Madi

"Nobody listens to modern jazz," sang Sheryl Crow in 1993. I can take it a step further, y'all-no one even knows what vocal jazz is. I was trolling internet radio stations on Sunday, trying to find a mix of vocalists to listen to while I did the dishes. I don't know why I didn't expect it, but every station I clicked on that purported to play jazz vocals was either *shudder* smooth jazz (sorry smoovjazz fans) or cabaret or instrumental jazz. WTF? I ended up popping LH&R Everybody's Bopping into my system. What is so obscure about jazz vocals?

I know that there are popular vocalists in the public eye. I get that there's a big grey area for most folks, who lump Norah Jones and Jane Monheit into the jazz genre. For them, if a singer sings a standard from the American Songbook with a rhythm section, it's jazzy. To me, if they cain't improvise, t'aint jazz. Pretty girls singing pretty lyrics in a pretty way may sell lots of records, but what about that element of ugly that makes jazz real? The bead of sweat tracing down Ella's cheek. The passionate groaning during Keith Jarrett's piano solo. The scatting that leaps sometimes too far in its dance of originality. Dizzy's distended cheeks. At some point, somebody's gotta do something that says, this music is pouring out of my soul, my body, and in that body is blood, salt, tears, sinew, and all manner of hot and slimy mess that keeps me alive. That's jazz.

So what is it about vocal jazz that keeps it from getting out there? Why are Backstreet Boys for everyone and Singers Unlimited only for the initiated? What's so unappealing about a singer on a microphone who knows what she's doing with a whole bunch of cats who know what they're doing? I worry that, living in Chicago, I'm in touch with the largest population of folks who dig jazz vocalists to be found in the US (besides NY and LA), and that's a small number of folk. I guess I ask these questions because even the most limited interests can be spaded up from the underground by a quick Google, but I still don't turn up a big vocal jazz community outside of educational institutions. I can while away my weekend reading Vehicle Voltron fan fic, but I can't find one radio station that will play just jazz vocalists on my itunes. Sigh. Don't tell me I have to start podcasting Karrin Allyson, Kurt Elling, Luciana Souza, Nancy King, Joe Williams, Shirley Horn, and all those other hard-workin', everlovin' singers, living and otherwise, if I want to hear them. I've got too much to do as it is!