Canary yellow dress? Check. Canary yellow pumps? Check-Check. Blinding beauty? Check-check-check-check-check-check!
Nancy Wilson - or "Fancy Miss Nancy," as she was called by her friends, since she was ever-so-classy no matter what she did - has left us with a treasure trove of LPs to cherish as we slide (stumble?) (slump?) (stagger?) into the New Year. And what a year it will be, right? Because everything is going so well (!).
Or rather, all seems well because we can play some Fancy Miss Nancy tunes all we like. As for today's Nancy, you know how I love live performances, and in this Fanciful Nancyful Cheerful Exclusive! from 1965, she sounds like butter-mixed-with-honey-mixed with-hot sauce-mixed-with-heaven. I can't think of a single vocalist working today who's capable of nailing it with such spectacular results.
Why? Because she has the uncanny ability to blend raw emotion with astonishing technical skill no matter the song. A reviewer of one of her live performances put it best, I think, referring to her as "kind of a double agent" who could undercut pop sentiment with cool pragmatism, or enunciate words demurely ("with diction that could sharpen a pencil") at one moment, then dive into pitch-bending abandon the next. She's blissfully unpredictable and this must-have album presents her in all her glory.
When I stumbled upon the next two LPs, I was confused. I'd never heard of Jean Hoffman or Becky Hall, so I looked them up on the Internet. And found virtually nothing. Whaaaaat?
Surely I was in error. I had to be. So I sucked back an espresso and dove into the Internet again. And again. And again. And again.
Cut to several hours and I was flummoxed, I was flustered, I was all-out fatoozled!
Let's start with singer Jean Hoffman. A talented multi-instrumentalist as a youth, she founded several jazz bands in her native Portland, eventually tried her hand at vocals and made a name for herself in the San Francisco club circuit. In 1957, she recorded her sole LP, "Jean Hoffman Sings & Swings." It's aptly titled, and not for nothing did she marry a drummer; dig her clipped, syncopated rhythms in "Bluebird of Happiness" and her hepcat cool in "Yes, Sir, That's My Baby." And, yes, that's her playing piano in all the tracks. I wish I knew more about her.
If there's a paucity of info about Jean on the Internet, there's virtually nothing to be found about Becky Hall, whose own name wasn't even included on the cover of her LP of tunes made famous by Bessie Smith, and, yes, it's a Bouncy Becky Cheerful Exclusive! The record company was probably trying for a bait-and-switch - "Look, fool! It's the new Bessie LP!" - but even if you bought it on that pretext, it's hard to imagine you'd be disappointed. Becky doesn't try to imitate Bessie signature bluesy sound, but instead, gives it her own barrelhouse swing and growl.
By the way, have you been watching the mini-series "My Brilliant Friend?" I'm mesmerized - and I haven't even finished it yet (or read the books), so no spoilers in the comments below or you're in big trubs!
In between episodes, I've been enjoying the soundtrack, a luscious and moody score which works quite well as a stand-alone experience, thankyouverymuch, even if you haven't watched the show. The composer is Max Richter, who's "a post-minimalist contemporary classical composer," or so I'm told.
"You're kidding me. Really? That big? Stop it!" Or so said The Secret Song File when informed about her blind date's attributes for New Year's Eve. And he lived up to the reviews, though he was promptly kicked to the curb just after sunrise, because playthings tend to look worse for wear in the daylight. #weveallbeenthere. Also living up to reviews? A certain Italian multi-instrumentalist who's just released her first, um, bubbly (*ahem*hint*) CD.
It's a kicky mix of electro groves and ear-worm hummable tunes, along with "what's that?" instrumentation. Yet there's gravitas behind these tracks, and they linger after you've heard them. It's a perfect pick-me-up for New Year's Day, maybe an hour or so after your hangover has subsided (before then, blessed silence, please, or there'll be violence).
This year will be better, right? Right?!
Welcome the New Year in the comments, if'n you like!
