OPEN POST: Manor Music Monday With Two Forgotten Jazz Songbirds!
Greetings, music sloots, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday, today with two - count 'em, two - wonderful, mostly forgotten jazz songbirds. Yet they're not forgotten by DJ Li'l Scratch, who's lived many lives, as you know, and has seen and heard so much, and in fact was born with a brood of five wee kittens in the smoky backroom of "The Green Mill Jazz Club." But that's a story for another day.
Tonight only at the Manor's "Shuck 'Em and Funk 'Em" after-hours lounge and taqueria, DJ Li' Scratch will be spinning tunes by two chanteuses from the "cool jazz" period in the late 1950s through the early 1960s, or tunes with hushed tones, smooth, steady tempos and complex harmonies. First we have Joy Bryan, the epitome of the All-American girl-next-door, don't you think?
What are you listening to this week? DJ Li'l Scratch wants to know.
Till next time...purr, bitches, purr! 🐾
Photo Credits: Dot Records, Getty Images
Yet looks can be deceiving - and all is not vanilla. Joy was yet another one of those terrific, highly regarded late 1950's-era West Coast jazz songstress ignored by the East Coast elite, and it's a real shame, because she's a unique and very subtle jazz vocalist whose loyal following included some of the best musicians of her day, like renown jazz pianist and arranger Marty Paich. Some compared her to June Christy and Chris Connor, but Joy stands on her own, I think, as one of the better singers from that aforementioned "cool-jazz" era, when understated sophistication reigned supreme.
Born in Indiana, she moved to Hollywood, embarked on a singing career at local nighteries - like The Haig and The Crescendo - then married Lester Koenig, a major jazz-industry figure who founded Contemporary Records, one of the most respected indie jazz labels on the West Coast. She only cut two LPs. Her 1957 album "Sings" is her best, and includes "Round Midnight," which, for its time, was a singular vocal interpretation of the Thelonious Monk classic. And, yes, that's Marty accompanying her on piano.
Born in Indiana, she moved to Hollywood, embarked on a singing career at local nighteries - like The Haig and The Crescendo - then married Lester Koenig, a major jazz-industry figure who founded Contemporary Records, one of the most respected indie jazz labels on the West Coast. She only cut two LPs. Her 1957 album "Sings" is her best, and includes "Round Midnight," which, for its time, was a singular vocal interpretation of the Thelonious Monk classic. And, yes, that's Marty accompanying her on piano.
Onward we go! Who was Marlene Cord? And why did she record only one LP?
It's a question worth asking, because her 1957 album, "I Could Write A Book," reveals an unusually fine vocalist who surely deserved more than one LP outing. But it was not to be.
A native of Pennsylvania, her highly skilled, openhearted delivery belies the fact that she was merely nineteen when her LP was recorded. Initially, she thought of herself as a pianist - particularly enjoying boogie-woogie - and was reputedly quite gifted, but by the time high school rolled around, she'd discovered singing and was already performing on local radio and television shows in Pennsylvania. Just after graduating, she was off and running, booked in jazz clubs throughout the United States and Canada.
But, again, why did she vanish? According to Bill Reed's book "The Last Musical Hurrah," she was yet another victim of the rising onslaught of rock 'n' roll, which, as we know, pretty much destroyed the market for newer jazz songbirds. Later marrying, she ended up waitressing for eighteen years after this LP was recorded for her and her husband's restaurant and never once performed publicly again.
Give her a listen. Her rendition of "I Remember You" is pure jazz enchantment.
A native of Pennsylvania, her highly skilled, openhearted delivery belies the fact that she was merely nineteen when her LP was recorded. Initially, she thought of herself as a pianist - particularly enjoying boogie-woogie - and was reputedly quite gifted, but by the time high school rolled around, she'd discovered singing and was already performing on local radio and television shows in Pennsylvania. Just after graduating, she was off and running, booked in jazz clubs throughout the United States and Canada.
But, again, why did she vanish? According to Bill Reed's book "The Last Musical Hurrah," she was yet another victim of the rising onslaught of rock 'n' roll, which, as we know, pretty much destroyed the market for newer jazz songbirds. Later marrying, she ended up waitressing for eighteen years after this LP was recorded for her and her husband's restaurant and never once performed publicly again.
Give her a listen. Her rendition of "I Remember You" is pure jazz enchantment.
What are you listening to this week? DJ Li'l Scratch wants to know.
Till next time...purr, bitches, purr! 🐾
Photo Credits: Dot Records, Getty Images
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