Greetings Manor hors, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday! Did you know? Today is National Bubble Wrap Day, so if you have some, by all means enjoy popping those air-filled plastic nubbins. Pop-pop-pop! Such fun. Also fun, a lively jazz and Broadway songstress who was brought to new heights in 1949 after being spotted performing at Greenwich Village's The Cinderella Club (where Billie Holiday and Thelonious Monk frequently gigged) by none other than Mae West, who promptly cast her in her Broadway revival of "Diamond Lil."
That's quite a gal to give your career a boost. And tonight, at the Manor's exclusive "Canyon Yodeling" club and taco joint, DJ Li'l Scratch will be spinning her irresistible tunes. How irresistible? Let's just say that Frank Sinatra himself called her "the world's greatest saloon singer."
Yes, it's Sylvia Syms (not to be confused with the British actor with a similar name), who was born in Brooklyn in 1917 and discovered Manhattan's treasure trove of jazz and blues clubs by the time she was a teenager. In fact, it was Billie Holiday who first took young Sylvia under her wing and began training her how to best use her gifts. In other words, Sylvia learned from the best, and soon after became one of the best, next making a name for herself as a headliner at the renown home of bebop, Kelly's Stable, then Michael's Pub, as well as The Village Vanguard and Cafe Carlyle, the latter two where she returned for sold-out engagements over a five decade stretch.
Her butter-smooth crooning made audiences swoon. And her ability to "communicate the truths of life with brutal realism," as The New York Times once noted, comes through today more than ever, maybe because so many modern vocalists over-sing - as if to prove they have the pipes - which means that any personal emotional commitment to the lyric is wiped away. "Then there are artists like Sylvia Syms," said The New York Times in a latter review, "who sing from where they live, with only a thin protective shield separating them from the raw emotions of their material."
It's no wonder that Frank Sinatra was a major fan and close personal friend. He even produced and conducted one of her albums, "Syms by Sinatra." If all singers studied Sylvia, he once said, "the world would be a better place." As if that weren't enough, she recorded several LPs, found time to continue performing on Broadway, and on occasion, starred in movies, like "Victim," a still-head-turning 1961 thriller in which a closeted gay man is targeted for blackmail.
When you listen to Sylvia, her deceptively low-key style sneaks up on you - and before you know it, you're cradled in her arms, experiencing joy, sorrow, and anything else she wants you to feel. In her 1967 LP, "For Once In My Life" (which has been gorgeously restored), she's at the peak of her powers. Listen as she slyly toys with the song, "Games That Lovers Play." You can hear the rest of the album right here.
Sylvia gave it her all till the very end - literally. In 1992 at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room, she finished her set, then her encore performance, and stood to rapturous applause. After which she collapsed on stage, her life ending at age 74, her career having spanned an astonishing 50 years.
What are you listening to this week? DJ Li'l Scratch wants to know.
Till next time...purr, bitches, purr! 🐾
Photo Credits: William Gottlieb/U.S. Library of Congress; Getty Images
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