The New York Times calls Etta Jones "a great and permanently underrated jazz singer." Somewhere up there, Etta is saying, "Um, thanks? I think?"
Etta was a "jazz singer's jazz singer," as they say. She's also routinely confused with another performer with the same first name, but stands on her own as a singular vocalist with a uniquely honeyed voice. The all too brief "Savoy Recordings" features some of her best tracks, including her mesmerizing version of "Georgia On My Mind," where her signature sliding pitch brings out all the aching emotions of the song. It's a beautiful CD, I promise.
If Etta was a secret, it wasn't for lack of trying. She was hiding in plain site throughout her career at jazz clubs worldwide, where she drew a devoted, mostly African-American, audience from the 1940s to the 90s. Because she was one of those freaks of nature, reviews of her shows were glowing even late in her career. Her last album hit the stores on the day of her death in 2001, and, yes, it was one of her best. Because she was just that way.
Etta once stated that she drew most of her inspiration from horn players, and you can hear this in almost every song she performs. In her underrated 1963 LP "Love Shout," her luxuriant bluesy tones are in full bloom in numbers like "It's Magic," which sounds so in-the-moment that you'd swear she's experiencing every sensation and feeling in the song for the first time. Etta never recorded for a major label, unfortunately, so there's been no major-label revival or box-set of her recordings to keep her work alive. But we'll do that, won't we?
Did you see the new "Blade Runner?" Did you love it like I did? That's probably because you're one of the few people out there who enjoyed the first "Blade Runner" in 1982. I know what you're thinking: "But the first one is a classic, yo! What do you mean "one of the few people?"
Bear with me here. As you likely know, the first feature bombed in the 1980s, and though it was rightly hailed by critics, this didn't exactly translated into a "Star Wars"-type situation where people have been begging for a sequel. And so true to form, the sequel bombed (badly) because only the die-hards went to see it - even if it was everything you could ever want in a "Blade Runner" sequel.
The original "Blade Runner" was, I think, the first "trance movie," though it was made long before trance music was labeled as a genre in the early 1990s. It had the same slow, hypnotic rhythms as trance music, and its plot was subservient to all of those dreamy, layered, deliberately downbeat atmospherics. Like trance music, it was - and is - of limited appeal to a mass audience.
It also had a gorgeous soundtrack by Vangelis in what can only be called a forerunner to trance music. Yet due to the group's contrariness - some people are just the way they are - they refused to release their soundtrack on LP. Years later, of course, they did, and there have been countless versions, but finally, here's the complete-as-can-be soundtrack. And it's a stunner, sounding just as fresh and groundbreaking as it did in the 1980s.
Dance, Ann-Margret, dance! Please, none of this trance stuff for her.
The holiday season is upon us, which means cocktail parties 'n' such, which means a delightful cocktail mix is very much in order, dont'cha think?
I love this mix because it's eclectic without being annoying - it doesn't jar you from track to track - and because, in addition to Ann-Margret, Sergio Mendez, Quincy Jones, and many-many more, there's also a finger-snapin', hep-cat version of "Take Five" by Trudy Pitts. I can't think of anything better to make the holidays more bearable, can you? (just nod 'yes').
The Secret Song File is looking forward to getting away for the holidays - and away from her many pesky fans who make such tiring demands on her time and never, ever get her what she really wants for Christmas. So away she skedaddles, off to a private island with a new CD by a hot, dead female singer.
If you like this songbird (*cough*), or think her voice sounds like fields of gold (*cough*spit-take*cough*) and believe it's rully sad-emoticon that her fame came posthumously, then you'll j'adore her new acoustic CD. Just her and a guitar. It's lovely. And lovely is rare these days.
Almost as rare as a politician without grabby hands - but I digress.
Grab a hold of whatever you like in the comments!
