Home » Jazz Articles » Bailey's Bundles » Jazz Vocals 2021

Jazz Vocals 2021

By C. Michael Bailey
December 19, 2021
View read count

Here are some notable jazz recordings heard this past year.

Roseanna Vitro
Sing a Song of Bird
Skyline Records
2021

This release addresses jazz vocalese using Charlie Parker's music and is crafted by field expert,

Roseanna Vitro

vocals
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Roseanna Vitro while being recorded in two sessions (with two separate bands) on either ostensible side of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vocally (and temporally) joining Vitro are the late

Bob Dorough

vocals
1923 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Bob Dorough,

Sheila Jordan

vocals
1928 - 2025

" data-original-title="" title="">Sheila Jordan and

Marion Cowings

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Marion Cowings. Spiritually, lyricist/singer giants of the genre include

Jon Hendricks

vocals
1921 - 2017

" data-original-title="" title="">Jon Hendricks,

Eddie Jefferson

vocals
1918 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Eddie Jefferson, and

King Pleasure

vocals
1922 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">King Pleasure, with brand new lyrics provided by Vitro and producer/husband Paul Wickliffe, Dorough and Jordan. Smart head arrangements drive the tunes giving flight to the performances. Nothing beats hearing Dorough's Arkansas honesty one more time.

Key Selection: "Sheila, Jazz Child (Cheryl)."

Gemma Sherry
Music To Dream To
Tunley Records
2021

Gemma Sherry is on a roll. Music to Dream To was released on the heels of Let's Get Serious (Tunley Records, 2020), which itself preceded by the EP Sings Bossa Nova (Tunley Records, 2020) and full length debut Songs I Love (Tunley Records, 2020). Sherry remains enamoured with the music of Brazil, addressing six off-the-beaten-path selections (two of which are repeated in acoustic versions). Her vocals are air light and confident, as is her accompaniment.

Key Selection: "The Coffee Song."

Lorraine Feather
My Own Particular Life
Relarion Records
2021

Aside from being jazz royalty,

Lorraine Feather

vocals
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">Lorraine Feather has proven an exceptional vocalist, lyricist, and composer. My Own Particular Life is her fourteenth release. Each previous release shows a steady evolution in melodic complexity, as well as the most literate lyrics in jazz. The recording is the temporal product of the COVID-19 pandemic. All parties recorded in different locations with the engineers and producers assembling the final product as if by alchemy. Feather employed composers

Eddie Arkin

" data-original-title="" title="">Eddie Arkin,

Shelly Berg

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Shelly Berg,

Russell Ferrante

keyboards
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Russell Ferrante, and

Dave Grusin

piano
b.1934

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Grusin, who managed to also perform on the recording. Feather further reveals herself as a panoramic lyricist capturing the simple and complex in life.

Key Selection: "Are You Up?."

Judy Wexler
Back to the Garden
Jewel City Jazz
2021

Judy Wexler spent her pandemic time well, recording her "Back to the Garden" repertoire that she has been honing the past decade. An homage to Woodstock and its perimeter, Wexler enlists pianist Jeff Coella as arranger, assembling a soundtrack on the fulcrum between the '60s and '70s. "Get Together" and "For What It's Worth" are given anxious arrangements to stir the listener's social conscience. Wexler's interpretation of

Paul Simon

composer / conductor
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Paul Simon's "An American Tune" ranks equally with

Kurt Elling

vocals
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Kurt Elling's fine reading from The Questions (Okeh, 2018) and The Questions Live (Okeh, 2019). This is the smartest of West Coast contemporary jazz.

Key Selection: "Big Yellow Taxi."

Cathy Segal-Garcia
Social Anthems, Volume 1
Origin Records
2021

Akin in design and focus, but more organically nuanced, Cathy Segal-Garcia's Social Anthems, Volume 1 could be considered a sister project to Judy Wexler's Back to the Garden. Both rely on careful arrangement and orchestration, but offer differing sonic environments—compare the performances of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" and the Youngbloods' "Get Together." The remainder of the disc focuses on questions, Marvin Gaye's "Save The Children" (sung with the incomparable Mon David) and the original "What Are We Gonna Do?" Shepherded by pianist

Josh Nelson

piano
b.1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Josh Nelson (

Diana Krall

piano and vocals
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Diana Krall and others) this disc is intensely integrated and sincere.

Key Selection: "And So It Goes" with Paul Jost.

Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, featuring Cyrille Aim?e
Petite Fleur
Storyville
2021

Pure opium. French vocalist

Cyrille Aimée

vocals
b.1984

" data-original-title="" title="">Cyrille Aim��e (Move On: A Sondheim Adventure (Mack Avenue, 2019)) and

Adonis Rose

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Adonis Rose and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (Songs -The Music Of Allen Toussaint (Storyville, 2019)) together praise Mr.

Sidney Bechet

saxophone, soprano
1897 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Sidney Bechet and the French tinge of NOLA on Petite Fleur: a fresh bouquet of French and English standards nestled in the plush confines of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. Aim?e's vocals are so wholesomely sensual they would confuse the best intentioned priest. Beautiful is this recording.

Key Selection: "Crazy He Calls Me."

Adrianne Duncan
Gemini
Self Produced
2021

An important contributor to

Cathy Segal-Garcia

vocals
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">Cathy Segal-Garcia's The Jazz Chamber (Dash Hoffmann, 2018), with an impressive pedigree and resume, pianist/vocalist

Adrianne Duncan

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Adrianne Duncan, steps to the forefront with a debut LP amply illustrating her many considerable talents. Duncan's compositions lean into seamless balladic themes with assertive elbows softened by her clever arrangements. "He's Not Quite You" allows Duncan to show off both her tempered voice and smart writing, while the title piece barges into the room unannounced to take control. Duncan's cover of the Police's "Roxanne" is an inspired revelation, an alloy of jazz and rock delivered with stylish and graceful authority.

Key Selection: "Roxanne."

The Greenway Group (PHG), featuring Carla Cook
65 St. Marks Place
Some One Too
2021

The Greenway Group (PHG) is a solid NYC-based piano trio led by Drummer David Greenway. Their debut recording 65 Saint Marks Place plays like a finely crafted musical timepiece. Featured front and center is the versatile vocalist

Carla Cook

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Carla Cook (Dem Bones (MAXJAZZ, 2001), who contributes to a trio of tunes, including spry interpretation of

Steely Dan

band / ensemble / orchestra
b.1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Steely Dan's "Home at Last,"

Mongo Santamaria

percussion
1917 - 2003

" data-original-title="" title="">Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue" and the Pamala Hamilton original "I Could Get Used To This." Out of the recording spotlight for the past 20 years, Cook reemerges as if always here, vibrant and expressive.

Key Selection: "Four on Six."

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Coralland
< Previous

Venezuelan Keyboardist Santiago Bosc...
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.