Jazz Or Ersatz? The Criteria of Authentic Jazz Singing
by Joan Merrill
INTRODUCTION
One of the most debated issues in jazz today is how vocalists are labeled. A
disparate group of performers is being called jazz singers. Artists who more
accurately belong in the cabaret, pop, soul, folk, country or blues genres, for
example, are being classed by reviewers and critics with vocalists who sing in
the classic jazz style, singers such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah
Vaughan, Carmen McRae, and Ernestine Anderson. Though reviewers and historians
frequently pose the question, What is jazz singing? no consensus exists
on how this sophisticated art form should be defined. Some people, and this
group would include many singers, would decry the impetus to categorize. Their
argument, that labels have no bearing either on the creation or the appreciation
of the art, is valid. However, since categories exist, they might as well be
accurate. But, more important than accuracy is preserving the significance of
the very demanding, complex art of jazz singing by maintaining the criteria
established by the classic jazz singers, those women who evolved their art in
tandem with the development of jazz itself.
Today, jazz, which matured during the
first half of the twentieth century, is enjoying a renaissance. Like the
proverbial prostitute, jazz has lived long enough to become respectable.
Nurtured in the brothels of New Orleans and once called "the music of the
savage, intellectual and spiritual debauchery, utter degradation," jazz has
moved uptown to the symphony hall and the university. The prestigious Lincoln
Center in New York City has a jazz orchestra led by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.
Hundreds of jazz studies programs exist at public and private high schools and
colleges. In recent years, a plethora of reference and critical works on jazz
have been published, such as the comprehensive and scholarly Visions of Jazz
by Gary Giddins and The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia, both published by
Oxford University Press. There is even a Jazz for Dummies, part of the
ubiquitous "Dummies" series. Clearly, jazz has been embraced by mainstream,
white America and is no longer the exclusive province of African-Americans, the
founders and innovators of the form. There is even a jazz singers' handbook,
providing tips to wannabe vocalists.
As jazz has become accepted and
redefined by the mainstream culture, it has lost its meaning as music
characterized by creative improvisation and driven by an exhilarating, 4/4 beat,
swing rhythm. The unfortunate result of an indeterminate way of defining jazz is
that a large portion of the American public thinks an "easy listening" music
called contemporary jazz, which is devoid of the characteristics that
originally characterized jazz, is authentic.
As the definition and criteria for
what constitutes jazz music have become fuzzy, so has the criteria for defining
jazz singing. Today, a stylistically wide variety of singers is being labeled
"jazz singers." Why are there so many "jazz singers" and so few real jazz
singers? One answer is that jazz has become part of the current pre-1960s
nostalgia craze and that to be a "jazz singer" is considered by many people to
be a glamorous occupation. Vocal classes are brimming with women of all ages who
want to be latter-day Billie Holidays. Since the production of CDs has become
affordable and self-distribution a viable alternative to the reliance on the
traditional record companies to record and market music, the jazz-singing
hopeful can produce a CD fairly easily. Furthermore, vocalists of other genres
are being marketed as jazz singers by press agents who want to take advantage of
the current romance surrounding the term, "jazz singer."
In addition to singers and marketing
executives misusing the label "jazz singer" because of its romantic aura, some
people are simply confused about what actually constitutes jazz singing. Some
believe it is a matter of repertory rather than of style. Part of the current
nostalgia for the culture of the 1940s and 50s is a renewed interest in the
American songbook. Sometimes called "standards," the songs that comprise the
American songbook were written by such composers as Cole Porter, Rodgers and
Hart, George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, and Harold Arlen.
These songs, written for Broadway musicals and Hollywood films, were the popular
music of the 1940s and 50s and were sung by, among others, the classic jazz
singers.
As evidence of the current interest
in jazz standards, collections by such diverse singers as R&B star Etta James,
rock singers Rod Stewart and Linda Rondstadt, hip hop artist Queen Latifah
(under the name Dana Owens, her real name) and opera diva Kiri Te Kanawa have
been recorded within the past few years. In fact, Etta James won a Grammy
in the Jazz Vocal category for her first CD of standards, Mystery Lady: Songs
of Billie Holiday, issued in 1994, and her most recent CD, The
Heart of a Woman, was nominated in the same category in 1999. Both Rod
Stewart and Queen Latifah were nominated for Grammies for their albums of
standards, Queen Latifah in the jazz category
Confusion exists because jazz
critics and historians do not have a consensus about the definition of jazz
singing. In his recent five-disc Smithsonian collection, The Jazz
Singers, jazz historian Robert O’Meally demonstrates the difficulty in
drawing precise lines about who is and who is not a jazz singer by including
non- jazz singers Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, and Marvin Gaye. He gives a
caveat for each: "Though he [Sinatra] may seem out of place in this company of
jazz singers," "Aretha Franklin is not usually classified as a jazz singer," and
"Marvin Gaye may strike purists as a most unlikely member of the jazz lineup."
If these singers are not true jazz
singers, then why does O’Meally include them in the collection? He explains:
Sinatra, "for his swinging, nuanced sense of time and his tasteful impulse to
improvise on a song’s melody;" and Franklin, because "she uses jazz techniques
in shaping virtually all her songs;" and Gaye, "not just as a
representative figure but as an outstanding contributor to the jazz tradition."
Sinatra swings, Franklin improvises, and Gaye has soul; each is a great singer,
the best example of his or her genres (traditional pop, R&B, and soul); O’Meally
couldn’t draw the purist’s line and exclude them.
The confusion over who is and who is
not a bona fide jazz singer reflects the difficulty in defining this art form.
Even the most serious of jazz critics and historians have problems coming up
with a coherent definition. Critic and songwriter Gene Lees commented:
Experts have debated the definition of a jazz singer for years
Some have even argued that the term has no meaning.
Improvisation in itself doesn't make a singer into a jazz singer -
even the squarest vocalists will depart now and then from written
melody to add intensity to a performance. It really doesn’t matter
much whether there’s such a thing as a jazz singer. It’s a semantic
point anyway. (liner notes: Carmen McRae: Portrait of Carmen
(1968)
It may be a semantic point to Mr.
Lees, but it is not to many scholars, reviewers, and others in the world of
jazz. They continue to try to find a defining set of criteria.
Whitney Balliett, who has been the
jazz critic for The New Yorker since 1957, presents a concise definition
of jazz singing in the introduction to his collection of essays, American
Singers, Twenty-Seven Portraits in Song (Oxford University Press, New York,
1988):
The most popular definition of a jazz singer is that there is no
definition. But there is. A jazz singer simply makes whatever he
or she sings swing. Ethel Merman was not a jazz singer; Doris
Day is.
According to Balliett, to be a jazz singer, a person must have just one qualification - to sing in swinging style. Although he does not define "swing," his meaning is implied: to sing with a jazz beat. However, sinceDoris Day is not generally considered a jazz singer, Balliet’s definition lacks credibility, The New Yorker notwithstanding
In the introductory chapter to their 1997 book Singing Jazz, The Singers and Their Styles (Miller Freeman Books, San Francisco), Bruce Crowther and Mike Pinfold devote twenty-five pages to trying to answer the question, "What is a jazz singer?"
Customarily, the criteria by which singers are judged in the jazz
world often are either harshly restrictive or absurdly
undiscriminating. Taken to extremes, the former makes it almost
impossible for anyone other than Billie Holiday and a handful of
lesser mortals to qualify. The latter allows just about anyone who
ever approximated "Basin St. Blues" in a Karaoke bar to wear the
label. Of course, reality lies somewhere in between these
extremes. Exactly where the boundary falls is profoundly
subjective. (Crowther 15)
Because of the diversity of
singing styles of vocalists labeled "jazz singers," these authors avoid coming
up with a precise set of criteria for jazz singing, calling it a "subjective"
view. Is an objective, concrete definition of this art form possible? If so,
what are the elements that define it? How can we determine the standards by
which to measure what is being called jazz
singing today?
The best sources for arriving at a
definition of jazz singing are the classic jazz singers themselves: Billie
Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, and Ernestine Anderson,
who were born between the years 1915 and 1928 and whose lives paralleled the
history of jazz. These women developed their art within the evolving jazz form,
which can be said to have been "born" in 1917 and to have reached maturity in
the mid-1960s, and, like the reciprocal nature of the music itself, were both
inspired by and inspirational to the musicians with whom they worked. To listen
to their singing is to hear jazz singing in its authentic form. The techniques
and characteristics of their singing define the art.
Though it has undergone many
permutations since its inception, jazz - instrumental or vocal - is basically
characterized by two elements: improvisation and swing. Improvisation is when a
musician – instrumentalist or singer – expresses his or her musical
interpretation of a given melody, creating new melody lines, rhythms, and
sometimes harmonies based on the underlying form of the song, such as what
saxophonist Coleman Hawkins does in his classic interpretation of "Body and
Soul". Swing is a rhythm that can be described technically as 4/4
time – four beats to a measure – with accents on the second and fourth beats.
However, using this beat does not necessarily produce swing. It must be played
or sung with a kind of driving force that is both intense and relaxed, as is
demonstrated in Coleman Hawkins’ version of "The Man I Love." In short, it takes
both technique and art to create swing, with the art component being difficult,
if not impossible, to define.
However, the complex art of singing
jazz cannot be defined by these elements alone. The classic jazz singers do more
than simply improvise and swing. The most basic requirement is a beautiful vocal
instrument. Though there have been great jazz singers whose voices were not
particularly beautiful - Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday are obvious examples
- most of the classic singers have exceptionally lovely voices. Sarah Vaughan,
for example, had a multi-octave range and could have had an operatic career if
she had had the opportunity and motivation. More often than not, however, the
voices of the great jazz singers are from the lower register, that range being
most pleasing to the ear.
The second attribute is a
highly developed sense of time. Elemental to jazz is a complex, driving rhythm,
produced most often by the bass, drums, and piano - the standard rhythm section
of a jazz group. Though her back-up group produces the beat, the singer sets the
tempo. The accompanying musicians correlate with her tempo, which may not
synchronize exactly with the beats they play. Some singers intentionally sing
behind or ahead (less frequently) of the beat, as part of their interpretation
of the song. That is not to say that they are not keeping good time; they are
merely not hitting the beats at the same time as the rhythm section. Billie
Holiday and Carmen McRae, both famous for their lyric interpretation, sang
behind the beat in order to achieve an emotional suspense. As part of having a
good sense of time, a jazz singer is able to sing in various tempos, from fast
bebop tunes to languid ballads. Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Carmen McRae
could deliver very fast up-tempo tunes as well as slow ballads with equal
excellence.
Not only does she have an unerring sense of time, but the classic jazz singer
also improvises. She approaches a song creatively, expressing her own musicality
and personality by embellishing and embroidering the song in various ways. She
may reconstruct the melody, singing notes different from how they are written.
However, these notes cannot be just any notes; they must make musical sense. An
example of simple improvising is to sing a note an octave above or below what’s
written. Or, she may completely reconstruct the melody, recomposing it
spontaneously. Needless to say, the improvised notes will need to have a musical
logic of their own, or the effect will be jarring.
Some singers improvise a great
deal, and others to a more subtle degree. Sarah Vaughan could completely
deconstruct a melody, yet she never lost touch with the written notes. Her
improvisations were highly elaborate, yet always logical. Though Carmen
McRae improvised consistently, in nearly every line, her improvisations were
understated, rather than obvious.
However, improvising the melody is
not the only way a jazz singer may reinterpret a song. She may play with the
time, altering the tempo or singing ahead or behind the beat, for example. Like
her contemporary, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O’Day was a master at improvising time,
as can be heard in her tour de force rendition of "Tea for Two. In
addition to playing with time, a jazz singer may phrase (group) the lyrics her
own way, either to express her interpretation of the song’s meaning or simply to
enhance the rhythm. Also, a jazz singer may employ any of an actor’s vocal
devices: changing dynamics, pitch, tone, or emphasis. She may also, as
Carmen McRae was apt to do, add an aside or comment as part of her
interpretation of the song’s story.
While a jazz singer is improvising, keeping or setting the tempo, she is also
interacting with her back-up group. Though she may have a leader among the trio
or quartet – usually the piano player – she must communicate with him what she
wants the group to do: lay out (cease playing), take solos, add a chorus, speed
up the tempo, end the song, or whatever. He then will pass on her wishes to the
rest of the group. This communication will usually occur through subtle facial
expressions, hand gestures, or musical cues not obvious to the audience.
Unless a singer is scatting - using
sounds instead of words, a technique Ella Fitzgerald took to a fine art - she is
also concerned with expressing the meaning and emotional content of a song’s
lyrics. More than anything else, singing is communicating. The singer is the
messenger, the means by which the meaning of the song is conveyed to the
audience. She must phrase the lyrics – grouping words in meaningful clusters -
to convey the literal and emotional meaning of the lyrics. Her improvisational
and tempo decisions are, of course, subject to her interpretation of the song’s
message. Phrasing, improvisation, and tempo contribute not only to her lyric
interpretation, but also to her melodic expression. Some singers place more
emphasis on lyric interpretation - Billie Holiday and Carmen McRae, especially;
and others on melodic improvisation - Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald were
masters at using their voices as instruments.
A beautiful voice, a superior sense
of rhythm, a highly developed musicality, and a sensitivity to lyrics - these
are the qualities of an authentic jazz singer. But there is another attribute
that is much more difficult to describe. The term most often used for this
indefinable quality is "soul." A singer is often said to possess "soul" or to
have sung a song "soulfully." A singer with soul puts a great deal of feeling
into her singing, which is then transferred to the listener.
The great jazz singers learned the
language of jazz from direct experience - through performing and interacting
with the innovators of the music, musical geniuses such as Louis Armstrong, Duke
Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis. The jazz language,
which has as its elements improvisation and rhythm, but also involves
reciprocity of communication - "call and response" - and emotional
expressiveness, or to use the jazz term, "soul," became as natural to these
singers as speaking.
Vocalists who today are being called
jazz singers are using either a much more simple language or a different one.
And those who are using the jazz language are unlikely ever to reach the
artistic level of the women who developed the art. Because they learned to sing
jazz by experiencing its evolution and development first-hand, Billie Holiday,
Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, and Ernestine Anderson are the
measure of jazz singing.
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