[Monday’s Notes No. 100] Santa Claus Is Coming To Town is a Christmas piece from the 1930s. Its harmonic structure is typically jazzy in that it combines the beginning of the Rhythm Changes, a musical form widely used by jazz musicians, with a second part that is common to many songs of the time. To…Continue readingSanta Claus Is Coming To Town, a Christmas jazz piece
Tag: voice
[Monday Notes no. 97] Joao Gilberto is the greatest bossa nova singer, the first to offer his voice and guitar to Antonio Carlos Jobim’s compositions. One of the best known is the song Chega De Saudade, performed here by Joao Gilberto in duet with his daughter Bebel.Continue readingJoao Gilberto Bebel Gilberto, Chega De Saudade. From choro to bossa nova
[Monday Notes no. 92] Stevie Wonder is one of the most creative and innovative musicians in soul music and beyond. On the album Music Of My Mind Stevie Wonder plays all the instruments, so it is a ‘one man album’ like those recorded years later by Prince and Paul McCartney, to give other examples. Let’s…Continue readingStevie Wonder, Where Were You When I Needed You
[Monday Notes no.88] Abbey Lincoln is an inimitable singer, not only because of the timbre of her voice but also for her special ability to sing powerfully and deeply, delivering the words sometimes with gravity and sometimes with sharp sarcasm. Her performance of Laugh Clown, Laugh is beautiful and moving.Continue readingAbbey Lincoln, Laugh Clown Laugh. From Opera to Jazz
[Monday’s Note No. 43] Bing Crosby was an actor and singer, a great interpreter of the American Songbook. Taking advantage of technological advances such as more sensitive microphones and the radio, Bing Crosby was among the first to adopt a whispery, intimate and confidential singing style. We hear him here in his interpretation of a…Continue readingWhite Christmas, a classic song performed by Bing Crosby
[Monday Notes no. 21] Of all the possible nicknames for Frank Sinatra, The Voice is probably not the most appropriate. To be clear: his voice is warm and pleasant, but Frank’s greatness is not so much in his voice as in his ability to interpret songs as if he were singing them for the first…Continue readingFrank Sinatra, The Girl Next Door. The singer always tells a story.
[Monday Notes no. 19] Elvis Presley was rock’s first great rock hero. A whole generation recognised themselves in his provocative dancing, his flamboyant look, his songs full of energy and rhythm. Let us analyse his song Jailhouse rock.Continue readingElvis Presley, Jailhouse Rock. The birth of rock and roll
[Monday Notes No. 16] In the 1930s, Benny Goodman was called by the press the ‘King of Swing’. To obtain this vague title, the clarinettist was certainly favoured by the colour of his skin. Nevertheless, the musician was of the highest calibre. Let us listen to and analyse one of his renditions of My Old…Continue readingBenny Goodman & Pegge Lee, My Old Flame
[Monday’s Note No. 5] Billie Holiday had a troubled existence, full of suffering. Many men enriched themselves by exploiting her, only to turn their backs on her in times of trouble. Among her few genuine friends was Lester Young, to whom she owes the nickname ‘Lady Day’. Let us analyse their interpretation of Without Your…Continue readingBillie Holiday e Lester Young, Without Your Love
[Monday’s Note No. 4] Louis Armstrong is one of the most charismatic characters in jazz history. Of humble origins, he survived a childhood full of dangers, and it almost seems as if a guardian angel lived on his shoulder and that nothing could disturb his extraordinary optimism. We listen to and analyse his performance of…Continue readingLouis Armstrong, West End Blues. Trumpeter singer and showman