A Tale of a Few Vocalists

I was perusing a Web site called Jazz.com the other day. They’ve been picking up a few of my posts here and there and sending traffic my way, which I appreciate. Anyway, they pointed to another feature from another post somewhere else in which the great drummer Jimmy Cobb was asked to list his six favorite records. Anyway, there was Miles Birth of the Cool and, of course, Kind of Blue, on which Cobb played. Then there was an Oscar Peterson and, incredibly to me, a Wynton Marsalis. I won’t comment on that one. The two that struck me were the vocalists: Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. This brought up a conversation I had with a friend last weekend. He had made the point that he believed there were three premium vocal stylists (in the jazz idiom, of course) in the 20th Century. They were:

Louis Armstrong, Nat Cole and Ray Charles. I found that interesting. I told him, for my money, I would take Ella head and shoulders above anyone else and there wasn’t even that close a second. The next one I mentioned was Sinatra. He surprised me by telling me that, among musicians, Ella doesn’t have the same cachet as some other vocalists, such as Sarah Vaughan. Anyway, it was an interesting conversation, fodder for discussion here (I hope) and it was also somewhat gratifying to see Jimmy Cobb confirm my opinion about Ella. Although I still can’t figure why he came up with Wynton Marsalis in his top six.

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3 comments

  • for me too Ella is the finest vocalist!
    I think that manny people find her voice somewhat ‘girlish’ or with not enough ‘pain’, or even too balanced/clean.

    But not only do i like her voice, I also think she was realy good in timing. (don’t like her voice when she scatting)
    She makes it all sounds so easy..
    Furthermore I also LIKE to think she was a really nice person, but i could be wrong..

    my all time favorite: Ella sings Gershwin with Ellis Larkin. The ‘someone to watch over me’ on this record is beautifull.

  • …and dispite all ‘serious’ jazz critics:
    If i hear Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong sing on a
    sunday morning, me still in pyjamas, and it could be autumn or summer, I MELT LIKE BUTTER.

  • Maarten… You are preachin’ to the choir man !

    (I too spent this past Sunday morning with Ella & Louis… That truly is as good it gets !)

    …Toss in a little Billie Holiday and Mel Tormé and we have a great short-list of jazz vocalists I think.

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