West Coast Vocalists 1953-61

Faye, Frances; Pena, Ralph; Russ Garcia Wigville Band; Polk, Lucy Ann; Auld, Georgie; Kusby, Ed; Pepper, Art; Rosolino, Frank; London, Julie; Dorough, Bob; Southern, Jeri; Murphy, Mark; Dulong, Jack; Littman, Peter; Kenton, Stan; Richards, Emil; Bennett, Max; Bulkin, Sid; Whiting, Margaret; Williamson, Stu; Porcino, Al; Manne, Shelly; Tormé, Mel; Hodges, Johnny; Perkins, Tony; Shank, Bud; Brown, Lawrence; Hollywood String Quartet, The; Bennett, Betty; Page, Patti; Holman, Bill; Jimmy Rowles Orchestra; Leve

“One of the most important ways to express cool jazz was to sing, and cool singers came out of the same bands, both large and small, that produced their instrumental counterparts. As an art form, however, the vo-cool style did not reach a point of fruitful maturity until the mid-fifties, roughly the itme when cool instrumental jazz relinquished its critical and popular following to hard bop. In 1954, trumpeter Chet Baker recorded his first collection of vocals, and the following year Capitol released June Christy’s first and finest album, “Something Cool.” The following January, Mel Torme began his remarkable series of albums with arranger Marty Paich- which led to the masterpiece of this era, 1960s “Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley.” Will Friedwald is one of the rare people to have noticed the phenomenon. It was quite incidental, and also short lived- it lasted less than a decade- although its consequences were considerable. Friedwald gave a fair definition of it when he wrote, “Cool singers choose to imply rather than directly state. They prefer to understate, treating a song like an impressionist painter treats a subject, suggesting its outline with a brush stroke here, a patch of color there, letting the listener put it all together in his own head. Listeners can never be passive spectators here; they have to work at understanding these sounds.”

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