Hi, I am Pratap Antony, a new member of HiFiVision, and a lover of Jazz, Blues and Classical music. I write about music and reviews of events in Hyderabad, for the Hyderabad Western Music Foundation of which I am a Founder Trustee. And reviews of Indian classical dance on other online media. The reviews are collected in
http://highnotesdance.blogspot.com/
Here are descriptions of a few singers whom I have enjoyed listening to and still enjoy listening to:
Al Jarreau – 1940. Al Jarreau has a masters’ in psychology and worked for several years as youth Counsellor for the US State Education Department, before taking the plunge into singing full time. A late starter in music! But ever since he began to be known, he changed the way vocalists sang jazz and how listeners related to Jazz music. He has a voice that sweeps across many octaves and he brings together several genres of music jumping from soul to jazz to swing to funk to musicals in a natural way as if they belong together, at the same time playing with rhythms, tricky syncopation's, tricky intervals and changing rhythms; his scatting and improvising incorporate all sorts of sounds that suit the song and his style of improvisation.
Dianne Reeves – 1956. Dianne Reeves is a highly melodic vocalist with a remarkably beautiful clear, light-yet-robust contralto voice. She sings with confidence, her voice flexible, in turn bending, soaring and reaching pitches that are almost whistling. She sings Jazz-fusion, pop-soul and African- and West Indian-flavoured material and yet makes connections between these far-flung styles. She swings in the tradition of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaugha, yet with a distinctive personal stamp that is all her own, by paying close attention to the lyrics. A superb artist and jazz singer.
Michael Buble – 1975. Michael Buble is young, charismatic, talented and charming singer who wears suits. He has a natural flair and a style that appeals equally to grandmothers and teenagers, he sings in the lounge style of Frank Sinatra and Nat Cole, in a strong, tangily-sweet voice without the rounded lower tones of Sinatra or Nat Cole, but yet, he is not imitative. His style, sound, confident phrasing and perfect timing give a new modern feel to old standards. A wonderful ambassador of Jazz.
And since I’ve mentioned Ella & Sarah I will describe them too.
Ella Fitzgerald - 1917 -1996. ‘The First Lady of Song’, Ella was the most important, and the most renowned singer of Jazz. Ella’s voice was sweet and melodious and her technique and her ability to swing made her songs a dazzling experiences to the listener. Though not considered the foremost interpreter of songs, she brought to Jazz a beautiful voice and very good technique and a love of improvisation so that even when she sang a song straight, or changed the phrasing just a wee bit, she made the song her own. And then she could scat and improvise to reproduce any instrumental riff.
Sarah Vaughan - 1924 – 1990. The third of the great triumvirate of female Jazz singers.
Sarah, quite unlike Billie Holiday, had a voice that could only be called divine and ‘The Divine One’ was one of her nick names, of course, the name that stuck was ‘Sassy’. Sarah Vaughan had a vast range, a pleasantly resonant vibrato, a marvellously rounded tone, and she used her voice with an instrumental approach, often improvising as a jazz soloist. She brought an incredible variety to her singing and she interpreted songs with heartfelt passion.
And since Billy Holiday has been mentioned here goes:
‘Lady Day,’ Billie Holiday - 1915 -1959. There is no polite way one can describe the voice of ‘Lady Day’. She probably didn’t have a range of more than an octave. She had suffered so much; endured so much distress and humiliation, and had so few pleasant memories, and yet through all the pathos and pain, she was strong, independent and a force, and she one of the most influential singers in Jazz. And whatever her vocal limitations, to me, she was the greatest jazz singer ever. Her timing was impeccable, her phrasing nuanced, and her singing actually dripped with touching emotion. No one could sing a song like Billie. Her genius lay in her interpretation. Billie Holiday always interpreted songs by empathising with the words; she interpreted with great musicality and honesty of expression.