Daily Dose of Vocal Jazz Part 2 (of 5): This is New: Voicing jazz in the new millennium (Part 2)

One reason why some listeners might feel trepidation about listening to new jazz is perhaps a fear that the songs and/or styles might feel unrecognizable or even too distant from the styles of iconic singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Peggy Lee, and other jazz stars. There’s also something comforting about hearing the familiar melodies of composers like Duke Ellington, George and Ira Gershwin, and Cole Porter, sung by faithfully. Fortunately, jazz musicians are steeped in its history thus emerging singers are constantly in conversation with jazz’s past while forging their own style. Here are some of the best who emerged in the 2000s.

If you enjoy the beautiful texture of Ella and Sarah’s voices, and their inspired approach to melody and rhythm you’ll enjoy Janis Mann, Cecile McLorin Salvant, and Jackie Ryan.

Janis Mann

Seattle based Janis Mann’s smoky, flexible voice and clear, expressive tone flow through all the sets she’s released on her label Pancake Records. Mostly favoring standards, she is a no-nonsense singer who shapes melodies lovingly and interprets lyrics intelligently.   2010’s 10 song 45-minute set Blow Away set is a seamless listening experience. Combining venerable pre-rock ballads (“I Got Lost in His Arms”) and swingers (“That Old Black Magic”) with a batch of post-1960s songs, each performance is a marvel of focused, straight ahead jazz.

Most recent album: 2020’s Dreams of Flying where she applies her formidable interpretive approach to songs by Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Jimmy Webb, and Stevie Wonder, among other rock era songwriters.

Cécile McLorin Salvant

Since launching her recording career in 2010 Salvant has become the most prominent and acclaimed vocalist of her generation. It’s easy to understand why—her voice is powerful, supple, and seemingly infinite in color; she’s a true performer who relishes the irony of songs like “You Bring Out the Savage in Me” with bite; and she approaches her albums conceptually often blending standards, originals, and obscurities into interesting suites.  On her 2015 Grammy winner For One to Love she dazzles by establishing her gift for mood and melody on the original “Fog,” finding new pleasures in warhorses like Meet Me in St. Louis’s “The Trolley Song” and Westside Story’s “Something’s Coming,” and giving Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Wives and Lovers” a tongue-in cheek treatment.

Most recent album: 2018’s piano and voice set with Sullivan Fortner The Window (Mack Avenue).

Jackie Ryan

Launching her recording career in 2000 on her own OpenArt Records label Jackie Ryan’s recordings are irresistible. A warm inviting tone, impeccable taste in songs, and a willingness to let songs breathe defines her sound. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, as well as English she routinely blends languages and genres from moody songs of Alec Wilder to swinging Ellingtonia to atmospheric bossa nova. She also lyricizes melodies from majors like Benny Carter and Joe Henderson. The full Ryan experience shines through on 2007’s You and the Night and the Music.  She surrenders fully to her material contributing a slow burn version of “Besame Mucho” sung in Spanish, flying through swingers like “The Best is Yet to Come” and “I Know that you Know,” and simmering in the melodic gorgeousness of “Wild is the Wind” and “You Are There.”  A near perfect album it captures her essence vividly.

Most recent album: Ever the eclectic on 2013’s Listen Here (OpenArt Records) Ryan flows seamlessly from “I Loves You Porgy” to Mel Torme’s “Comin’ Home Baby” to Abbey Lincoln. As always, she commits to each song with gusto. Ms. Ryan’s music is not streamable so you can purchase her music on CD at your favorite retailer.

If you enjoy the robust baritone sound of singers like Joe Williams and Lou Rawls, and the potent lyrics of singer-songwriters like Oscar Brown Jr. the jazz-soul phenomenon Gregory Porter is for you. Inspired by jazz, R&B, and gospel he synthesizes these without diluting their essence.

Gregory Porter

Be Good has a more anthemic R&B inflected approach than Porter’s acclaimed 2009 debut Water but duplicates the range of moods and tones, and balances the contributions of vocalist and band. Porter is a gifted composer who uses metaphors artfully and astutely, and explores more vulnerable emotional territory than most writers of standard pop-jazz fare who tend to focus on love songs. Musically he focuses more on mood and rhythmic feel than hooks and writes melodies that lean in a folk-soul direction that provides space for an almost parlando style of speak singing. The result is a unique sound that distinguishes him from everyone else.

The undulating “Painted on Canvas” is a heartfelt plea for individuality (“Can I choose the colors I use?”) with a savvy metaphorical theme loaded with social subtext. “Be Good (Lion’s Song)” is a beautiful, gentle portrait of emotional fragility and misunderstanding with a waltz-like tempo. Porter appeals to the parents of a fiancé on “Real Good Hands” where he assures her parents that he will love their daughter and treat her kindly.  Like his debut he honors the larger social milieu of African Americans in subtle ways.  He poignantly nods to Harlem as a personal touchstone in the driving horn-spiked “On My Way to Harlem” which references legends like Langston Hughes, Marvin Gaye and Duke Ellington. He humorously sends up materialism substituting love for gold on the sassy “Bling Bling” and dips into the Oscar Brown songbook on the prison lament “Work Song.” As an interpreter he continues to bring a fresh perspective; he sings “God Bless the Child” acapella and draws out its layers of meaning simply and beautifully.

Most recent album: On 2020’s All Rise (Blue Note) Porter draws from gospel, 1970s soul R&B, and jazz to advance an epic musical sensibility. The result is a kind of secular gospel of love almost overwhelming in its emotional uplift. Whether saluting deep romanticism (“Faith in Love”), recognizing everyday kindness (“Mister Holland”), or extending an olive branch to social outcasts (“You Can Join My Band”) he is in full command of his robust baritone and blends effortlessly with sweeping yet tender choral arrangements.

If you enjoy the way jazz goddess Billie Holiday and bop legend Sheila Jordan employ vocal shading and rhythmic finesse to interpret a song check out Karen Marguth, Gretchen Parlato, and Cyrille Aimée.

Karen Marguth

Bay area vocalist and educator Karen Marguth hit the jazz recording scene with 2009’s self-titled debut and has released a series of excellent albums. On 2015’s Just You, Just Me is Marguth and bassist Kevin Hill build from the promise of previous efforts like her excellent Carrol Coates songbook A Way With Words by taking somewhat of a left turn. Taking cues from the bass and voice master, Sheila Jordan, she tackles classics like “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” “I Got it Bad,” and “Imagination” perfectly capturing their melodic and rhythmic contours, and emotional essence in the sparsest of settings. She makes her greatest impact on her scat-laden rendition of the title track, a surprisingly blues-y and quite humorous rapid fire “Blues My Naughty Sweetie Taught Me,” and fresh songs like her loping version of Phoebe Snow’s “Harpo’s Blues” and the charming Johnny Mercer tune “Love’s Got Me in a Lazy Mood.” Other inspired choices include takes on Nellie Lutcher and Rickie Lee Jones. Marguth is quite assured in a variety of modes, and she and Hill have faultless chemistry.

Most recent album: On 2021’s Until (OA2), Marguth continues her eclectic approach interpreting Paul Simon’s “Hearts and Bones” and “Old Friends/Bookends” with great clarity, exploring Latin rhythms on Maria Gomez’s “La Ronda” and Sting’s “Until,” and swinging with aplomb (“Comes Love,” “Close Your Eyes”). She also contributes the original tune “Maureen” and take listeners on a unique journey on Andrew Bird and Shel Silverstein’s “Twistable Turnable Man.”

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I profiled Marguth on Riffs, Beats, & Coda’s in 2016 and I’m excited to share her answer to a few questions I shared with her recently:

Vincent: What artists are you listening to currently?

Karen: 1. Luciana Souza's album, The Book of Longing

I love every album Luciana has made. This album shows how masterful she is as a collaborator, and how she always knows the importance of leaving space and openness. 

2. Sarah Jarosz' album, Blue Heron Suite ...

I love everything by Sarah Jarosz. This album is a song cycle which she composed while her mom was going through treatment for cancer.  She calls it "a quiet acknowledgment of life’s many uncertainties; you never know what will be thrown your way, but you can always work to try to face the highs and the lows with grace and strength.”

Vincent: Who are some key artists from the past that inspire you? 

Karen: Rosa Passos, Julie Andrews, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole trio

Vincent: Who inspires you currently?

Luciana Souza, Greta Matassa, Kate McGarry, Sara Gazarek, Venissa Santi, Angelique Kidjo, Madeleine Peyroux, Kat Edmondson, Cyrille Amie, Bjork, Rebecca Kilgore 

Vincent: What connects the different songs you sing on your new album Until? 

Karen: Each of these tunes is about having grace for the fallibility of us humans as we move through our lives.

Karen’s album Until (OA2 Records) is available for purchase.

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Gretchen Parlato

Singer, composer, and percussionist Parlato, who studied Ethnomusicology and Jazz at UCLA, was admitted to the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz institute in 2001 and won the 2003’s Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition prior to releasing her debut in 2005. Each of these milestones has helped her formulate her own sound. Sultry and simmering with a breathy (but never breathless!) slightly nasal intonation she defies jazz clichés. If you’re looking for a singer in a fancy suit singing “My Funny Valentine” in front of a band forget it. Instead she locates the jazz in popular songs like Mary J. Blige’s “All that I Can Say” and Simply Red’s “Holding Back the years,” nods to Miles Davis (“JuJu”) and contributes originals that traverse a spectrum of classical music and Brazilian music, among others.

Most recent album: 2021’s Flor (Edition Records) represents her evolving sound perfectly. There are beautiful uplifting songs with choral elements, notably “Wonderful”; lovely wordless tunes with classical overtones including “Rosa” and “Cello Suite,”; introspective originals (“What Does the Lion Say?” “No Plan”); and a brilliant reinterpretation of Anita Baker’s 1986 classic “Sweet Love.”

Cyrille Aimée

Born and raised in France, Aimee has been a on the jazz scene in the United States since the mid-2000s winning vocal competitions hosted by the Montreux Jazz Festival, Thelonious Monk Institution, and the Sarah Vaughan. A versatile improviser with a contemporary sensibility she is conversant with a range of material from Django Reinhardt style guitar jazz to the songs of Michael Jackson and Stephen Sondheim. Having recorded voice and guitar albums, small group albums, and sets with orchestras she thrives in a variety of settings. 2018’s Cyrille Aimée Live is an excellent distillation for everything she does well. Funky, swinging, and romantic she tackles 1940s swing, French jazz, Off the Wall and Thriller era Jackson songs, and Thelonious Monk with no regard for boundaries.

Most recent albums: 2021’s I’ll Be Seeing You (Daudel Records) recorded with guitarist Michael Valeanu, is a gorgeous set of standards sung intimately. Aimee also collaborated with Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra on Petite Fleur (Storyville).

Listeners drawn to lean, swinging, melodic style of Maxine Sullivan and Peggy Lee, with a touch of the blues will enjoy Catherine Russell. She loves to contemporize classic swing tunes from the 1920s and 1930s, and unearth obscure tongue-in-cheek blues tunes, with the occasional modern song thrown in for good measure.

Catherine Russell

Russell is an industry veteran who multiple credits as a background singer before beginning her solo career on 2006’s Cat. Russell’s 2014 set Bring it Back is a delightful synthesis of everything she does well. Russell is a natural swinger whose warm tone and seamless blend with musicians draws you in whether she’s singing a swing tune, a blues, or a ballad. Though she is more blues-oriented than the late Maxine Sullivan she shares with her the ability to swing gently in a variety of tempos. She saunters through Duke Ellington’s “I Let a Song Go Out of my Heart” effortlessly, duetting with the horn section, and works up a sweat on the hard-swinging obscurity “You Got to Swing and Sway.” Both performances feel like branches of the same tree. Her rendition of the title track has a spacious arrangement with sax and guitar solos, and emphatic horn embellishments that provide perfect lyrical counterpoints.

For those seeking more “edge” from the singer her raucous rendition of the R&B tune “I’m Sticking with you Baby” showcases an unusually fierce sensuality. Less obvious but equally smoldering are her interpretations of the ballads “Aged and Mellow” (Sample lyric: “I like my men/Like I like my whiskey/Woohoooo/Aged and mellow”) and her sizzling take on Al Hibbler’s classic signature tune “After the Lights Go Down Low.” There’s a whole generation of “pop” divas and divos who could take lessons from Russell on how to build a song gradually toward a believable climax. While Russell consciously draws her material from swing era songbooks she is a progressive interpreter. She transforms the potentially archaic “Darktown Strutter’s Ball” by excising its potentially outdated racial overtones and making it a jaunty multicultural invitation thanks to a modern jug band style arrangement and smart lyrical alterations. Russell can touch you through sheer simplicity; for proof check out her wistful voice and piano performance of the yearning “Strange as it Seems” and her luscious, clear-eyed rendition of “I Cover the Waterfront.”

Most recent album: She continues her mastery of swing and blues forms on 2019’s Alone Together. As per usual there are familiar standards tunes like the title track, “I Only Have Eyes for You” and “How Deep is the Ocean?” alongside more blue material including “Is You is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?” and “Early in the Morning.” She performs each with intelligence and swagger as needed. Russell also continues to locate tongue-in-cheek gems “He May Be Your Dog but He’s Wearing my Collar” and “You’re Not the Only Oyster in the Stew.”

Champian Fulton

If you appreciate how Shirley Horn and Carmen McRae drew on their instrumental prowess to shape their sophisticated approach singing, Dinah Washington’s fierce melodic and tonal command of her material, and the archetype of the sultry chanteuse perfected by Lee Wiley and Peggy Lee you’ll appreciate the stylings of Champian Fulton.

Pianist, vocalist, and leader Fulton has been recording since 2007 and as the 2010s flowed into 2020s dawned her voice has grown into one of the most sure-footed in jazz. There is much to enjoy in all of her albums ranging from her sumptuous tribute to Washington on After Dark (2016, Gut String) to her salute to Charlie Parker’s repertoire on 2020’s Birdsong she is an astute student of jazz’s history who brings her own voice. Key to her charm is a warm, intimate singing style, a muscular yet lyrical approach to piano playing, and an effortless interplay with her bandmates. Among her most charming and accomplished albums is her most recent set 2021’s Live from Lockdown (Champian Records) where she doubles on voice and piano, in the company of her father jazz, trumpeter and flugelhornist, and educator Stephen Fulton. The (COVID-19 pandemic era) intimacy alluded to in the title is the perfect setting for the classic standards they interpret including such varied songs as Ray Noble’s “I Hadn’t Anyone Till You,” and Leonard Feather’s “Blow Top Blues,” alongside solid original tunes “Pass the Hat” and “Midnight Stroll.”

New Jazz Generation ALBUM HIGHLIGHT: We’ve Only Just Begun by Ashley Pezzotti

Many newer vocalists who record for labels associated with jazz and traditional pop are ambivalent about straight ahead jazz. Emerging vocalist Ashley Pezzotti, whose album debut is 2019’s sterling We’ve Only Just Begun, is clearly working in the improvisational tradition and her debut establishes her as a thrilling talent. Pezzotti is a New York based vocalist educated at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, and various prestigious jazz workshops, who showcases considerable interpretive skills.

She and tenor saxophonist Alex Weitz co-wrote six of the 13 songs and they offer effective vehicles for her talents alongside standards such as “But Not for Me” and “September in the Rain.” Pezzoti possesses a mellifluous and highly flexible soprano. She is adept at seamless modulations and changes in tempo, as demonstrated on the original title track.  Pezzotti is also a fierce scat singer whose solos are well-organized and melodic. The arrangements incorporate her voice as part of the ensemble rather than as ornamentation. She’s also comfortable in a variety of settings ranging from hard swingers like “It Only Takes a Moment” to the mid-tempo balladry of “That Way.”

Pezzotti sings with a delicate touch; her gentle way with vowel sounds evokes Maxine Sullivan and Lee Wiley even if she differs from them in timbre. Similarly, she knows how to build drama lyrically and musically but never goes overbroad. As much as she loves to scat, on “I Hope You find her” she slows things down and lets the song leave an impression through subtlety on its own. Among her most inspiring moments as a composer is “Solo Tu” (sung in Spanish) and the sumptuously sly “Nothing Good Happens After Midnight,” which showcases Weitz and pianist Emmet Cohen’s ability to sustain a mood and tell the story. Pezzotti approaches standard material as fresh interpretive vehicles rather than serene museum pieces. In “But Not for Me” she substitutes the line about “Beatrice Fairfax” with Cohen’s name; “September in the Rain” is a vehicle for scat rather than a wistful reflection.  Her ability to balance a range of musical, dramatic, and tonal elements conveys seasoning and taste beyond her years. Based on her Pezzotti’s acumen as a vocalist, composer, and improviser she’s poised to emerge as a leader.

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I hope you enjoy these highlights. Some notable contemporary jazz vocalists I strongly recommend exploring include the following:

Roberta Gambarini

Easy to Love (2006, Groovin’ High)

Sara Gazarek

Dream in the Blue (2015, Steel Bird)

Jazzmeia Horn

Social Call (2017, Prestige Records)

Kate McGarry

If Less is More…Nothing is Everything (2008, Palmetto)

Royal Bopsters

Party of Four (2020, Motéma)

Sachal Vansandani

Shadow Train (2018, GSI)

Check out the This is New Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5br1mYMHfSdA5xwyM63GS7?si=6ecb0bb8d31f47e9

COPYRIGHT © 2021 VINCENT L. STEPHENS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.