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

Did Jean Simmons make many records? I can't see much sign of any, but I was just watching Guys and Dolls and was very taken with voice on this number - Woman in Love

 

Podcast about Ethel Ennis at The Washington Post from Tuesday, 5/14/2019, :

The jazz queen who chose home over fame

 

She sings on the London Cast album of A Little Night Music

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC - Original London Cast 1975

 

Thanks. But I get an error message when I try to play that

 

‎Georgia Lee Sings the Blues Down Under by Georgia Lee on iTunes

https://www.amazon.com/Georgia-Sings-Blues-Down-Under/dp/B00JAT5WGE



To Recap this thread:

*Success is not always based on talent
*Life is not fair
*Help for hording is just a phone call away

 

*There are countless great singers.
*I will care for your vocalist records and CDs
*That is only fair.

 

Best Wishes.
David

 

- update -

Fresh Sound, Spain

The Best Voices Time Forgot Series
(Collectible Albums by Top Female Vocalists)

V101 Wanda Stafford & Patricia Scot / In Love For A Very First Time + Ones Around the Clock
V102 Marcy Lutes & Patty McGovern / Debut + Wednesday's Child
V103 Dori Howard & Janet Brace / Sings + Special Delivery
V104 Thelma Gracen & Milli Vernon / Thelma Gracen + Introducing Milli Vernon
V105 Peggy King & Pam Garner / Lazy Afternoon + Sings Ballads For Broken Hearts
V106 Beverly Kelly & Dolores Hawkins / Beverly Kelly Sings + Dolores
V107 Jane Harvey & Anne Phillips / Leave it to Jane! + Born to be Blue
V108 India Adams & Easy Williams / Comfort Me With Apples + Easy Does It!
V109 Norene Tate & Mae Barnes / Tenderly + Mae Barnes
V110 Jennie Smith & Diana Trask / Love Among the Young + Diana Trask

New titles:

V111 Martha Hayes & Ilene Woods / A Hayes Named Martha + It's Late
V112 Gloria Smyth & Helyne Stewart / Like Soul! + Love Moods
V113 Honi Gordon & Sue Childs / Honi Gordon Sings + Introducing Sue Childs
V114 Pat Thomas & Barbara Long / Jazz Patterns + Soul

 

Wanda Stafford & Patricia Scot In Love For A Very First Time + Ones Around the Clock (FSRV101) Fresh Sound 2019 8427328641012







(from the info, provided by Fresh Sound)
"The young and pretty Wanda Stafford created a big stir at The Roundtable in her debut in New York in 1960… and no wonder! For Miss Stafford has a voice, a style and a feeling for a song that turns in warm and attractive performances, arranged and conducted by the talented Bill Russo.





Patricia Scot will resist all attempts of categorizing. Don’t be surprised if, the first time, you only think about how wonderful the songs are—that’s how good Pat is, and she’s why they’re wonderful."

Sources:
Tracks #1-12, from the Wanda Stafford album “In Love for the Very First Time”
(Roulette SR 25140)
Tracks #13-24, from the Patricia Scot album “Once Around the Clock”
(ABC-Paramount ABCS-301)

I found a very nice review for In Tune International Magazine (we were talking about) by our Colonel Potterby, and one more by George W. Harris:

Reviews

"Just because a singer never made it big does not mean they were untalented, and all of the singers represented here are a case in point.

The first twofer contains albums by two singers who I had never heard before, Wanda Stafford and Patricia Scot. Ms. Stafford’s album, “In Love for the Very First Time,” was arranged and conducted by Bill Russo and features Bill Evans on piano. Ms. Stafford is definitely a student of the cool school, which basically began with Anita O'Day, who was followed by June Christy and Chris Connor among others. Although I like many recordings of the cool school singers, it is not my favorite style of singing. Ms. Stafford has a likeable presence, an excellent sense of rhythm, and thoughtfully interprets the lyrics. She is a good storyteller when she sings. However, despite the times when her voice was quite bright and on key, she tends to be flat. She was only about 20 years old when she recorded this album, and there is a sense that her style and technique were still not fully-developed, which is understandable. The arrangements are jazz-oriented, and never overwhelm her. I have listened to all the albums reviewed here multiple times, and this one has grown on me more and more each time I listen to it. Some of the highlights are the title song, “Hooray for Love,” “Ridin’ on the Moon,” and “The Late, Late Show.”

She did not record any other albums until decades later. She was divorced and had a baby girl at the time she recorded “In Love for the Very First Time.” After touring for a short while after recording it, she quit to be with her daughter, who was being taken care of by Ms. Stafford’s sister. Originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, where she began singing before she moved to New York and soon recorded this album, she returned home and sang in local supper clubs. She eventually moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she still performs in jazz nightspots, and is a vocal teacher and coach.

The album by Patricia Scot is titled “Once Around the Clock,” which has arrangements by Kenyon Hopkins and an orchestra conducted by Creed Taylor. Ms. Scot’s voice is very bright and pretty and expressive and supple and always in tune. She does not remind me of any other singer. She is comfortable with any tempo. The album hits the ground running with a fast and breezy arrangement of a Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II song titled “Once Around the Clock,” which I had never heard before. “Let’s Sit Down and Talk It Over” was written by Ms. Scot, and it is quite impressive for someone who was not a full-time songwriter. She seems to have the most fun with an excellent rendition of “Do It Again.” This was her only album, but on her website, The Official Patricia Scot Website , there are many other recordings available for listening. These include recordings for Chicago’s Tiffany Records; songs with the Jimmy Lyons Trio; recordings when she was performing in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1960s; a few commercial jingles; and some songs recorded over the last couple decades."

Colonel Potterby (April, 2019)
In Tune International Magazine
_____________________________________________________________________________________

"If cool-toned voices in the vein of June Christy, Anita O'Day and Chris Connor are your thing, you are set for a series of discs made for your ears, as Fresh Sound Records has uncovered a cache of ladies that were under-recorded, under-appreciated and under-exposed during their time, but have been brought back into the light to be re-evaluated. Each singer is surrounded by some top notch jazz artists and arrangers, with names like Bill Evans and Gil Evans just for starters to whet your palate. Put on your seat belts for this ride!

The first disc teams Wanda Stafford’s 1960 In Love For the Very First Time with Patricia Scot’s Once Around the Clock. Stafford’s delivery is an earthier take than Chris Conner, teaming well on a 1960 session with Bill Russo’s band that includes Don Sebesky/tb, Bill Evans/p, Ed Shaughnesy/dr and Howard Collins/g in various formats. The larger ensembles include some rich woodwinds for “Hooray For Love” and a hiply muted At Long Last Love.” She’s finger snapping sleek in a quintet format with Evans on Come By Sunday” and an inviting “I Only Have Eyes For You.”

Patricia Scot fronts an orchestra conducted by Creed Taylor for an NYC 1959 recording that includes Jimmy Cleveland/tb, Phil Woods/as, Jerome Richardson/fl-ts, Milt Hinton/b and Don Lamond/dr among others. She’s oozy with Woods on “Do It Again” and desultory during “Nothing At All.” The big band is bold as Scot is urgent on “Just Once Around the Clock” and inviting with Joe Venuto’s vibes for “Where Are You” and standing by the lamppost for the noir “Mad About the Boy.” Who let these ladies off the leash?

For each album of the series, there are excellent liner notes to provide the background for the singers, explaining the paths and projection of their short careers. Albums like these make you wonder why certain vocalists “make it” and others have to wait half a century to finally be appreciated. You won’t be disappointed by these discoveries."

George W. Harris (February 25, 2019)
Reviews · Ringer of the Week
http://www.jazzweekly.com

 

- comparison test -

Wanda Stafford In Love For the Very First Time Fresh Sound, 2019 vs. LPTime Mini LP CD, 2011 version





Both ladies had very enjoyable voices. I think that second album by Patricia Scot has stronger material.
I wonder myself, but I missed this album in LPTime Records Mini LP series. So I compared only first Wanda Stafford In Love For the Very First Time, released in Spain in 2011 with new remastering.

First of all, I am pleased to confirm: this is a new remastering - there is no doubts about that.
And it sounds simply better. When I listened to LPTime (factory-pressed disc), it sounded very good. However, when I put a new release, the sound elevated one grade up.
Thanks to better pronounced bass, sound became more balanced and fuller. Overall, it's a more vital sound, I'd say, with more life in it.
Only a small vocal brightness on some tracks prevents me from placing this new release in the “Best” category.
Therefore, I put it on the border of the categories "Best" and "Very Good."
This track-by-track comparison left me with the impression that in a wake of a couple (or more) new big projects, Fresh Sound invested in a new equipment.

Conclusion:
I recommend to buy this new release regardless what previous releases you already have.

System used:
Player: Cary Audio 360 Pro SACD
Power amp: Coda Technologies 'KiloWatt Monoblocks'
Preamp: Coda Technologies
Speakers: B&W Nautilus 802 (500W)
Interconnects: Acoustic Zen Absolute Silver
Speaker Cables: Acoustic Zen Absolute Silver Shotgun

I selected some music samplers with better songs, in my opinion:

01. In Love for the Very First Time (P.Roberts) 2:43
02. I Feel Pretty (Sondheim-Bernstein) 2:11
03. Hooray for Love (Robin-Arlen) 3:24
04. At Long Last Love (Cole Porter) 1:44
05. The Most Beautiful Words (Lebowsky-Lehmann) 2:25

06. Ridin' on the Moon (Mercer-Arlen) 2:10
07. Let There Be Love (Shapiro-Bernstein) 2:23
08. I Enjoy Being a Girl (Hammerstein II-Rodgers) 2:35
09. Come by Sunday (Murray Grand) 2:27
Wanda Stafford - Come By Sunday
10. The Late, Late Show (Berlin-Alfred) 2:28
11. I Only Have Eyes for You (Dubin-Warren) 2:15
Wanda Stafford - I Only Have Eyes For You
12. Love (Martin-Blane) 2:51

13. Just Once Around the Clock (Romberg-Hammerstein II) 1:55
14. Where Are You (Now That I Need You) (Frank Loesser) 2:23
15. Nothing at All (John Frigo) 2:29
Nothing at All
16. Why, Baby, Why? (Dixon-Harrison) 1:46
17. Let's Sit Down and Talk It Over (Patricia Scot) 3:17
Let's Sit Down and Talk It Over
18. Speed of Light (Mitzie & Ken Welch) 1:31
19. You Leave Me Breathless (Freed-Hollander) 1:42
You Leave Me Breathless
20. Do It Again (Gershwin-DeSylva) 2:46
Do It Again
21. Wandering Swallow (La Voyageuse) 1:40
(Harold Stevens; English lyrics: Irving Taylor; French lyrics: Jacques Plante)
22. Mad About the Boy (Noel Coward) 3:00
(irresistible version)
Patricia Scot Mad About the Boy - YouTube
23. Get On Board (Little Children) (Raye-DePaul) 2:27
24. Out of This World (Arlen-Mercer) 1:52
Total time: 55:13 min.

It is very regrettable that the labels did not record any more albums with such good singers...

 

P.S.
One more review:
"Both these names are worthy of being lifted out of obscurity and the fact that they were served by arrangements from Bill Russo and Creed Taylor back in 1960 and 1959 respectively gives notice of how their talents were rated all those years ago.

Stafford made her New York debut in the same year as her album was recorded in the same city, which ensured she had names and top session men backing her. They do more than justice to Let There Be Love which, quite remarkably, carries only the faintest echoes of Nat King Cole’s rendering. Stafford invests the lyric with a quite different emotional pitch and Russo’s arrangement happily has the air of his work and his alone.

Bill Evans arguably didn’t get to accompany singers enough on record, and here he shows how sympathetic he was in that role on the lyrically airy I Enjoy Being A Girl, which despite the lyric is the kind of superior pop song that was rife in that more innocent era.

Scot doesn’t cover that song in her set, but she gets unassuming gold out of Where Are You (Now That I Need You) where Taylor’s muted colors behind the vocal are offset by a burst of brass.

In the context of this album Let’s Sit Down And Talk It Over clocks in at an epic three minutes and 17 seconds, but within that miniature framework we get the embarrassment of riches which Is Scot’s knowing take on the lyric and some brief declamatory statements from Phil Woods.

It seems there was an awful lot of talent around when it came to quality singers in the late 50s and early 60s and these two fit perfectly in Fresh Sound’s new Best Voices That Time Forget series. We should be grateful to the label for resurrecting them after all these years."

Nic Jones (April 25, 2019)
Jazz Journal | The genuine article since 1948

 

Definitely.

Very belated thanks for introducing this fine album to the thread.

For fans or collectors, I just want to add that A Moment Of Love is actually a 12" expansion of this 10" LP:





As for the other prominently featured artists, Corky Hale receives deserved attention on the back covers of both the ten and twelve inchers. And we should also point out the presence of yet another quality artist, Bud Shank.





The Pacifica 10" LP is from 1955, the Pacific 12" LP from 1956. The latter was also reissued on World Pacific in 1961:





Here is a sample cut from the album. Among fans of jazz & pop vocals, "Black is the Color" has become best known in the version from Nina Simone, who learned it from this Kitty recording:

 

I am surprised to see that, so far, we have said relatively little about Kitty. (I just did a search, and all I found was the above-shown posts by Tribute and me, along with the debut mention and accompanying clip, courtesy of Nathan Aaron.) Hmm ... Well, due to ongoing chores (+ involvement in other threads), I no longer have enough time to highlight singers in extensive detail. But, at least, I would like to point out that, with one exception, all of Kitty's albums are now available on either CD or download. Nice, no?

Four of them are out in the form of CD twofers, from the Fresh Sound label:





Then we have this rather shameless situation:




That's actually the same album. It first came out as a LP titled Newborn (1962), much later as a budget reissue LP titled Kitty White & Laurindo Almeida (1980). What you are seeing above is CD reissues of both, just one year apart (2010, 2011), on the same careless label.

As for the following LP (her last), I'm seeing it available as a download, but not on CD:





That only leaves her debut LP, the one on Pacifica/World Pacific, discussed on the preceding message. There is no CD edition -- not from America and not from Europe, as far as I know. There is a Japanese reissue from 1992, but it appears to be vinyl.

Finally, here is, once again, the haunting scene from the movie Night of the Hunter, featuring Kitty's vocal:

 

I was impressed by Ann Richard's last album, especially her version of "You Go to my Head." Powerful! She had a tragic life after Kenton, alas.

 

Lawson appeared on "Peter Gunn" as a torch singer, giving a magnificent performance of "Blue is the color..."

 

I absolutely LOVED this Columbia album by Pam Garner, which came in a twofer with a lovely Peggy King album from Fresh Sounds. Garner reminds me of a more soulful Jo Stafford. An amazing singer with a great range. Sadly, as far as I know, this was Garner's last album. (The orchestrations are superb too!) Her version of "Lush Life" is worthy of comparison to Sara Vaughan's, Johnny Hartman's, or Nat King Cole's--it is amazing! What do we know about her? I haven't found any biographical information. Is she still alive? How could a singer of this quality be forgotten? (I know, it isn't uncommon, and the rise of rock music obliterated the market for these great American female singers.) If you know anything Pam Garner, do share!

 

The 1960's destroyed not only the recording careers of nearly all pop-jazz vocalists, but also destroyed the recording careers of most jazz instrumentalists. There were some stars of jazz that still maintained some career as recording artists, but most vocalists were finished. Those vocalists who could record were generally forced into lightweight material. Even Sinatra (Winchester Cathedral) and Nat Cole (Those Lazy Hazy Days of Summer).

Let's get some more posts in this thread just to get more views!

 

So true. What is so sad and mysterious to me, though, is that some of these artists seemingly disappear off the very face of the earth. Getting an album with Columbia must have been a huge thing for Pam Garner--it wasn't a small or obscure label, after all--only for her career to end and for her to vanish without an apparent trace. I just keep wondering what her life was like after 1965, and if she is even alive and aware of the renewed interest in jazz singers of the past. (Did Fresh Sounds contact her to reissue her album?)

 

Patricia Scot is still alive and has a fascinating website, Patricia Scot Biography Page . My favorite story in her biography is when she told Norman Mailer to "f- off!" Wow. Good for her!

 

Many of the women singers kept performing in clubs, but just didn't get recording contracts. Some higher profile singers appeared on TV with some regularity, but still did not get recording contracts. A good number started to perform in musical theater, from Broadway to summer stock or regional, but still no record contracts. Some became private music teachers. And a good number just gave it all up for either home life or a "day job". Even though many kept active, you are just not going to get information on what they did, even on Broadway or on TV, unless they made records. That is mostly lost information, though deep digging might reveal some of it. There never was a database on nightclub appearances across the USA.

 

I know and I will share soon.

 

Here is an interesting album

Rita Moss

 

Yes, you are right. That's essentially what Patricia Scot describes on her (priceless) website. It is sad at so many levels--first and foremost for the singers themselves, but also for American culture. Few probably thought about it much at the time, but losing American torch song was as if Germany had lost the art of the Lieder. Whereas Germany continued to nurture its great female and male Lieder singers (e.g. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf), we took away the recording contracts of our unique jazz singers, silenced them, denied them posterity, cast them into mediocre day jobs at banks and hotels and cheap lounges. I am convinced that when America decided to stop speaking jazz, it lost its identity and its direction. We are seeing the fruits of that now...

 

Poster #1- Fifi Lemour was one of my favorite singers when I was growing up. She had such a unique style. My aunt use to babysit for her. I could never see her live though. Do you think she is still alive?

Poster #2- I saw Ms. Lemour when she came into the grocery store once when I was a bag boy. She was married to her third husband by then and she actually winked at me when I doubled bagged her ice cream. Neapolitan no less.

Poster #3- Her name is spelled Fifi LeMour. It was a combination of her father's and mother's last name(Aaron Leonard and Cecila Mourning). She started performing with big bands in her native Wyoming in her teenage years. Later it was New York, Hollywood, Australian tours, and a strange engagement and legendary duel involving the Grand Duke in Luxembourg. I am actually on my way to Ms. LeMour's house as we speak. I tracked her down through her fourth husband's cousin's next door neighbor mail carrier who told me she had moved to Northern Canada with her sixth husband who owns a reindeer ranch there. She has agreed to meet with me. My car has broken down and I have to walk this last bit, but its not snowing too bad. I have CDs, vinyl records, and archival pictures for her to sign in my backpack. For the last thirty minutes I cannot feel my left leg. Good thing this purple puma has come out to show me the way...



I was watching Turner Classic Movies and there was mention of Secret Singers or "dubbers", people who sang for the actors who could not. In the feature movie, Nocturne from 1946, Martha Mears dubbed a brief song. Were there jazz secret singers?

In addition, I wanted to know how many pieces of music do you all own? Just by reading some of these post I would not be surprised that there was a real Fifi LeMour.

 

Neva Raphaello
Beryl Bryden
Maria Cole

and of course the enigmatic Fifi LeMour.