Jazz Vocals

Jazz has often been the battleground for debates on definitions, as purists and populists square off over what gets to be called "jazz" and what doesn't, with vocals being a key cause of conflict. We're coming down on the side of inclusion: if someone says it's jazz, it is. Frank Sinatra single-handedly changed the way America sang with a style that defined macho hip, as you can hear in "I Get a Kick Out of You." Chet Baker's tenor pours out like a very dry martini in Rodgers & Hart's "My Funny Valentine." And Norah Jones' intimate and smoky-sweet "Don't Know Why" spurred her career into hyper-drive, as her first album won five GRAMMYS®.

In Next Steps, we sample a one-man orchestra's take on bossa nova, a swing instrumental with lyrics added, and one of jump blues' signature songs.

Although best known for his novelty hit, "Don't Worry, Be Happy," Bobby McFerrin is no slouch in the jazz vocal department; here he playfully runs through vocal bass lines and riffs with pianist Chick Corea on "Blue Bossa." "Tuxedo Junction," originally written by Erskine Hawkins and made famous by Glenn Miller during WWII, got a swing-and-scat-meets-doo-wop retooling by the Manhattan Transfer in 1975. And Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five go all hotsy-totsy with their jive-talkin' jump blues monster, "Choo Choo Ch' Boogie."

A song that hit #1 twice in its career, a one-time star who has been all but forgotten, and a Cole Porter standard — all that and more, coming up in Deep Cuts.

"Go Away Little Boy" (in its opposite-sex guise of "Go Away Little Girl") hit the top of the pop charts twice — once by Steve Lawrence and again by Donny Osmond. Marlena Shaw takes the song in a distinctly more adult direction, with her band's horn section jabbing at the object of her disaffection, prodding him out of her life for good. Like many of the great singers who came to fame between the big band and rock eras, Margaret Whiting has almost completely — and unfairly — disappeared from pop history, but "Time after Time" showcases her crystalline voice and impeccable phrasing. And Karrin Allyson takes Cole Porter's "Night and Day" out of the city and onto the Brazilian beach, wrapping it in a neo-bossa arrangement reminiscent of Astrud Gilberto's "The Girl from Ipanema."

The marriage between jazz and vocals hasn't always been a happy one, as many jazz compositions don't really lend themselves to lyrics, while other songs tailor-made for voice aren't considered "true jazz" by purists. But if you think of the voice as an instrument, with a nearly infinite variety of textures, and consider jazz a framework for musical improvisation, then these songs all clear the bar quite handily. From the gumbo-pot sensuality of Harry Connick, Jr. to the velvet fog of Mel Tormé to the finger-poppin' panache of Sammy Davis, Jr., jazz vocals come in all sizes, shapes, and colors. And we've assembled an introduction that spans nine decades, from Louis Armstrong's groundbreaking 1927 recording of "Heebie Jeebies" to Norah Jones' 2002 GRAMMY®-grabbing smash, "Don't Know Why," so no matter your taste, we've got the voices that you'll want to hear.