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50 Great Jazz Vocals: The List 1. Billie Holiday, "Strange Fruit" 2. Johnny Hartman & John Coltrane, "Lush Life" 3. Billie Holiday, "God Bless the Child" 4. Ella Fitzgerald, "How High the Moon" 5. Ella Fitzgerald, "Mack the Knife" 6. Etta James, "At Last" 7. Louis Armstrong, "What a Wonderful World" 8. Chet Baker, "My Funny Valentine" 9. Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto, "Girl From Ipanema" 10. Peggy Lee, "Fever" 11. Sarah Vaughan, "Lullaby of Birdland" 12. Ella Fitzgerald, "Summertime" 13. The Manhattan Transfer, "Birdland" 14. Johnny Hartman & John Coltrane, "My One and Only Love" 15. Nina Simone, "I Loves You, Porgy" 16. Ella Fitzgerald, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" 17. Joe Williams with Count Basie & His Orchestra, "Everyday I Have the Blues" 18. Billie Holiday, "Autumn in New York" 19. Sarah Vaughan, "Misty" 20. Ella Fitzgerald, "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" 21. Nina Simone, "Feeling Good" 22. Billie Holiday, "Fine and Mellow" 23. Nina Simone, "My Baby Just Cares for Me" 24. Nat King Cole, "Route 66" 25. Frank Sinatra, "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)" 26. Ella Fitzgerald, "Blue Skies" 27. June Christy, "Something Cool" 28. Ray Charles, "Georgia on My Mind" 29. Frank Sinatra, "I've Got You Under My Skin" 30. Anita O'Day, "Sweet Georgia Brown" 31. Billie Holiday, "All of Me" 32. Louis Armstrong, "Black and Blue" 33. Susannah McCorkle, "The Waters of March" 34. Frank Sinatra, "Fly Me to the Moon" 35. Billie Holiday, "Good Morning Heartache" 36. Louis Armstrong & Oscar Peterson, "You Go to My Head" 37. Clark Terry, "Mumbles" 38. Billie Holiday, "My Man" 39. Diana Krall, "Peel Me a Grape" 40. Nat King Cole, "Unforgettable" 41. Nat King Cole, "Stardust" 42. Chet Baker, "Let's Get Lost" 43. Billie Holiday, "Lover Man" 44. Ella Fitzgerald, "Someone to Watch Over Me" 45. Eva Cassidy, "Autumn Leaves" 46. Johnny Hartman & John Coltrane, "They Say It's Wonderful" 47. Les McCann & Eddie Harris, "Compared To What" 48. Julie London, "Cry Me a River" 49. Cab Calloway, "Minnie the Moocher" 50. Nat King Cole, "Nature Boy" Not my list...but for a jazz singer afficianado, these will do fine...unles you'd like to add something!?  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Good basic list. I'd change #50 over to Kurt Elling's Nature Boy. It was once said that if Nat ever recorded a song, he OWNED it, his performance typically would prevent others from even attempting to record that song for the most part. it took years for someone to come along and take Nature Boy away from Nat. Kurt Elling did it, IMO. With Laurence Hobgood's arrangement and playing skills: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIEoK9_VnvE --Mac
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and to think no vocalizer, harmonizer, or autotune in sight but agree - it took me by surprise
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This is a terrific list... thanks for posting! I feel like whoever made the list is a soul brother, or sister. I am sure I have at least 80-90% of these tracks on my hard drive.
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You're Right Mac, I dig Kurt...like to see him sing Dianna Krall's PEEL MY GRAPE. Maybe a duo? Couple days ago I had the free "No Clone" program spit out some dupe files...and, unbelieveably they found My Top 50. some great real CD's that thought I lost on the computer...and I was gonna add them to my set list of wave files on Real and Winamp. I sing as you know, and my voice is still very similar to Mel Torme so I used to run his great recording...Sinatra's Swingin' music, etc. etc., through my Digitech Vocalist and into my Keyboard Amps, and the Digitech kindly muffed their own voices, so I could dubbie-dubb their recordings with "mine own". ...tried this on a few other gigs and it worked! (Didn't get the owner of the establishment worried cause he too was in the "Family" Good ol' Teets" Battaglia!! I never thought in a million years that I'd actually marry Teet's Widow, some years later!? Accidently met her on a flight to Miami.  Never know what's comin' 'round dow we? Sure caught the attention of the club's "high rollers ....thought they were in Vegas"... and as a result they stayed longer and enjoyed my illegal input to the that would accept these (replicas) with the "temporarily-voice-overed GDaddy Top Fifty LIVE!! ....  Sorry, ASCAP! Thanks Mr. "No Clone" for discovering something bad from my past....  Readers, I'm Union Labeled!
Last edited by GDaddy; 02/09/13 04:35 PM.
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Hey Gdaddy, Thanks for posting this list as this is exactly what I need from time to time to get me to do some research. The great new is that I have 20 of these on my playlist, the greater news is that after some research I may be able to add a couple more. You have given me some home-work man, and I like it! Edited Portion: Just heard Louis Armstrong's live recording of Black and Blue WOW! Later,
Last edited by Danny C.; 02/09/13 05:55 PM.
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Great list! I've got most of these in various collections around the place. What can you say? Classics!
I've several Ella CDs "Someone to watch over me" is a definite favorite along with "Not for me"
One of my favorite singers is Diana Krall, I like the way she phrases, she doesn't just sing the song straight. Her take on "You go to my head" is fabulous. My "goto" CD at the moment is The Best of Diana Krall, it sits permanently next to the CD player.
Also I could listen to Franks' "Fly me to the Moon" every day and not tire of it.
Thanks for putting this up. They are all terrific songs and singers.
I'll have to look up the "You go to my Head" version with Louis Armstrong & Oscar Peterson (my favorite jazz pianist)
Edited: Just watched the "You go to my head" on a youtube video. It was great but I think I still like Diana Kralls'. Of course though, no one can ever match Louis Armstrong singing "A Wonderful World"
Last edited by yjoh; 02/09/13 06:06 PM.
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Check out a Canadian vocalist named Carol Welsman. She also plays piano and guitar. http://www.carolwelsman.com/Later, Ray
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"Peel Me a Grape"
Written by Dave Frishberg.
He also wrote, "My Attorney Bernie"
Both favs of mine.
--Mac
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Checked out the Carol Welsman video "Cold Nose, Warm heart". What a beautiful and moving song. Should be called "Cold Nose, Warm Heart and Bring A Box Of Tissues". It had my eyes welling up. I will be adding her name to my list.
Thanks for this Ray, (I think.)
I still miss my best friend.
yjoh
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Carol Welsman is a favorite jazz vocalist and singer. We've performed some of her arrangements. Worth checking her music out.
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I think I "struck" a musical nerve for the Jazzers on the forum. Of course we could go on and on... Blossom Deary almost made a Grammy over her rendition of My Attorney, Bernie. Can't Forget, Won't Regret...that I used to travel to Gamble-Hinge music store in downtown Chicago because they had a couple of secret file cabinets stocked full of "old standards", off-Broadway..just lots of gems like the great Cabaret Singers did, in the big-city clubs. I used to go there often. It closed some yrs. ago... So many excellent club singers that didn't get the exposure of a Sinatra, Benedetto, etc., in the big Auditorium Halls and Vegas. So many talented "sexy broads", like Shirley Horn, Anita O'Day...simply thousands of these songsters. ..men and women, have sung their hearts out for us, as we sipped Booze in some of the finest dark rooms you could find! for cool jazz sounds  Like Sinatra sung: "Set 'em up Joe..I got a few thing that you ought to know! And as many of you are singers and musicians that only want "the best" in our own "collections"! And so many "new and great ones" have popped up to swing us big-time... "Old Ones...but...Cold Ones!", as Chicago's Eminent Jazz DJ, Daddy-O-Daley, used to murmur into the Mic! 
Last edited by GDaddy; 02/10/13 12:17 AM.
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Don't forget about one of the most versatile singers ever, Bobby Darin. Mack the Knife and Beyond the Sea with Shelly Manne on drums.
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Bobby could do most anything...and anyone would think adding Shelly Mann to the mix session... When I first got wind of West Coast Jazz...and especially... the "small" group that got together at Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse...with that definitely California...many rising jazz musicians and singers stretching out with their talent....in the 50's it was that swifty cool jazz approach that sold us all! Much diffent that the Ornette Coleman brand of undecipherable charts...or no charts as it were 
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Bobby Darin = Great American Treasure.
He could pick Shelly Mann for the date because Bobby Darrin started out as -- a drummer.
He also played piano, guitar and well, could hold his own on just about every instrument in the band as well.
COUNTING and being able to hold Tempo is perhaps the singlemost important part of musical performance. "You can't play the right note at the wrong time and get away with it, but you can often play the wrong note at the right time and it won't be noticed..."
Bobby D, as well as ALL of the greats, knew how to count. All. The. Time.
The Metronome was and is or still should be the basis of all musical practicing. Avoid it at your own risk.
Another great who started out as a drummer is Tommy Emmanuel. His ability to keep time at all times is at the heart of his stunning Strong Performance.
--Mac
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Carmen Mcrae certainly needs to be added to the list. Later, Ray
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I would vote to have this list replace the AARP "16 songs those over 50 should own" mentioned in an earlier post.
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I'd vote for the first half page of the Chesapeake phone book over that AARP excrement.
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Speaking of phone books, I wrote this one a couple of days ago. I was taller when I stood on it, but lost my sense of balance (at least my sense) and decided to post it anyway. If not interested, just add to your "do not call" list. I don't know what a "jazz" singer is. I can't figure it out. Anyway, regarding this list: #18 Autumn in New York Billy Holiday IMO, Sarah Vaughn's recording of this song is the one. This is my 2nd favorite SV recording. #28 Georgia On My Mind I love this, but I'm always astonished that RC's earlier recording of "Come Rain Or Come Shine" (which I like better) doesn't get more love. #40 Unforgettable Nat King Cole This one always amazes me. Seriously, has anyone ever heard Dinah Washington's recording? The first 35 seconds of that one are perfection to me; when her gravelly voice enters, that's what great recordings are about. She takes many more liberties with phrasing than Nat King Cole. (jazz???) I'm surprised that Jo Stafford had nothing on the list. (I love Jo Stafford!) In "I'll Be Seeing You" she takes many liberties with the phrasing, but they are all in the service of the lyric. I think hers is the definitive version of this classic. Ditto, for "All The Things You Are", which is coincidentally Jo's favorite of her recordings. Like I said, I'm bemused about what is jazz and what is not. Here is a case in point, a recording / performance that I consider perfection. I get that Debbie Reynolds is not a member of the "jazz" club and will never gain admission. But consider the Oscar nominated "Tammy" from the 1957 film "Tammy and the Bachelor". At the beginning of the film, over the credits is the song "Tammy", sung by the Ames Brothers. Let me say that I'm not taking a shot at the Ames Brothers here. I love the Ames Brothers; I think they're incredible! (Though this is not a top 20 Ames Brothers for me.) But they sing this song, original for the movie, straight. Later in the film, Debbie Reynolds sings "Tammy". As the song finishes there is talking in the film. (The Ames Brothers version, expected to be the hit, hit #5 on Billboard. Debbie Reynolds version hit #1 for 5 weeks.) She takes enormous liberties with the voicing and phrasing. You really don't notice it, until you compare and contrast it with the Ames Brothers version. In every instance, her choices are in the service of the lyric. Some are so pronounced that I marvel at the backing musicians and their abilities to stay the course. No one here is capable of convincing me that DR's version is not stellar. I've made up my mind about this breathtaking performance. But why isn't it a jazz vocal? P.S. As a bonus, DR's version has the best violin coda I've ever heard in a pop record! "Autumn in New York" Billie Holiday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl_e7UW-bz8 "Autumn In New York" (1956) Sarah Vaughn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61HGBYevOcw"Georgia On My Mind" Ray Charles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZceOIAh1i0"Come Rain or Come Shine" Ray Charles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biU13KasYrc"Unforgettable" Nat 'King' Cole https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDN5rG3wLa4"Unforgettable" (1960) Dinah Washington https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epLWuP_bO-g"I'll Be Seeing You" Jo Stafford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O25zQIKiL5I"All The Things You Are" Jo Stafford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_yzmsiQqFA"Tammy" (1957) Ames Brothers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jy4A5onlpU"Tammy" (HQ) Debbie Reynolds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew-5rO8b67I
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Hey - love the list too, thanks. Lots of stuff on there before my 'musical development period' (e.g. my most intense listening years between 8 and 20, when I had the most time to listen), but good art is eternal.
I also love the links to the youtube videos - thanks for those.
My vote for more lists of favorites from our forum contributors that include Youtube links. In fact - I'm going to open another post on that topic.
For me - it's more fun to have instant access to the performances, and to be able to both watch and listen rather than just listen.
Last edited by Joe V; 02/13/13 04:19 AM.
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