Double Bass Favorite Vocal Jazz Recordings

[TroyK]

I cordially invite you all to a discussion of favorite jazz vocal recordings. I'll give you my top 5 over subsequent posts, but I'm interested in getting turned on to yours as well. I have some criteria and if your favorites match my criteria, even better, but shout them out anyway. I would love to limit this discussion to jazz vocal recordings, though. I do like other types of music and other vocalists, but this is about jazz.

Why? Well, my best post-pandemic project involves a wonderful singer and we've been digging deep for favorite songs and records from which to draw ideas and material. I've been writing and arranging for this group as well, so listening has been a bit of an obsession for me.

I also want to cop to the fact that whenever I list my "favorite" jazz anything it's usually from the 50s and 60s. I do listen to contemporary singers as well, but if I'm honest about my Top 5, my old familiar biases and preferences show themselves. I'll make an honorable mention far a few more modern vocalist as well. I would like to hear yours from whatever decade they performed.

My other main criteria is:

• Jazz, straight ahead, leaning hard bop, but clearly the vocals bring it back standardward a bit.
• Small groups. I love Ella and Carman McRae, and all of the greats...most of the greats...but I vastly prefer small groups that would play in clubs to big bands or orchestras...which is limiting. I can love the vocalists, love the song, but I don't usually end up loving those recordings. Plus it's really not what I do.
• Great bands. This is key for obvious reasons and when I give my Top 5, you'll see the pattern. Jazz Vocalists didn't always record with our favorite musicians of that era.
• Great songs. Deep cuts. Some of the tried and true standards are tried and true because they are great songs, but I love it when someone brings something less trodden, which is what we're trying to do with our project as well.

So, I'll follow with my Top 5, but what say ye, one and all?

 

[TroyK]

Okay, my Top 5 is no particular order, but the one that I have claimed as my personal favorite for a long time is

Nancy Wilson with the Cannonball Adderley Quintet
Capitol Records 1961
Nancy Wilson - Vocals
Cannonball Adderley - Alto Sax
Nat Adderley - Cornet
Joe Zawinul - Piano
Sam Jones - Bass
Louis Hayes - Drums

Nancy Wilson is perfect. She's soulful, she has beautiful pitch, phrasing, and expression. The Adderley Quintet is arguably among the best of that genre, especially if you consider their full catalog. And Sam freaking Jones on a record with Nancy Wilson.

I also really like the songs they chose and they way they arranged and approached them. "The Masquerade is Over" is not a deep cut, but they do it really, really well. Every other song that she sings on this record is less trodden and presented to us in a very compelling way. I don't know how many times I've listened to this record. I've had it on CD since some time in the 90s, but recently picked up an original mono Scranton pressing of the LP. They both sound amazing, the CD does have one track that the LP does not and it's a really good one "Little Unhappy Boy".

They also play instrumental tracks on this record, which is a bit odd and I'm torn on it. At a show, I'm into it. On a record, I think I prefer some continuity, but I don't switch it off, because it's the Cannonball Adderley Quintet.

Love this record. I could still argue that it's my favorite, but there are contenders and it's a silly thing to argue about with myself anyway.

 

[JBarz]

cannonball and nancy wilson
lambert hendrix and ross, the hottest new group in jazz
an evening with anita oday
nat king cole after midnight (et all)
sarah vaughan and clifford brown


... dang, that was hard (and incredibly incomplete).

 

[TroyK]

...
... dang, that was hard (and incredibly incomplete).

Yep!

Since you mentioned Sarah, I'll do her next:

Sarah Vaughan - Swingin' Easy
EmArcy Records 1957
Sarah Vaughan - Vocals
Jimmy Jones - Piano
Richard Davis - Bass
Roy Haynes - Drums

One of the first jazz records (CD's) I bought. There is probably a combination of sentiment and the fact that this is Sarah with a trio. She did record with some other small groups, but overwhelmingly her catalog was orchestrated. I also have the Clifford Brown sides with her and Clifford is my favorite overall musician, but the band didn't quite tell the story for me the way that this one does. As for the material, it's more standard and it drags in places, but she's great and in this format, she really shines. I wish she had done more like this.

My well worn CD started skipping a bit and I searched out and found an original LP in good shape, because I'm a nerd like that and this is in the Top 5 for me.

 

[TroyK]

Next up, a toofer:

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman
Impulse! Records 1963
Johnny Hartman - Vocals
John Coltrane - Tenor Sax
McCoy Tyner - Piano
Jimmy Garrison - Bass
Elvin Jones - Drums

It would be hard to argue that this was not the best band ever to record with a singer. It's hard to argue that this is not the best band ever. What's amazing and wonderful to me about it is that the band sounds like themselves, but they don't get in Johnny Hartman's way or overshadow him in any way.

It's a great record, great songs, astonishing performance, pretty sedate, very romantic. No disrespect to people like Frank Sinatra, but this record...

Autumn Serenade is a high point, especially for the groove that Jimmy Garrison lays down.

I have this one on CD too and I picked up a reissue LP in a used record bin years ago. It's honestly not great. Original pressings on this one are just too expensive.

Johnny Hartman - I Just Dropped By to Say Hello
Impulse! Records 1964
Johnny Hartman - Vocals
Illinois Jacquet - Tenor Saxophone
Kenny Burrell or Jim Hall - Guitar
Hank Jones - Piano
Milt Hinton - Bass
Elvin Jones - Drums

Another KILLER BAND for a vocal album ... or any album. I almost like this record a little better than the Coltrane album. I like the song choices and the high points are a little higher. "Charade" for example is a deep cut that moves me every time. But, don't make me choose between these two records. I have both a CD and an original mono pressing of this one. They can be had much cheaper because Coltrane's name isn't on the cover.

Interestingly enough, he made a 3rd Album on Impulse! that I really don't like. Somehow, I haven't found other of his recordings that moved me the same way, though I'm still looking. These two records were prime 60s and GREAT BANDS. Ticks all of my boxes.

 

[TroyK]

Okay and the last of my Top 5. Still in no particular order, in part because if pressed, I might be tempted to list this one first, which feels wrong, because she's not Sarah or Ella or Nancy or ...

Ethel Ennis - Eyes For You
RCA Victor - 1964
Ethel Ennis - Vocals
Jimmy Jones - Piano
George Duvivier - Bass
Osie Johnson - Drums
Walt Namuth - Guitar (some tracks)
Jimmy Wells - Vibes (some tracks)

This one probably doesn't exist on CD and it's doubtful that there were any vinyl reissues, but you can stream it and you should.

I found it in an independent record store after they reopened from Covid. I had never heard of her, but George Duvivier caught my eye and it was $8, so I bit. She is just ... astonishing. I had to go read about her. Evidently she went to NYC and got some attention and a record contract, but didn't want to live there or on the road. She insisted on life in Baltimore and became known as "The First Lady of Baltimore". No doubt in my mind that she could have been a (jazz) household name, but I kind of like her more knowing that she made her own decision. She made 1/2 dozen records and her voice is the same awesome on all of them, but this is the only pure, small group, bop-leaning jazz one. My Kind of Waltztime is close and the project I have with the singer took "Remember" off of that record and sort of crashed it into the Soul Station recording of it, but that record doesn't carry the same straight ahead-itude as this one. It's marvelous.

Really good song choices, great energy, perfect performance. I put it right up there with Wilson/Adderley and because it doesn't feel like two albums I ... I can't say it. I'll only say that this is the one I've listened to the most in the last year. It has better energy and momentum than either the Hartman sides or Swingin' Easy. It is fantastic and you should all check it out. "Yesterdays" stands out to me because of George Duvivier's set up of the tempo change...stick it out for that. But honestly, there's not a bad track on this record, it's great side to side. I might have actually started this whole "Top 5" thing just so I could write about this album. It's that good, especially for someone that I had never heard of. Maybe some of you mid-Atlantic folks have been aware of her for longer.

 

[Selim]

You Gotta Pay The Band
Abbey Lincoln
Stan Getz
Hank Jones
Charlie Haden
Marc Johnson
Maxine Roach

 

[The Owl]

 

[TroyK]

I'm streaming your suggestions, thanks and keep them coming.

 

[meandering]

Good stuff so far. Here are some of my favorite small group records:

Sara Vaughan in Hi-Fi
Sara Vaughan +2 (great trio w/Joe Comfort on bass)
Jeanne Lee and Ran Blake "The Newest Sound Around" (features George Duvivier on a few tracks)
Helen Merrill "You and the Night and the Music" (Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, Masabumi Kikuchi, Tom Harrell, not a bad backing band...)
Sheila Jordan "Portrait of Sheila" (Barry Galbraith, Steve Swallow, Denzil Best providing great accompaniment)
Max Roach "Freedom Now! We Insist!" (Abbey Lincoln is great on this)

 

[TroyK]

Thanks. I just learned that Abbey Lincoln was married to Max Roach for a while.

Will check all of those out.

 

[TyBo]

Some of my fave vocal jazz recordings I encountered fairly early in my journey, having taken out from the library the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz box set. Some great stuff on there.

Ella - "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To". I actually tend to prefer her Songbook era singing, such a pure voice. But this one, live in 1964, swings like crazy, and Ella's vocal flourishes hit hard. Tommy Flanagan, Roy Eldridge, Bill Yancey bass, Gus Johnson drums. Love it!


Sarah - "Key Largo". Just Sarah, bass, and guitar (Barney Kessel). What a mood. Enchanting.


There's also - "Ain't No Use" from Sarah. Harry Edison on Trumpet, Jimmy Jones on Piano. Mmmhmm!


"Favorites" are so hard to pick ... so I'm just putting up some that catch my ear as I'm mulling this over. I think "whisper Not" might be a challenging tune to sing - I know it first instrumentally from Milt Jackson's amazing album with Benny Golson and others - but Anita O'Day is up to the task, brings a good feel to it:


I always wished Norah Jones would do more jazz. She has such a wonderful texture to her voice, and a feel for the chords and melody.




I could go on and on, but ...

 

[Joshua]

Lots of great stuff here, and it makes me realize how few recordings with vocals I have. I need to remedy that!

One of my absolute faves would be:



It's an amazing recording and a powerful tale.

Another:

Una Noche con Rubén Blades

And I know the bassist, Carlos Henriquez, is a member here, but I cannot remember his screen name. I owe him many thanks for all the joy the recording brings me!

 

[Silevesq]

I am not going to fully respect what you asked, sorry in advance.

Here are my favorite jazz "vocal" album. Jazz sometime with afro-cuban influence, sometime more contemporary sometime more straight. Small band with great musician. I think they are great song but not necessary standard.

• Esperanza Spalding - Esperanza

My personal favorite Esperanza recording, a huge variety how sounds, many different influences.

• Gretchen Parlato - Lost and Found

I would call this more modern, but with the hip-hop/groove influence being very present with a touch of contemporary. I don't think this is what you are looking for.

• Mary Halvorson - Code Girl

This is a strech, very experimental, contemporary, I don't think this is what you are looking for.

• Esperanza Spalding - Chamber Music Society

This one has a classical yet not classical vibe, I'd say it sound very modern with some beautiful ensemble playing.

• Shannon Thomson Quintet with strings - Reflectioning

Shannon was a teacher at Concordia University, the recording is not about voice but there is a few piece with her sister Dawn that are really nice. You might wanna check more on her sister Dawn Thomson, she as a few record under her name including one featuring Don Thompson playing piano instead of bass.

Next one that I am interested that contain vocal are Diatom Ribbons - Kris Davis featuring Esperanza. You could also check out spalding for her album with Fred Hersch, it is only piano and vocal but the only piece I was able to hear is something else!

Hope this may help you a little.

 

[turf3]

The Audience with Betty Carter
Hartman and Coltrane
the small group Lester and Billie recordings from the 30s
Armstrong plays W C Handy (with Velma Middleton)
various Red Norvo with Mildred Bailey

 

[TroyK]

I am streaming all of your suggestions, thank you and keep them coming. Sarah + 2 is a bright spot so far.

I've not really gone deep with Esperanza Spaulding yet, but it's probably time.

Tidal's algorithms led me to this last night. Bigger band than I was looking for, but the band and Ella were fantastic. Some great songs and a few that I personally wouldn't have chosen, but they're good enough to make them sound good anyway.

 

[oren]

I love of everything I’ve heard from Shirley Horn. Not a classic big vocal instrument, but her refrained and understated yet hip phrasing, paired with her impeccable piano playing, reward close listening. Easy to hear why Miles was a big fan.

Speaking of hip, Bob Dorough is fun to listen to - definitely deep in the bop lane, and his songwriting is clever and fun. His 1956 album Devil May Care is the one I’ve mostly listened to and includes him singing his lyrics to Yardbird Suite as well as a nice version of Polka Dots and Moonbeams along with some good originals.

I’ve been really enjoying listening to Samara Joy, who of course won the Best New Artist Grammy this year. She’s got a great voice and astonishing knowledge of how to use it for someone so young. Heavy Sarah Vaughan influence and the ability to get beyond that.

And there are a bunch of great Brazilian singers, of course. Joao Gilberto and Ellis Regina were fabulous. Lately I’ve been listening to the album Ron Carter made with Rosa Passos, which is great, and the Bossa albums from Elaine Elias, who is a really underrated musician, IMHO.

lots of good stuff in this thread - I’m subscribing!

 

[TyBo]

+1 on Samara Joy, she's very talented. Definitely in the Sarah Vaughan lane, in her own way.

 

[The Owl]

 

[Don Kasper]

Rosa Passos, which is great, and the Bossa albums from Elaine Elias, who is a really underrated musician, IMHO.

Yes.
Obrigado!
Rosa Passos with NOT Ron Carter -