DownGoesFrazier Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 To keep the disagreements rolling, I think that Sarah Vaughan was much better than Ella Fitzgerald, and so was Billie Holliday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryEllsworth Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 There is no "better" for me. I want all three. Young Sarah Vaughan is wonderful; later Sarah Vaughan could be painful to listen to. Billie Holliday was wonderful but also very narrow IMHO. Ella, on the other hand, really could sing anything and there was always sunshine in her voice. I wouldn't be without Carmen MacRae or Dinah Washington either. Best, Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Or Nancy Wilson. Or June Christy. Edited by: slaytonf on Jul 13, 2011 11:08 PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyGeetar Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 > {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}To keep the disagreements rolling, I think that Sarah Vaughan was much better than Ella Fitzgerald, and so was Billie Holliday. They're all pretty great. J'adore Ella, but there are moments on some of the songbooks (The Gershwin one especially) where it seems like she was going through the motions on some of the lesser songs (she cuts loose more on her "solo" efforts.) The Songbook arrangements aren't always terribly creative or ambitious either- not like Dinah Washington's upbeat version of But Not For Me which completely re-imagines the song, or her bongo-beat version of I've Got You Under My Skin . Ella is my personal favorite, but Dinah really could sing anything I do love the two Billie Holidays (young, ghost-like wail and old gin-soaked croaky) and Sarah Vaughan is also grand (highly recommend her album You're Mine, You which is just one of the best period.) I do agree some of Vaughan's later stuff is, um, a little painful though. Props also to Blossom Dearie, Anita O'Day and Kay Starr. But Ella is a great way to cut your teeth on jazz and the great American composers of the 20th Century. I've never really gotten Carmen McRae or Nina Simone though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 When you say later Vaughan is painful, do you mean that her vocal tricks got to be overdone? exaggerated vibrato, etc.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyGeetar Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 "Painful" maybe isn't the right word...I just remember coming across some of her later stuff and fiiin-ding iiiiiit a li-hi-hi-hi-hi-hi-ttle o-ho-ho-hooooooverduh-uh-uh-uh-hun, also the song choices weren't my taste i.e. Send in the Clowns . However, it's been a long time since I've listened to those, maybe I'd change my mind if I heard it now. And I'll say it again: You're Mine, You by SV is such a great record, for anyone who doesn't have it: GET IT. Great version of Maria from West Side Story and rollicking versions of Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean! and One Mint Julip And hey: I'll take Sarah Vaughan overdoing it over Bebe and Cece Wynans overdoing it or Whitney Houston overdoing it any day of the week. And I'll take her (for good or bad) meandering delivery over some of the weirdassed, head-scratching arrangements Nina Simone sings to (like doing Rogers and Hart's Little Boy Blue with no other accompaniment besides Greensleeves being played on a xylophone. I have NO idea what they were smoking that day. ) ps- Betty Carter is the one that I TOTALLY DON'T GET. She's painful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 How about male vocalists? And by the way (just to have some tangential connection to the subject of this thread), Bette Davis was in a musical on Broadway, I hear. I don't know how she did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 I remember one of my mother's Vaughan LP's that I used to listen to, with songs such as "Signing Off", "East of the Sun", and "Mean to Me" . It made me a fan for life.......As for male vocalists of that genre, nobody could top Mr. B, Billy Eckstine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 And I have one: Chet Baker. Great with a horn, too. And the obvious one: Nat King Cole. I think I like his piano playing better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyGeetar Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 yes, out of all of the male vocalists, I think Chet Baker is my favorite- which is strange because he doesn't have as many recordings as the others and his vocal range was limited, especially compared to Nat King Cole and Eckstein...But I just love his stuff. Another irony is that, to have made such beautiful music, Baker apparently led a rather dark and ugly life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slaytonf Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Yeah, like a lot of other musicians we know about. Let's hope the music was in spite of the darkness and ugliness, and not a result of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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