Obscure & Neglected Female Singers Of Jazz & Standards (1930s to 1960s)

I can be influenced by friends and family concerning new music, though most of my discoveries are from personal exploration. But it is very rare that I am influenced by a music critic. As for you, I don't read them much. Many critics can only compliment one thing by tearing something else down.

I consider posters on this thread to be in the "friends" category. Though most of you look a little odd, judging from your avatar photos. I had to trim my beard off for a recent medical procedure. My cat was very upset.

 

Neat photo of your "Chronogical Mildred" CDs, Toilet Doctor.

Seeing how this topic has come back for a second round, I just checked my stuff. I was trying to determine how many of Mildred's studio recordings were not released by Columbia, and consequently aren't on the Mosaic box. The answer is "quite a few." Didn't count, but my estimate is that there are more than 50.

On the more specific matter of early recordings not on the Mosaic box, the answer is, once again, quite a few. I will be glad to read Toilet Doctor's comments about this, but, for now, here are my quick findings:

1) Of the 24 tracks on the first "Chronogical" volume, only the first two are also on Mosaic.

2) From the second volume, about six tracks are not part of the Mosaic set, either.

3) With the third volume, we finally find that all of the "Chronogical" tracks are also on the Mosaic set. (It seems, however, that Classics missed a few Columbia-owned tracks.)

I didn't check any further, but the later years should be easier to figure out. (Aside from her participation in one 1942 Red Norvo session, Mildred's last Columbia recordings are from 1940. So, most of her 1940s recordings are naturally absent from the Mosaic box, present in the Classics 1940s volumes.)

By the way, the Mosaic material was cannibalized by one of the Spain-based Public Domain labels, which released them on two volumes. I imagine that the Spanish label skipped only those numbers which qualified as previously unissued tracks or alternate takes. (Looking at the total amounts, the Mosaic box has nearly 40 more tracks.)

 

Another, more recent tribute:



Mildred is actually Daryl's biggest vocal influence. Daryl has also participated in live, various-artists concert tributes to the Norvos (& also to Paul Whiteman).

In the following clip, she honors Mildred by covering a very good ballad that the latter recorded in the 1940s. Following some chatter, Daryl starts singing around 1:20. (She does the verse, which is absent from most versions by other singers.)



Another singer who paid musical tribute to Mildred Bailey (and to Paul Whiteman) was Peggy Lee. She did so twice, once on TV, and once on her album with George Shearing, Beauty and the Beat.

On the matter of Billie's discovery, the author of the paragraph above could have added that Norvo is the source for the version of events that he's offering.

If I have to pick between the two versions of this story, I believe Norvo's. Hammond might have conveniently "forgotten" Mildred's involvement or, more likely, he was trying to take sole credit (as it seems to have been his wont, all too often).

Here's another circulating Billie-Mildred story that has two versions as well: Mildred's hiring of Billie's mother as a maid. One version contends that Mildred and Red hired Ms. Eleonora Fagan just to help out with the finances of mother and daughter. Another version suggests that Mildred did so out of spite, to rub it on Billie's nose.

According to Hammond, Mildred complained to Billie about how awful a housemaid her mother was. Hammond interpreted the complaints as a manifestation of jealousy on Mildred's part. In any case, the Norvos ended up firing Ms. Fagan (who, incidentally, had also worked as Ethel Waters' maid).

It has been said that these two major singers (Billie & Mildred) grew to see one another as rivals. Jazz circles certainly had them competing for the same top positions. For its duration in the 1940s, Esquire magazine's jazz poll had the two women neck to neck. In the first two polls (1943 & 1944), Billie was on top, and Mildred right behind her. That order was reversed for the next two years (1945 & 1946), with Mildred climbing and staying on top.

 

Can you imagine the experience of going to one of these concerts? Better yet, being able to hang out with the artists in the dressing room reception lounge?

I have met three of these artists.

Of all of them, Mildred was the first to pass away.

Can you believe that they demolished that grand hall? American cities have been committing suicide for more than 50 years.






On its LAST night in 1966:



Today, it is a lifeless place where people suffer and get fired just about every day.

 

Typical design for Columbia's 10" LPs of the early 1950s. Some, like the ones dedicated to Krupa, Sinatra, Goodman, etc., have a far more pedestrian and unremarkable look.




Separately, each might not please the eye all that much, but, together as a bunch, they can hold their own brand of low-key appeal.

By the same token, there is the odd item, here and there, with more elaborate artwork, or with some playful charm:




Anyway, let me get back to Mildred. From a later time (1956), let's add to this thread her entry on the label's "House Party" series.



Far more appealing.

 

I've always loved that album cover. I also have the Japanese CD reissue, on Nippon Columbia. While we are all at it, here is the informative back cover of the Savoy Jazz CD reissue, too:



There is a chance that Majestic (the original label) released these tracks not only on singles but also on a 78 album.

Be that as it may, Mildred at least got to see the following 78 album under her name, during her lifetime (1946):

 

That is a great photo. It is too bad the design department insisted on the House Party logo in the upper left corner.

 

Lots of photos of Mildred, in the last two or three pages. She looks pretty much the same in almost all of them, doesn't she? Part of the reason why I get that impression is, I think, her consistent choice of dark attire. Since the photos are in black & white, we can't determine if the dresses are all black, but such is my suspicion.

This brings me in turn to the general belief in black as a slimming color ... Mildred's insecurities about her weight are known. She was actually thin before she reached the adult years. In these family photos, she is about 17.





My favorite photo of Mildred has not been posted yet ... Here it is:




Rustic and homey. Iconic, too, insofar as it is yet another enactment of her as the "Rockin' Chair" lady.

Glad that you posted it. To not have it here, after all this discussion about her, would be almost a crime!

The 1932 hit version is also on YouTube: Mildred Bailey, Paul Whiteman Orchestra - Rockin' Chair (1932)

And the 1941 version, with the Delta Rhythm Boys: MILDRED BAILEY - Rockin' Chair (1941) + Delta Rhythm Boys

Incidentally, Mildred was once asked which of the hundreds of songs that she interpreted was her favorite. Her answer? No, not "Rockin' Chair." This one:



Her predilection is explained in part by the fact that the song, which became a standard, was written expressly for her.

 

These great old buildings only became recognized in the 70s and 80s. Shame this one came down
If only it could have held out another decade it likely would have survived. The acoustics were probably great as it has the classic vertical
Opera house design which consistently resulted in great sound. The interior design is also breath taking. They are redoing Massy Hall in Toronto shortly and though not on the scale of this building it to has the same vertical layout and the sound is magic.
We hope they don’t muck it up. ( replace the first letter in muck with an F)

 

Mildred Bailey "Her Greatest Performances" (Columbia, 1962) (3LP)

"While we're at it, all you vinyl-only collector nerds might want to keep an eye out for this fab. 3-LP set which covers her career from 1929-46. Pure musical gold, with classy packaging to boot. One of the great jazz reissues of the LP era."

Now I know where Mosaic Box covers came from...



(These are privet box owners' images).
Please see more:

 

"A total of 214 tracks over 10 discs of Mildred who? Although her name is less familiar to today’s audiences than Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald or Anita O’Day, Mildred Bailey (1903-51) was perhaps the most influential female singer at a critical moment in history: when jazz emerged as America’ s popular music in the swing era.
While the history surrounding certain musicians sometimes provides better reading than listening, Bailey produced a compelling body of recorded work.
Some of the songs show their age-the “sympathetic” descriptions of Negro life in “Little Joe” and others are eye-opening-but many are timeless in the tradition of jazz standards (see “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” “Don’t Be That Way” and “Lover Come Back to Me”). There is also tremendous variety: Bailey staunchly preaches “Shouting in That Amen Corner,” milks “Thanks for the Memory” for its witty sarcasm and sweetly croons “The Moon Got in My Eyes,” a long-forgotten gem.
This collection-one that would be an asset to any singer-has been long overdue." (from the review)



P.S. I'm still working on my sets...

 

from the
Conversations with Gary Giddins on Jazz Vocalists:

Jazz critic Gary Giddins had his thirty year career at the Village Voice. Then he began a new career as a book writer.
"Weatherbird: Jazz at the Dawn of its Second Century is the new collection of 140 pieces Giddins wrote over a fourteen year period, and is the companion volume to Visions of Jazz, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism."



This October 25, 2004 conversation — the third in the series — is devoted to vocalists.
(Conversation hosted by Jerry Jazz Musician publisher Joe Maita).

JJM: "Talk a little more about Mildred Bailey……"

Gary Giddins: "As I mentioned, she was the first female band singer. She and Red Norvo were in Whiteman’s band at the same time, which is where they met. They married and became known as “Mr. and Mrs. Swing.” If you want to talk about underrated big bands, Norvo’s has to be very high on the list. Eddie Sauter wrote gorgeous arrangements to set off Mildred’s voice, and the music had a plush, innovative, even ingenious sound unlike any other. Somebody — Columbia or, more likely, Mosaic — ought to collect Norvo’s instrumental recordings, not just with the big band, but the small-group oddities, which I love. Fortunately, Mosaic did put out The Complete Columbia Mildred Bailey recordings, a magnificent set, and I think Columbia’s one-disc Norvo anthology is still around.

Mildred was part Native American, from the state of Washington. She was very thin as a young girl and rode to school on horseback, but she ran away from home when she was very young — after her mother died and her father married the archetypal wicked stepmother. She ultimately married some guy in Seattle named Bailey, who nobody knows much about. A couple of years later, she turned up in Los Angeles, married to a bootlegger and singing in a posh and very private Hollywood speakeasy — you could drink and listen to her sing or go into another room and gamble or rent women. She was the sister of Al Rinker, who was Bing Crosby’s boyhood friend, and later part of the Rhythm Boys, and after that a composer and radio producer. When Al and Bing were just starting out, they went to Los Angeles to see if they could start a career in show business and Rinker suggested they go see his sister Mildred. They showed up unannounced, but she embraced them and put them up for awhile, helped Bing with his singing, and got them auditions. Crosby’s way of paying her back was to trick Whiteman into hearing her, because he knew that alone would incline him to hire her. He did, of course, and within a year she was the highest paid musician on the Whiteman payroll.

Mildred was largely forgotten for a while, except by a few young singers, most notably Daryl Sherman, who has always held her banner high, but she was extremely influential — in a way, the missing link between Ethel Waters, arguably the first great jazz singer, and Ella Fitzgerald and the swing style that followed. She has the light voice Ethel had, but could sing anything — blues, ballads, fast, slow, novelties, She was a marvelous performer with great wit and a ferocious temper. Her radio broadcasts are great fun partly because you never know what she’ll say. Tommy Dorsey comes on as a guest and reads the scripted nonsense, and she says something like, “Well, Tommy, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but play something.” In the same series, which is out on a recent Storyville CD, Trummy Young says what a thrill it is to be on the show, and she says, “Yes, I know.”

In her early period, she occasionally relied on mannerisms that I find annoying, but she got rid of those pretty quickly. She also sang darkie pastorals that are simply embarrassing, but she was hardly alone in that — Fletcher Henderson recorded:

”It’s no excuse, but it’s also no reason to ignore her work. If anyone reading this has eighty bucks or so to invest in discovering Mildred Bailey, the Mosaic box is worth every penny. It will take most of your life to absorb it all, but it is infinitely fascinating. She recorded with many of the great musicians of the period — not unlike Holiday — and she brought out something wonderful in all of them. Speaking of Holiday and boxes, Columbia/Legacy did do her justice in the complete 1933-44 box, another investment that never completely gives up all its wonders. I’ve been listening to some of those sides for forty years and in some cases I think there isn’t a measure I don’t know, but I find that as I get older I hear a lot of things differently. Of course, Holiday is underrated only in the sense that Armstrong is — no matter how good you think they are they prove to be better. One funny thing about that box; I wrote one of the liner essays, and published for the first time a series of very personal and revealing notes that she wrote at the end of her life. They were given to me about twenty years ago and just gathered dust in my files. I figured they would amaze Holiday scholars, who’d want to know more about them. Nobody noticed!"

toilet_doctor: Sorry for the interruption, guys, but... Her early slight mannerism is just an echo of her childhood, and it only adds a retro-charm to her singing.
Otherwise, thank you for the nice conversations.

 

Vocalist Keely Smith dies from apparent heart failure at 89

SHF thread: RIP Keely Smith

 

Now that is sad. I had been considering doing a radio special on her only two weeks ago, but as I still had no voice, I postponed it.

 

We will get back to Mildred, but this album is one of the finest ballad albums ever issued:

 

100% in agreement with Tribute. Her very best album. And, to keep Mildred in the discussion, let's add that Keely shared with Mildred a Native American heritage.

In addition to this thread and the current R.I.P. thread, there is also one that I created a year or two ago, just to discuss Real Gone Music's excellent reissues of her Reprise albums, starting with The Intimate Keely Smith. The thread is here: Keely Smith: New CDs (Reprise/Real Gone Music).

 

(from the RIP Keely Smith thread)



Keely Smith
(1928-1917)


"I'm Gonna Live Until I Die"
(A song from Keely's album "Little Girl Blue...")

"Of all the great American female singers, Keely Smith may be the most "naturally"
gifted. The instrument, the technique, the sense of melodic line - simply exemplary,
textbook examples of the art of singing. How do you explain such a phenomenon?
It's practically unfair to the aspiring talents who will study and practice long hours
yet not come close to equaling skills like hers."
(from the review)



Keely Smith is a gem in the American Jazz Vocal crown. She can easily fit into the row of singers from the major league such as Peggy Lee, Julie London, Rosemary Clooney and Chris Connor. Like them she had that adorable a bit husky and sexy timbre in her mid range. But unlike them, she could go so high with extreme clarity on the tops - it's just breathtaking.

Naturally borne singer, whose last name became her first name, she never took any music or vocal lessons. Nevertheless, everyone who heard her, immediately fell under her spell. It happened with Earl Benett, who took her into his band at the age of 15. Then with Louis Prima in 1949 to the extent that he married her in 1953. (The result was two daughters and several hits. One of them "That Old Black Magic" won Grammy, becoming a Jazz standard).

I'm not going to delve into Keely biography ... Her songs speak better than words:

Hey Boy Hey Girl (what a clarity of highs Keely shows here, even in this 60 years old video)


(1957)
Keely Smith "Sweet and Lovely"

(1965)
It Had to Be You

"The Man I Love" Keely Smith

Kelly left 21 albums for us:

• I Wish You Love 1957, Capitol)
• Politely! (1958, (Capitol)
• Swinging’ Pretty (1959, Capitol)
• Be My Love (1959, Dot)
• Swing, You Lovers (1960, Dot)
• A Keely Christmas (1960, Dot)
• Keely (1961, Dot)
• Dearly Beloved (1961, Dot)
• Because You're Mine (1962, Dot)
• Twist with Keely Smith (1962, Dot)
• CheroKeely Swings! (1962, Dot)
• What Kind of Fool Am I? (1962, Dot)
• Little Girl Blue, Little Girl New (1963, Reprise)
• Sings the John Lennon-Paul McCartney Songbook (1964, Reprise)
• The Intimate Keely Smith (1965, Reprise)
• That Old Black Magic (1966, Reprise)
• I'm In Love Again (1985, Fantasy)
• Swing, Swing, Swing (2000, Concord)
• Keely Sings Sinatra (2000, Concord)
• Keely Swings Basie Style with Strings (2002, Concord)
• Vegas '58 -- Today (2005, Concord)

I hope we take care of all of them. One Dot album "A Keely Christmas" and two Reprise ones "The Intimate Keely Smith" and "Little Girl Blue, Little Girl New" were recently reissued on CD for a first time with stunning sound quality. The sound she deserved...
Because the singer, like Keely Smith, should be regarded as a national treasure. Yes, her legacy is a National Treasure.

 

Losing Keely and Della within a month of each other is almost more than I can bear. I can still remember the day (30 years ago) when I walked into my little local record store, saw a stereo copy of Keely's "Swingin' Pretty" album and wondered, "Hmm...I wonder what she sounds like?" She became one of my all-time favorites that day.

 

P.S.
Forget about 'Keely Smith Christmas' - it's amazon CD-R. (Who is taking care of Dot these day?!)

By the way, what I said about her was not just nice words by the occasion of her death.
Almost everything was written more than year ago when I prepared a post about her.
(I was once again convinced that they should all be in one place with their lives, death and new releases).

 

The Amazon product page does not say it's a CD-R, but even if so, why would that be reason to forget it? (Of course, a CD would be preferred, but there should be no difference in sound quality or packaging.)

 

In such cases, if you order a used CD from a marketplace dealer, it will most likely be a real CD from older stock. My copy is real.

With CDRs, of course, it is about degradation over time. I have a large number of CDRs that have degraded into digital chatter noise. All CDRs will degrade, as they are based on organic chemical compounds (dyes) that degrade over time.

 

I'm well aware of the chemical formulations in CD-Rs. I'm sure it's been discussed in an appropriate thread. My point was that Amazon proper usually labels them as such, and this one is not listed as a CD-R.

 

'A Keely Christmas' released by Jasmine in 1994 looks like that:



To differ a new release from the old one they made it like this:

Keely Smith A Keely Christmas by Kipepeo Publishing UPC: 792837876452
Two new copies of it are still at amazon marketplace for $33.44 .

Amazon CD-R of this release was listed just yesterday for $15.99. It's a double hot item now, after Keely's death, and it's gone. There was a date of release: 2015.
CD-R should sound close to the original, but what is an original? 1994? Are these two copies for $33.44 also amazon CD-R or something else? There is nothing about this release anywhere.
CD material aside, amazon CD-Rs are very poorly done, having a piece of folding paper inside instead of booklet, but costs as original or more.

I think they all are amazon CD-R and I said: Forget about them.

 

@toilet_doctor: My previous post links to this product page at Amazon.com…
» Keely Smith - A Keely Christmas [ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED] - Amazon.com Music

Jasmine Music import (Octobe4 18, 1994); $12.99 direct from Amazon; Prime shipping; 14 left in stock. It is NOT a CD-R.

Also available direct from Jasmine in the UK: » Keely SMITH - A Keely Christmas - Jasmine Records

This is the one you're talking about, which is clearly labeled as an on-demand CD-R…
» Keely Smith - A Keely Christmas - Amazon.com Music

(And not to engage in an off-topic debate, but I have received CD-Rs from Amazon with identical factory covers, inserts, booklets, and labels as the original pressed CDs. This may not be one of those, but they're not all bad.)

 

Probably, amazon received a big pile of them again and the price now is $10.99. (If the price becomes lower, amazon always refunds the difference). This CD has ASIN: B018F6O0DS
(I bumped on a poorly made one, but they may improved production with time).
Sometimes, it makes sense to buy CD-R for a reasonable price, if it's a rare LP or a multi-sides transfer, nicely done using latest technology by the public domain companies. It can beat in SQ old 16-bit mastering CDs.
Is it a case with this one? https://www.amazon.com/Keely-Christmas-Smith/dp/B01G65GVWS/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1513700446&sr=1-1&keywords=792837876452 It has different ASIN: B01G65GVWS.
Look at the price here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keely-Christmas-Smith/dp/B01G65GVWS/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1513702530&sr=1-1&keywords=ASIN:+B01G65GVWS
Maybe it is a real thing, after all...(?) But, as I said, there is no info on this release - I'd stay away...