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Chapter 10: Looking Ahead: The Present and Future of Jazz
Jazz’s vocal resurgence
During jazz’s Golden Age, which is how some folks refer to the big band era of
the 1930s and early 1940s (see Chapter 6), jazz singers took center stage:
� Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in a “sweet” vein
� Joe Williams and Jimmy Rushing in a bluesy Kansas City style
� Jon Hendricks, bebopper
� Billie Holiday, Helen Forrest, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan, great
ladies of swing and scat-singing
Today’s best jazz vocalists are both inventive interpreters of great lyrics and
melodies, and muscular improvisers.
The gals
After recording CDs devoted to the music of Bill Evans (Blue in Green) and
Frank Sinatra (Dancing in the Dark), Tierney Sutton stretches out on her 2005
release I’m With the Band, presenting deeply personal readings of tunes
including “‘S Wonderful,” “Surrey with the Fringe On Top,” and “What a Little
Moonlight Will Do.” Along the way, she swaps solos with her bandmates as an
instrumental equal. Sutton’s voice is subtle, airy, and clear, and she has an
irresistible sense of swing.
The current she-generation also includes passionate Brazilian Luciana Souza;
Billie Holiday–influenced Madeleine Peyroux; and risk-taker Cassandra
Wilson, whose career thus far has ranged from freeform funk to bebop improvisation,
and whose supple voice does justice to unconventional song selections
ranging from Neil Young to Son House and even the Monkees.
The guys
On the he-side, Kurt Elling merges scat-singing and other vocal inventions
with standard jazz tunes and Beat poetry. Andy Bey is a late-bloomer with an
operatic range who breathes new life into familiar standards. Jamie Cullum is
the wild kid with a jazz-caliber voice and a repertoire that merges jazz, classical,
blues, hip-hop, dance, and pop.
Women taking over the jazz world
At this point, for the first time, women stand out as great jazz players, not just
women jazz players. At last, a slew of women are building on the foundation
established by female jazz musicians including pianists Carla Bley, Lil Hardin
(Louis Armstrong’s wife), Marian McPartland, and Mary Lou Williams, and
trumpeter Clora Bryant.
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