(Reprinted from the December 2020 issue of New York City Jazz Record)
Vince Guaraldi’s scores for the animated Peanuts holiday specials might be responsible for introducing multiple generations of children to jazz. Jazz and cartoons have always had a symbiotic relationship—culturally they grew up together. The first animated short with sound, Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie (1928), is synced to a ragtime melody, and the vocal mannerisms of Max Fleischer’s cartoon character Betty Boop, popular a decade later, derive from the work of Harlem jazz singer Baby Esther Jones.
This relationship continues today with the newly released animation to Ella Fitzgerald’s beloved rendition of “Frosty the Snowman” from her 1960 album on Verve, Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas. Digitally created, the animated short recalls the mid-century cartoon designs popular when Fitzgerald recorded the song; Ella the retro cartoon character is an absolute delight. It’s easy to imagine the next generations of jazz lovers recalling this two-minute clip with unapologetic fondness.
On Oct. 2, two weeks before Ella & Frosty hit YouTube, Verve released Ella Fitzgerald: The Lost Berlin Tapes. Recorded at Berlin’s Sportpalast in March 1962, these tracks recall Fitzgerald’s triumph in the same city two years earlier, her best-selling live album, Mack the Knife: Ella in Berlin. The repertoire on the later album contains some tunes heard less often, however—a flirty “He’s My Kind of Boy” and a spontaneous, wailing “Wee Baby Blues”. The album covers some of her regular repertoire of the time, a burning “Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie” from her 1961 album by that name (and during which she ad libs a reference to Betty Boop), and the tongue-in-cheek, crowd-pleasing “Mr. Paganini”. Fitzgerald’s scatting on the newly found recording is as shiver-inducing as ever.
Throughout the 1970s, journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl was researching the life of Billie Holiday, intending to write a biography of the historic singer. She taped more the 200 hours of interviews with those who knew Holiday—Charles Mingus, Tony Bennett, Sylvia Syms, Count Basie, and the FBI agents who harassed—uh, followed her around. Kuehl committed suicide in 1978, before completing the book and without ever using the tapes. Director James Erskine remedies this omission with his documentary Billie (Greenwich Entertainment), which hits theaters and on-demand video on Dec. 4. The release, an artful assemblage of colorized archival images, has a companion recording, Billie: The Original Soundtrack (Verve/Ume), which came out in November. On it you can hear Holiday sing her most memorable titles, like “I Loves You, Porgy”, “God Bless the Child” and “Don’t Explain”. But the digitally enhanced film is more exciting—the modern format helps us to imagine what Holiday was like in real life. Be forewarned that this same realism makes “Strange Fruit” an even tougher listen.
On his latest, All Rise (Blue Note), Gregory Porter sings so intimately that one would be forgiven for not noticing that he’s backed by the London Symphony Orchestra. And a choir and horn section. Or that he’s singing with full-throated fervor. Riding on an R&B groove, he introduces the album’s theme of transcendence and redemption on the opening track, “Concorde”. He goes on to challenge injustice on the funky, blues-driven “Long List of Troubles” and to soothe the weary ear with the affecting “If Love Is Overrated”. The final track, “Thank You”, an inspirational tune that crosses over from swing to gospel, sums up Porter’s message to the world—and the world’s reflective response to this rare talent.
Singer/guitarist George Benson, one of the few jazz artists to turn out pop hits that feature scat solos, also recorded across the Pond; he taped his new live album, Weekend In London (Provogue), at Ronnie Scott’s, one of the city’s premier jazz clubs. The recording reprises several tunes that earned Benson 10 Grammy Awards (“Give Me the Night”, “Turn Your Love Around”) but also offers up one standard, “Moody’s Mood”—a lesson in how to bop over a ballad and anod to his mentor, vocalese innovator Eddie Jefferson.
Gigs in the time of coronavirus: Cyrille Aimée will sing at Blue Note on Dec. 3, one of the few in-person shows on offer this month. Svetlana and the Delancy Five follow with the Blue Note Holiday Brunch on Dec. 20. If you prefer livestreams, you can also catch the group at Drom on Dec. 4 or singers Klea Blackhurst, Jim Caruso and Billy Stritch in “A Swinging Birdland Christmas” at Birdland on Dec. 18.