Billie Holiday, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin—their pain, their music, and us.
Continue reading...Vocalists
209: The Real Group: ‘Monica Vals’ (‘Waltz for Debby’)
When they say ‘The voice is the only instrument made by God’, they’re thinking of Margareta Bengston of The Real Group singing Bill Evans’ ‘Waltz for Debby’. Four minutes in heaven.
Continue reading...192: Les Double Six of Paris, “Moanin'”
The hard-bop jazz vocal sextet Les Double Six of Paris–their sources, their contemporaries and their followers; and why vocal jazz groups loved singing Count Basie.
Continue reading...178: The Claudia Quintet +1 feat. Kurt Elling, ‘Showtime’ (“What is the Beautiful?”)
What is the Beautiful?
(Hint: The best things in life are acquired tastes.)
173: The Real Group, ‘Nature Boy’
An immaculate union of the pristine and the passionate – The Real Group in a breathtaking take on ‘Nature Boy’. It’s just a little perfect.
Continue reading...168: Neal Hefti, ‘Girl Talk’
Women are a superior breed to men, but everyone from God to James Thurber knows they sure like to talk. Girl Talk.
I personally wouldn’t have it any other way.
139: The Swingle Singers, ‘On the 4th of July’ (James Taylor)
This week we talk about the United States’ bar mitzvah, how we discovered Bach, the history of The Swingle Singers, the marvels of Scandinavian a cappella festivals, and older people falling in love.
Continue reading...169: The Mills Brothers, ‘Jungle Fever’
Four Boys and a Guitar. The Mills Brothers sounded so much like a jazz band back in the early 1930s that the company wrote on their record labels “No musical instruments or mechanical devices used on this recording other than one guitar.” And they sang great scat, and great tight harmonies. And they had class, In abundance.
Continue reading...