"People don't know me in the sticks," quipped Greta Keller, the elegant, Vienna-born diva who was so popular during her astonishing two year run at New York City's Waldorf-Astoria that they named their club room after her, calling it (of course) The Waldorf Keller.
And, yes, I know what you're about to say: "But isn't she just like Marlene Dietrich?" To a certain degree, yes - in their youth, they worked together singing and dancing in Vienna - but then Marlene always credited Greta for helping in the development of her own singing voice.
Greta cut lots of LPs in her lifetime and one of my favorites is "Music in a Midnight Mood" released in 1956. If you already have a Greta LP, I'll bet it's this one, and if you don't, you must give it a listen while lounging on your balcony, gazing at the Parisian skyline and sipping a flute of Dubonnet and Champagne. Because it's just that good. I swear.
Meanwhile, look out, ladies, Carrie's 'bout to fly!
If you're reading this blog in Europe, you might have heard of jazz and blues vocalist Carrie Smith; in the U.S., probably not. It's kinda like the name Kylie: when people in Europe hear that name, they think of this; in the U.S., it's unfortunately this. Anywaytheresonlyonerealkylie, like many black jazz greats, Carrie got her start singing in her church choir in Georgia in the 1950s, then launched a solo and stage career, including Broadway's "Black and Blue," a career that surely would have been more successful if she were born a decade or so earlier.
"Fine & Mellow," a Cheerfully Charming Carrie Exclusive! for you and yours, is straight-up vocal jazz at its best. Accompanied by the venerable Loonis McGlohan Trio, Carrie performs Billie Holiday and Hoagy Carmichael classics with a freeing, unfussy approach, one that shakes the cobwebs loose and gives them a magnificent, pulsing immediacy. Her version of "Willow Weep For Me" is, I think, one for the ages.
Does anyone still wear a hat (besides this beloved old snapper)?
Why, yes, they do, they really do. Case in point, Laura Fygi, an Amsterdam-born singer with style to burn. I hadn't heard of her before stumbling upon her 2009 LP "Songs From Movies And Musicals," but I'm definitely a fan now. Previously a Euro disco diva, she now performs jazz in multiple languages (including Chinese) (!). And in this wonderfully eccentric LP, her silky vocals bring a wide range of movie and stage songs to life - everything from "Muppet Movie" tunes to Cole Porter stage classics. There's no one else like her right now and I really-really heart her for that.
Who do I not heart? Robert Wagner, a flimsy actor who created a minor stir at the onset of his career given his pretty, magaziny looks.
Fun fact: in the 1953 opus "Beneath The 12-Mile Reef," his character dies by drowning in the ocean. Let that sink in for a moment.
The movie wasn't much good - save a few eye-popping underwater scenes shot in CinemaScope - but it does have one of Bernard Herrmann's most delicious scores.
At once old-fashioned and avant-guard, the swooping harps and strings all but plunge you underwater - and that's just the opening track in a score that defiantly stands apart from its screen origins. In fact, it's probably one of Herrman's best (and strangely unheralded) works, predating the near-hysterical rhythms of "Marnie" and expanding on the iterative, pre-Philip Glass-esque strings of "North By Northwest." Forget the movie. This is a Herrmann show unlike any other.
You say "tomato," I say say "toma-toe," you say "aminus," I say...what, exactly? Only Carl Jung knows, and now that she's listening to a spanking new electro CD by a famed Brit, The Secret Song File knows, too! Wheeeee! Okay, so that's not the best hint, but maybe this one will do: the Brit in question is a member of a group that combines "radio" and "head," which, golly, sounds like a sex act The Secret Song File would just love to try.
Speaking of Carl Jung, can we lay the blame on him for the New Age movement? Please? I so-o-o-o need to find a guilty party somewhere, especially since this snake-oil saleswoman is infecting our political waters.
Which is enough to make my anima go kersplat.
Go on, express your unconsciousness in the comments! You know you want to!
