Best Vocal Jazz Song Ever

[Pesky]

My choice is "Lover Come Back to Me" by Barbra Streisand on "The Second Barbra Streisand Album" 1964.

What's yours?

Pesky

[ponytail]

Billie Holday's version of "You've Changed" from her album "Lady In Satin."

Of course, there's also Janis doing "Crocodile Song!"

[MadMusician]

Sarah Vaughn - Misty

[jetcityhawk]

Diane Schuur singing "Louisiana Sunday Afternoon" on her Talkin' 'Bout You CD.

[Dee]

Ella Fitzgerald - Something's Gotta Give

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook (http://www.answers.com/topic/ella-fitzgerald-sings-the-johnny-mercer-songbook) is a 1964 studio album by the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. This was Ella's fifth and final collaboration with Riddle during her years on the Verve label.

[Eva]

Billie Holiday: Me, myself & I

Eva

[david uk]

"Strange Fruit"- either Billie Holliday or Nina Simone, both versions are great... and Janis Ian's superb song "Matthew" reminds me a lot of that song....

[hoops]

so many... must i choose??? how about etta james "at last" or ray charles "come rain or come shine" gonna have both of those songs at my "wedding" if it ever happens but again there are so many...gonna have "page nine" too

[NinasSpaceChild]

Billie Holiday - Fine and Mellow.

[DaveM]

An iconoclastic suggestion: The Doors' "Light My Fire"--lose the "pop combo" arrangement, slow it down a bit and put in a jazz quintet as the band and it would really cook....

[DaveM]

Another suggestion, which regrettably was not recorded to my knowledge. Claudia Schmidt's rendition of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" as performed at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis in 1991 (immediately after a nasty racial incident in the area). The audience wept--I am not exagerrating. Claudia has a powerful voice and an incredible stage presence, but that night....I doubt that anyone who was there will ever forget it.

[ponytail]

Today I got a CD of the "Stars" album in the mail. I had the album on vinyl, and had never been able to find it as a CD, and was delighted to find I could order it from the site (and wow, is the recording quality WAY BETTER than the CBS/Sony version of "Between The Lines" I found at Borders!)

Anyway, I'd forgotten the magnificent vocal on "You've Got Me On A String." Now there's a great jazz torch song vocal! I know the reference to being beaten is bound to trouble some folks -- I've known folks to get upset about a similar line in the jazz standard "'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do" -- but wow, the vocal gives me goosebumps! And before I met my life partner, back in my dating days in the bad old seventies, I knew exactly what it was like to feel that desperate. Thank God I'm not in that place anymore.

But I must say, I think the vocal is one instance where Janis gives her idol, Billie Holiday, a run for her money.

[Bat]

I kinda like Peggy Lee's "Fever".

[NinasSpaceChild]

My favourite Peggy Lee song is "Is That All There Is?". It gets me every time.

[Pesky]

Great songs all. Many I know and love well, some I'm seeking out and very much look foward to hearing.

Thanks
Pesky

[Kathleen Brogan]

"Bright Lights & Promises", my mom also loves it. I think the instrumental part in the middle changes it from basic "torch song" to a jazz number. Best non-Janis would be "Good Morning Heartache" by Billie.

[Bat]

I think my favorite 2 songs are "Give me something to Remember you By" sung by Dinah Shore, and "All the Things you Are", by just about anybody.

[diver_boy]

I'm not a big jazz fan at all - sorry...but I will say I do like Miles Davis. as for the small amount of jazz I know..."break your heart" by natalie merchant is jazzy and kinda good - much better since she revamped it :)

Chris

[Michael from Chicago]

Kathleen, I think our moms like Bright Lights & Promises for similar reasons.
After my mom first heard that song, she said she wished Billie Holiday was
around to record the song.

[ponytail]

I just bought, on impulse, Cleo Laine's album "Solitude," with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The title song features Cleo singing over a remastered 1940s piano recording made by Duke himself. She knew him, and they always intended to work together but never got around to it. My favorite songs on it are the less well-known ones, like "All Too Soon," which she sings with more emotion and less acrobatics. She has a gorgeous voice and an amazing range -- but she tends to get into a lot of flashy, elaborate vocal gymnastics for their own sake, and it gets to be like the vocal version of figure skating. With melodies as beautiful as Ellington's, I get frustrated when the tune is lost...still, it's a very interesting CD, well worth hearing. The orchestra is incredible as always.

[saxman]

Giant steps John Coltrane . he was the voice. this question is wierd for me because The term Jazz changes with the times . Jazz festivals used to be Jazz . now filled with rock and other stuff. 1 of my favorite Jazz songs is Mr bogangles sung by Nina Simone

[DaveM]

One can hear a lot of jazz influence in many "rock bands". As note The Beatles' "When I'm 64". And happy birthday Paul, by the way. Does anyone know why he's getting older faster than we are?

[mixtymotions]

I'd guess he's aging faster than most of us because he has an infant (toddler?) child!

[DaveM]

I think it's the lifestyle, myself....that and the changing world.

Just look at what G.W. Bush's election did to Janis' hair....

[NinasSpaceChild]

I just bought, on impulse, Cleo Laine's album "Solitude," with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. The title song features Cleo singing over a remastered 1940s piano recording made by Duke himself. She knew him, and they always intended to work together but never got around to it. My favorite songs on it are the less well-known ones, like "All Too Soon," which she sings with more emotion and less acrobatics. She has a gorgeous voice and an amazing range -- but she tends to get into a lot of flashy, elaborate vocal gymnastics for their own sake, and it gets to be like the vocal version of figure skating. With melodies as beautiful as Ellington's, I get frustrated when the tune is lost...still, it's a very interesting CD, well worth hearing. The orchestra is incredible as always.

I'm a big fan of Cleo Laine and her husband Johnny Dankworth. I have most of their available recordings. I have also seen Cleo in concert a few times in recent years and she is amazing.

Their daughter, Jacqui Dankworth is very good too. I have a couple of her CDs.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Stacey Kent yet. Another sublime singer especially when accompanied by her husband Jim Tomlinson.

[Eva]

"Is that all there is"...
Good choice, Dylan!

Eva

[ponytail]

I just went back and listened to "Bright Lights And Promises," a song I'd somehow forgotten about, because of the discussion here. What a GREAT song! Thanks for reminding me, folks. Janis's jazz songs really are among her best.:)

[NinasSpaceChild]

Thanks Eva. I have a few recordings of Peggy performing that song. The live recordings of the song that she made late in her life are amongst her best. I don't think I could listen to anyone else perform it.