Spin-off from the Billie Holliday/Sarah Vaughn thread . . . Who’s your favorite male singer? Not rock star, but single act.
I’m a pushover for Billy Murray, who no one remembers at all. He was the top recording artist of the 1910–25 period, and I have several cassette collections of him. Also like Al Bowlly, the British Bing Crosby. Oh, and Frank Crumit, who specialized in comic and folk songs.
Never cared for Sinatra, though some of Bing’s early stuff is good. Can not STAND Michael Feinstein, he rolls his eyes and camps and does his “oh, I’m so pwecious!” act till I could hurl.
I personally give a big thumbs up to Nat King Cole too.
Also: [ul]
[li] Ray Charles[/li][li] Bruce Hornsby (great pianist for that matter!)[/li][li] Al Jarreau (my all-time favorite song is Al’s rendition of “Since I fell for you” with David Sanborn and Bob James)[/li][li] Lou Rawls[/li][li] Harry Connick, Jr.[/li][/ul]
The above is in no particular order.
Oh, Eve, you old fashioned gal. How this thread will confound all the Dopers under 35 years old!
Anyway, even though he was a minor vocalist at best, Johnny Mercer is one of my favorites. He is, of course, much more well known as a lyricist, but he had quite a few WWII-era hits as a singer. (He was also a founder of Capital Records – where he gave Nat King Cole his big break.)
I also love Bobby Darrin.
Forunately, Johnny and Bobby recorded together on an album called Two of a Kind, which is available on CD. I totally, totally reccommend it.
I like Bing Crosby a lot, and not just the early stuff…Decca put out a nice compilation called BING CROSBY AND SOME JAZZ FRIENDS, with great 1930s-40s duet perfs featuring Louis Armstrong, Connie Boswell, Lee Wiley, Louis Jordan, and Jack Teagarden, among others.
Rudy Vallee always makes me smile: “Betty Co-ed” is hilarious; the “Maine Stein Song” makes a great hiking singalong when you’re stomping around Acadia National Park; and he sang one of the dirtiest versions of “Let’s Do it” I’ve ever heard recorded.
Fred Astaire. Very elegant, with a simple yet sophisticated approach to a lyric. How the hell could he have been heterosexual? I don’t THINK so. And Irving Berlin said he always had Astaire in mind when he wrote his songs…
Slim Gaillard! Give me summa dat Vout-a-roonie anytime, with plenny a HOT SAUCE onnit!
I really like Der Bingle as well. He was so beamingly smooth, and my grandfather played (sax, clarinet) in his bands for a long while. Bing’s youngest son was born at the same time I was, in the same LA hospital, and he & my grandad ohhed over their new arrivals together. So, I gotta real soft spot there, having been wooed well in the nursery.
Thanks for the Decca recommendation, Ike, it sounds great.
Louis Jordan really tilts my whirl, and Louis Prima, too, although he’s doing a Louis Armstrong rehash. But muy fun, and Keely Smith don’t hurt him none.
Gotta agree with Fred Astaire, too. Suavisticated to the utmost.
The question arises in my mind: Why isn’t the “trajic chanteur(se)” full-of-pain motif as obvious with male singers as it is with women of the 30’s to 50’s?
Maybe its just me, but I can’t get past seeing Bing Crosby in his role as “movie star” (I hesitate to use the word “actor”). You add that horrible mental picture of him doing “The Little Drummer Boy” duet with David Bowie and it just becomes way too confusing. The same with Fred Astaire - I can’t separate his vocal abilities from seeing him dance and looking smashing in formal wear. I suppose its all context, eh?
Jack Teagarden got alot of play on “Riverwalk-Live from the Landing” on NPR a few Saturdays ago. His version of “Old Rocking Chair” with Louis Armstrong has always been a favorite.
plnnr: Yeah, a lotta people have that Bing problem…jazz critic Gary Giddins addresses it, at astonishing length, in his new Crosby biography.
I grew up with the guy in the golfpants pourin’ out the Minute Maid orange juice, too, but in the 1920s and early 30s Bing was THE COOLEST THING GOING…the first male pop vocalist who figured out how to sing into a microphone, as opposed to belting it out for the benefit of the guys in the vaudeville cheap seats.
I had some of his 1920s recordings with the Whiteman band way back when I was in college, but I didn’t really “get” Crosby until I heard his 1932 version of “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” A dynamite performance, and one that would fit elelle’s “full-of-pain motif” for a boy singer!
PS: If you want to get a load of Fred Astaire’s singing sans dancing images, he did a great collection of his film tunes back in 1952 in a Los Angeles recording studio, backed by some first-rate jazz modernists: Oscar Peterson on piano, Barney Kessel on guitar, Flip Phillips and Charlie Shavers on tenor sax and trumpet. It’s called THE ASTAIRE STORY, and Verve has it out in a 2-disc set.
I’m listening to it right now on the 'puter CD player. Damn, “The Continental” is one great tune.
I like Sinatra’s early recordings a lot – check out the sessions he did with Count Basie and his Band in the 60s (I think they’re on the Reprise label). He sings with great energy and lyricism – the early stuff really explains his fame; his later, aging crooner, stuff just confounds me.
I love Ray Charles – can’t get enough of him. Of his albums I’ve heard, the only one that I don’t love is his album of jazz/big band standards (can’t remember the title). His appeal depends so much on his improvisations, and the raunchiness of his vocal sound – two things that fly in the face of that style a bit. I think that Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is an all-time great; among other things, it shows how close country and the blues can be in style.
Bing Crosby has never made sense to me. Obviously he had a great voice, at least as far as the instrument itself goes, but he was lazy and ininteresting as a performer. He could have recorded all of his best-known tracks while reclining in a chair with his favorite beverage for all I know. I like people that lay it out there more.
As for Fred Astaire…he really couldn’t sing. George Gershwin wrote his way around that in Lady Be Good by making all of the songs catchy, syncopated dance tunes that could be half-spoken. A lot of songs from Astaire vehicles are that way. Helluva dancer, though. I lump him and Gene Kelley together in that way, although the two had very different performing styles.
(Cough) “Early” Sinatra recordings, from the 1960s? You should try his sessions with the Tommy Dorsey Band…made between 1940 and 1942.
They’re interesting, but he really hit his stride with the great Capitol albums of the 1950s: SONGS FOR SWINGING LOVERS, IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS, and ONLY THE LONELY are must-haves for budding Sinatra buffs.
And I personally am attached to his live concerts with small jazz groups (as opposed to those huge Nelson Riddleish studio orchestras). There’s a very good LIVE IN PARIS 1962 out on Reprise, and a LIVE IN AUSTRALIA 1959 with the Red Norvo Quintet, on Blue Note.
Re: Bing. Try the “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime” I mentioned earlier…that one don’t sound like no Laz-E-Boy performance.
Re: Fred. Okay, the voice is a little thin, and he doesn’t have the range of a Crosby or a Sinatra. But the phrasing and timing is spot-on, and he gets bonus points for being the guy who introduced the best Cole Porter and most Irving Berlin tunes to the world. “He’s not a great singer” I’d let you get away with, but when you say “He really couldn’t sing,” I’m afraid I’ll have to challenge you to a duel.
(Okay, I promise not to post to this thread again for at least another hour.)
40s, 50s, 60s, what’s the difference! I’m dating myself here. Those Basie sessions happened more than a decade before I was born – it’s all early to me!
I would be interested to hear.
How about this:
For Sinatra, Crosby, and almost everyone else discussed so far, the voice (and use of it) – regardless of what you may think of it – was of primary appeal. In Astaire’s case it was more of a supplement to his other talents, which were far more impressive in my opinion. However, you’ve obviously heard a lot more of his stuff than I have, and from what you’ve said, it sounds as if he brings interesting and stylish musicianship to a lot of it – qualities that have made a lot of people without especially interesting vocal gifts interesting singers in their own right.
Ike - I asked a record collector friend of mine (also a jazz buff of the first order) about the Verve recordings and he told me he has the CD you mentioned, but also has a two record (you remember those don’t you, big black round things with a hole in the middle and grooves etched into it)set of the original recordings made in the 30s that he prefers. I’ll check them both out.
I’ll grant you that Frankie-boy could be really good with the small groups, but I still like to put on “Come Fly With Me” or “Witchcraft” (both with Nelson Riddle’s Orchestra), crank the the stereo up to 11, and swing, baby, swing.
asch: Harrumph. Well, all right then. (insert winking smiley here)
The Bingle “Brother” is probably available in a zillion places, but my copy is on AMERICAN POPULAR SONG, a 5-disc set from the Smithsonian, a rather nifty collection that includes many of Eve’s favorites, including Russ Columbo doing “Street of Dreams” and Billy Murray’s incredibly cool “I Love a Piano.”
Interestingly, the set includes EIGHT songs done by Astaire***** (to compare, there are only four apiece from Sinatra and Crosby, and three apiece from Mel Torme and Nat King Cole). The compilers claim that, since they’re presenting a history of song rather than singers, Astaire takes pride of place as he was more likely to sing the songs the way the composers meant them to be sung. (No weird flatted notes, blues inflections, or breaks for scat-singing.)
plnnr: Got that, too! (Well, I have the FRED ASTAIRE AND GINGER ROGERS AT RKO one from Rhino…I think there’s also a FRED ASTAIRE AT MGM.) They’re nice because they have the original arrangements, but they ARE lifted from movie soundtracks, so the recording quality isn’t as good as the Verve disc. Also he was busy moving his feet, or staring soulfully into Ginger’s eyes, so he doesn’t bring the same concentration as when he’s sitting on his prat in a recording studio.
I agree on the Sinatra comment too…the Chairman had one BIG voice, and sometimes overpowered small groups if he wasn’t being careful. He certainly was a match for anything Riddle or May threw at him.
***** “Fascinating Rhythm” (with Adele)
“Puttin’ On the Ritz”
“Night and Day”
“Isn’t This a Lovely Day?”
“Cheek to Cheek”
“A Fine Romance”
“They Can’t Take That Away from Me”
“By Myself”
B.J.THOMAS is and always will be #1 in my book for
Pop male vocalist.
He has been recording since the 60’s and now if you can believe it his voice is richer and better than ever.
There is nothing that man can’t sing!! He’s had MONSTER SMASH HITS in almost every music category, from Pop/Rock to County to Gospel, very few singers can do that.
His unique voice is so strong and powerful and capable of such tenderness it can make you cry.
Speaking of unique, when you hear a B.J. Thomas song
you know without question…Thats B.J.Thomas!
Nowadays that certainly doesnt happen very often, everybody seems to sound alike…
To refresh your memory: B.J. Thomas songs >
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
Hooked On A Feeling
Eyes Of A New York Woman
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
Rock & Roll Lullaby
Most Of All
Dont Worry Baby
Billy & Sue
Mama
I Just Cant Help Believin
No Love At All
Might Clouds Of Joy
As Long As We Got Each Other> TV Theme> Growing Pains
Amazing Grace
Home Where I Belong
Whatever Happened to Old Fashion Love
Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
and the list goes on and on…
If you ever get a chance to see this man in concert, I guarantee you will be slapping yourself silly for not having gone to one sooner.
Tom Waits is my favorite male vocalist, though not for any technical reasons. He’s got a voice that appeals to the viscera. But among the more traditional choices that I like there’s of course Louis Armstrong, Sonny Til, Clyde McPhatter, Fats Waller, Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris, T-Bone Walker, Howlin’ Wolf and obviously Nat King Cole.
The other day, I was looking on CDNow.com for some Fats Waller stuff, and I noticed that they had a collection called 20 Golden Pieces of Fats Waller. I don’t know, but there’s something just not quite right about that title. There was another one called The Cream of Fats Waller. Again, I’m not putting my finger on it here, but I just don’t quite like the title. I’m expecting next they’ll issue a compilation called Steaming Chunks of Fats Waller.
AL MARTINO
SINATRA
NAT COLE
DEAN MARTIN
JULIO IGLESIAS
Re: Bing. Try the “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime” I mentioned earlier…that one don’t sound like no Laz-E-Boy performance.
I would be interested to hear.
ASCHROTT—I recommend that you go to Napster and listen to the ones by Bing, Rudy Valee and Charlie Palloy. One of the GREAT American songs if the 20th Century.
Frankie also has another thing going for him that none of these other men do (particularly Fred Astaire) - he got to crawl between the sheets with Ava Gardner. Grrrrrrooooooowwwwwwwllll.
I also really enjoys da musical mastications of Jimmy Durante; maybe Uke considers it like gravel in your martini, but it has a character that conveys emotion greatly.
(I’m also the proud owner of a copy of the Jack Benny composition, “When You Say I Beg Your Pardon, Then I’ll Come Back To You”, as performed by Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye, George Burns, and Groucho Marx. It must be heard to be believed.)
In retrospect, the fact that Frank also got to crawl between the sheets with Mia Farrow may discount some of the points he scored by bedding Ava Gardner. Said Ava, upon learning that Frank and Mia had married: “I always knew that Frank would end up in bed with a little boy.” Now that’s just plain cruel.
Can’t you just hear him now - “Come here, Ava, baby - I got your Mojambo right here.”
For the record, I also enjoy the vocal stylings of Blind Willie McTell, Louis Armstrong, Tampa Red, Joe Turner, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Levon Helm, and Tom Waits.
Honey is always nice, but sometimes it’s vinegar that hits the spot!
I’m dating myself here. Those Basie sessions happened more than a decade before I was born – it’s all early to me!