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Looking for a "Best Of Vocal Jazz" Album:

post #1 of 18
12/17/10 at 12:26am
Thread Starter 

Am looking for a good intro into the greats: Sara Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Etta Jones, etc.

 

I prefer the slower songs; are there any best of type cds that would provide me a good intro into this genre?

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post #2 of 18
12/17/10 at 11:08am
You'd do best to get best ofs of each one individually. There aren't a lot of compilations that cross label lines, and these ladies recorded all over the place.

I would suggest adding Ella Fitzgerald, Kay Starr and Dinah Washington to your list. Those are my three favorites. I'd recommend Ella Best of the Songbooks, Kay Starr Lamplighter Sessions and just about anything by Dinah Washington

Keep in mind that late period Billie and Sarah may be an acquired taste. They got more mannered in their delivery as time went by..

Edit: just rethought it a bit. Starr is generally uptempo. Get the Dinah Cd with Blue Gardenia on it. You'll like it.
Edited by bigshot - 12/17/10 at 11:15am
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post #3 of 18
12/17/10 at 10:12pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigshot View Post

You'd do best to get best ofs of each one individually. There aren't a lot of compilations that cross label lines, and these ladies recorded all over the place.

I would suggest adding Ella Fitzgerald, Kay Starr and Dinah Washington to your list. Those are my three favorites. I'd recommend Ella Best of the Songbooks, Kay Starr Lamplighter Sessions and just about anything by Dinah Washington

Keep in mind that late period Billie and Sarah may be an acquired taste. They got more mannered in their delivery as time went by..

Edit: just rethought it a bit. Starr is generally uptempo. Get the Dinah Cd with Blue Gardenia on it. You'll like it.



Thanks.

 

I borrowed a friends copy of What a Difference a Day Makes by Dinah and the vocals are only coming out of one side of my headphones.

 

is this normal?

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post #4 of 18
12/17/10 at 10:41pm
Should be both sides. I think that's a mono recording.
Edited by bigshot - 12/17/10 at 10:42pm
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post #5 of 18
12/18/10 at 9:54am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigshot View Post

Should be both sides. I think that's a mono recording.



Ok-so there is an inordinate amount of material for Billie Holiday.

Where to start?

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post #6 of 18
12/18/10 at 10:12am
The Decca sides... Lover Man, God Bless the Child, Strange Fruit.
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post #7 of 18
12/18/10 at 10:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigshot View Post

The Decca sides... Lover Man, God Bless the Child, Strange Fruit.



Just picked up the Complete Decca Recordings-2 cd. Hope thats what you were referring to.

 

Thanks!

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post #8 of 18
12/18/10 at 11:22am
That's the Bible of Billie. At Columbia in her early days, she was great. But she was singing the same standards that everyone sang. Commodore allowed her to record more challenging material, and Decca really defined her individuality with that smokey film noir feel. The later Verve recordings had better sound quality, but Billie was not in the best of shape. Every bit of Billie Holiday is worth having, but the Decca material is the heart of it. Next, get Commodore, then start in on the Columbias.
Edited by bigshot - 12/18/10 at 11:28am
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post #9 of 18
12/18/10 at 11:33am
Ella Fitzgerald is the sun to Billie's moon. There's even more to her long career to hear, but a great place to start is this 1957 concert with Oscar Peterson. She walks out on stage and hits it out of the park with the very first song. Amazing performance.

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Icons-Ella-Fitzgerald-Live/dp/B000H9HWRI/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1292700611&sr=1-1
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post #10 of 18
12/18/10 at 11:36am

The Ultimate Collection from Hip-O Select is the best programmed Billie Holiday comp I've ever heard, and it crosses labels. The sound is superlative, too.

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post #11 of 18
12/18/10 at 2:06pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigshot View Post

That's the Bible of Billie. At Columbia in her early days, she was great. But she was singing the same standards that everyone sang. Commodore allowed her to record more challenging material, and Decca really defined her individuality with that smokey film noir feel. The later Verve recordings had better sound quality, but Billie was not in the best of shape. Every bit of Billie Holiday is worth having, but the Decca material is the heart of it. Next, get Commodore, then start in on the Columbias.



Great.

 

Why are there multiple versions of the same song (alternate or previously unnisued)

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post #12 of 18
12/18/10 at 2:32pm
Jazz is improvisational, so there are often differences between takes. In the 78 era, the lacquer parts used to master the records would wear out after awhile, so they would record more than one good take of a song as a backup. When the first part wore out, the alternate take would be released with the same label and catalog number. The only way to tell them apart was the master number etched into the runout area of the record. There were also differences between these takes too, and collectors have catalogued them all and have their own favorites. When they release a complete set of an artist, they release all of the alternates along with the master takes.
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post #13 of 18
12/18/10 at 3:16pm


 

Quote:
Originally Posted by kwitel View Post



Quote:
Originally Posted by bigshot View Post

That's the Bible of Billie. At Columbia in her early days, she was great. But she was singing the same standards that everyone sang. Commodore allowed her to record more challenging material, and Decca really defined her individuality with that smokey film noir feel. The later Verve recordings had better sound quality, but Billie was not in the best of shape. Every bit of Billie Holiday is worth having, but the Decca material is the heart of it. Next, get Commodore, then start in on the Columbias.



Great.

 

Why are there multiple versions of the same song (alternate or previously unnisued)

 

bigshot's not wrong, but I tend to think those sets with multiple versions are kinda holdovers from the early CD era when labels were padding CDs in order to justify higher retail prices. They also felt the jazz audience was a bit more academic/obsessive. While it's true that there are subtleties from take to take, the master take is often the best version as well as the one originally made for radio play, jukeboxes, etc, which is why a sophisticated album artist like Miles Davis couldn't stand the whole "bonus track" phenomenon. "If I wanted folks to hear that sh-t," he used to say, "I'd have put it on there myself."

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post #14 of 18
12/18/10 at 4:17pm

It depends on the band. For a band that plays off charts, it might not be a big difference. For an improvisational band... say like Bill Evans, the difference might be huge. You have to remember that the 78 era didn't involve overdubbing or editing. Each record was played through live from beginning to end.

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post #15 of 18
12/19/10 at 6:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigshot View Post

It depends on the band. For a band that plays off charts, it might not be a big difference. For an improvisational band... say like Bill Evans, the difference might be huge. You have to remember that the 78 era didn't involve overdubbing or editing. Each record was played through live from beginning to end.

 

No arguing the immense creativity of Bill Evans, but from a consumer standpoint (which I think may be the context of kwitel's question), having to listen to five versions of the same track in a row can be a bit much. You wander into obsessive, "collector's only" territory, which is what I've often read on forums about Verve's Complete Bill Evans metal box (though the rust-gathering packaging probably draws the biggest complaints). This is also the reason Columbia issued Lady Day: The Master Takes and Singles a few years after they put out Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia. Feedback showed that the public was less excited about nine or ten CDs with umpteen versions of "Lover Man".
 

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