was a proficient at scatting, the improvisatory aspect of her art was focused more on ornamentation, phrasing and variation on melodies, which were almost always jazz standards • Vaughan approached her voice more as a melodic instrument than a vehicle for dramatic interpretation of lyrics, although the expressive qualities of her style did accentuate lyrical meaning and she would often find unique and memorable ways of articulating and coloring individual key words in a lyric Key Largo • Reissued on the compilation album Jazz Profile: Sarah Vaughan

How High the Moon • Recorded live at Mister Kelly’s in Chicago on August 6, 1957 • Personnel – Sarah Vaughan (vocals) – Jimmy Jones (piano) – Richard Davis (bass) – Roy Haynes (drums)

Mel Torme (1925 – 1999) • • •

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Melvin Howard Tormé on September 13, 1925 in Chicago He is best known as one of the great male jazz singers His singing at New York's Copacabana led a local disc jockey, Fred Robbins, to give him the nickname “The Velvet Fog" thinking to honor his high tenor and smooth vocal style, but Tormé detested the nickname He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books He composed the music for the classic holiday song The Christmas Song

Early Career • In 1943 he also formed the vocal quintet Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones, modeled after Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers • The Mel-Tones were among the first jazz-influenced vocal groups • Later in 1947, Tormé went solo • Tormé made his movie debut in Frank Sinatra’s first film, the musical Higher and Higher • He went on to sing and act in a number of films and television episodes throughout his career, even hosting his own television show in 1951–52 • His appearance in the 1947 film musical Good News made him a teen idol for a few years Collaboration with Marty Paich • From 1955 to 1957, Tormé recorded seven jazz vocal albums for Red Clyde's Bethlehem Records, all with groups led by Marty Paich, most notably with The Marty Paich Dektette • These recordings proved a creative peak for Tormé and for Paich, a leading figure in the West Coast jazz of the time • Tormé and Paich reunited for two albums in the 1980s Too Close for Comfort • By Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dek-tette • Released January 21, 1960 • Personnel – Mel Tormé (vocals)

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Art Pepper (alto saxophone) Bill Perkins (tenor saxophone) Bill Hood (baritone saxophone) Vince DeRosa (French horn) Al Porcino & Stu Williamson (trumpets) Frank Rosolino (trombone) Red Callender (tuba) Marty Paich (piano) Joe Mondragon (bass) Mel Lewis (drums)

On the Street Where You Live • By Mel Tormé with the Marty Paich Dek-tette • Released January 21, 1960 • Personnel – Mel Tormé (vocals) – Art Pepper (alto saxophone) – Bill Perkins (tenor saxophone) – Bill Hood (baritone saxophone) – Vince DeRosa (French horn) – Al Porcino & Stu Williamson (trumpets) – Frank Rosolino (trombone) – Red Callender (tuba) – Marty Paich (piano) – Joe Mondragon (bass) – Mel Lewis (drums)

Vocalese • • • •

Vocalese is a style of jazz singing wherein lyrics are written for melodies that were originally part of an all-instrumental composition or improvisation Whereas scat singing uses improvised nonsense syllables in solos, vocalese uses lyrics, either improvised or set to pre-existing instrumental solos The word “vocalese” is a play on the musical term “vocalise” and the suffix “-ese,” meant to indicate a sort of language Most vocalese lyrics are entirely syllabic, as opposed to melismatic leading to the use of many words sung quickly in a given phrase, especially in the case of bebop

Eddie Jefferson (1918 – 1979) • • • •

Eddie Jefferson was a jazz vocalist and is credited with inventing vocalese Perhaps his best-known song is Moody’s Mood for Love, though it was first recorded by King Pleasure, who cited Jefferson as an influence Jefferson’s songs Parker’s Mood and Filthy McNasty were also hits Jefferson was shot and killed leaving a club in 1979

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The suspect was later identified as a disgruntled dancer that Jefferson had once fired from a gig The suspect did not have enough evidence against them to be held in jail, and was later acquitted

King Pleasure (1922 – 1982) • • •

Born Clarence Beeks on March 24, 1922 in Oakdale, Tennessee Pleasure was an early master of vocalese King Pleasure first achieved popularity by singing the Eddie Jefferson vocalese classic Moody’s Mood for Love

Parker’s Mood • Written by Eddie Jefferson over Charlie Parker’s solo on Parker’s Mood Moody’s Mood for Love • Moody’s Mood for Love is saxophonist James Moody’s instrumental solo on the song I’m in the Mood for Love • Later, jazz singer Eddie Jefferson wrote lyrics to this improvisation by Moody • This particular arrangement of the song did not come to be known by its now common title of Moody’s Mood for Love until King Pleasure released a very popular vocal version featuring Blossom Dearie in 1952 • The lyrics are often incorrectly attributed to King Pleasure because he was the first to record it • However, when Pleasure was asked to write more lyrics to solos he confessed that he had not written this one Impact of Moody’s Mood for Love • Another repercussion of Jefferson’s lyrical marriage to Moody’s solo was the impact it had on jazz singer Jon Hendricks • The story goes that Hendricks was sitting in a café when the King Pleasure recording of Moody’s Mood came on the jukebox • According to Hendricks, he had been writing “unpopular” songs for some time, but when he heard the recording and realized that it was a saxophone solo with words he decided to change his approach to songwriting: “I didn’t have to stop at 32 bars. Now I could write lyrics for all the parts in the orchestra”

Jon Hendricks (b. 1921) • • • •

Jon Hendricks was born September 16, 1921 in Newark, Ohio He is a jazz lyricist and singer He is considered one of the originators of vocalese He is considered one of the best practitioners of scat singing

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In 1957, he teamed with jazz singers Dave Lambert and Annie Ross to form the legendary vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross • A vocalese trio formed in 1957 • The trio perfected the art of vocalese and took it around the world • Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were voted Best Vocal Group in the Down Beat Readers Poll from 1959 to 1963 • Annie Ross left the group in 1962, replaced by vocalist Yolande Bavan • The renamed Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan made three live albums before disbanding in 1964 • Any hopes of a reunion of the original trio ended with Lambert's 1966 death in a car accident Sing a Song of Basie • Lambert, Hendricks & Ross multi-tracked their voices and recorded the album Sing a Song of Basie in which they sang lyrics by Hendricks to the full arrangements of the Count Basie Orchestra • Ross sang all the trumpet parts, Hendricks sang the saxophone parts and Lambert sang the trombone parts • With the exception of a small rhythm section all 13 horn parts were reproduced by the three voices dubbed over • Sing A Song of Basie was awarded a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998 Everyday • From the album Sing a Song of Basie • Featuring the Basie rhythm section Twisted • The Lambert, Hendricks & Ross song Twisted featured Annie Ross’ lyrics set to a Wardell Gray melody • It was later featured in Woody Allen’s 1997 film Deconstructing Harry • It has been covered by Joni Mitchell and Bette Midler

Sources • History and Tradition of Jazz by Thomas E. Larson • Jazz for Dummies by Dirk Sutro • Jazz a film by Ken Burns • http://en.wikipedia.org

Discography 1. “Billie’s Bounce” by Eddie Jefferson from the album Vocal Ease 32 Jazz 32123 2. “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday from the album Lady Sings the Blues Verve 314 521 429-2 3. Good Morning Heartache by Billie Holiday from the album Lady Sings the Blues Verve 314 521 429-2 4. “Shiny Stockings” by Ella Fitzgerald from the album Ken Burns Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald UMG Recordings 5. “Oh, Lady Be Good” by Ella Fitzgerald from the album Ken Burns Jazz: Ella Fitzgerald UMG Recordings 6. “Key Largo” by Sarah Vaughan from the album Jazz Profile: Sarah Vaughan Blue Note Records 7. “How High the Moon” by Sarah Vaughan from the album Sarah Vaughan at Mister Kelly’s Verve B0009404-02 8. “Too Close for Comfort” by Mel Torme & the Marty Paich Dek-tette from the album Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley Verve 821 581-2 YH 9. “On the Street Where You Live” by Mel Torme & the Marty Paich Dek-tette from the album Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley Verve 821 581-2 YH 10. “Parker’s Mood” by King Pleasure from the album Moody’s Mood for Love: Golden Classics Collectable Records COL-CD 5197 11. “Moody’s Mood for Love” by King Pleasure from the album Moody’s Mood for Love: Golden Classics Collectable Records COL-CD 5197 12. “Everyday” by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross from the album Sing a Song of Basie Impulse! 13. “Twisted” by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross from the album The Hottest New Group in Jazz Sony