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...Vocalists
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...287: Moses Sumney, ‘Incantation’
Moses Sumney is the best vocalist I’ve ever heard.
And you know I NEVER exaggerate.
099: Luciana Souza, ‘Baião à Tempo’ (“An Answer to Your Silence”)
I get that not everyone needs to go hacking through impregnable jazz jungles or crawling across atonal minimalist deserts or getting lost in endless Nordic a cappella virgin forests. But believe me, Luciana Souza’s “An Answer to Your Silence” is vocal jazz of singular, innovative genius – groundbreaking, underappreciated, and regretfully unknown. It is THE most interesting CD I’ve heard in the last decade.
Continue reading...206: Lake Street Dive (Rachael Price), ‘I Want You Back’
I tripped over this clip several weeks ago and am still floored. It’s the best music I’ve seen seen/heard in a month of Sundays. And vocalist Rachael Price is a wonder of nature.
Continue reading...020: Esperanza Spalding, ‘I Know You Know’
I had the very good fortune to see Esperanza Spalding perform last week. Even though her hair was bandana’d, she was a knockout. Here’s a piece I wrote a while back about her, her music, sexuality in female performers, and a quirky taxonomy of people who make music with their voices.
Continue reading...026: Andy Bey, ‘River Man’
The finest male jazz vocalist you’re never heard of, with a heart and a vocal range as wide as his 66-year professional career is long.
Continue reading...142: Kat Edmonson, ‘Champagne’
It’s disconcerting when a 28-year old writes Cole Porter songs, or when her cover of a Lennon song outshines the original. Come meet Kat Edmonson, who’s been monopolizing my turntable for the past month.
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