[Dixielandjazz] Jim Beebe vs. Lee Wiley

[David W. Littlefield]

At 10:37 AM 10/20/2003 +0100, john petters wrote:
>Lee was doing the songbooks about 15 years before Ella and to my ears she
>has more warmth and emotion than Ella. There is no scat - just a good
>reading of the songs with wonderful jazz time. She belongs alongside Conee
>Boswell and Mildred Bailey in my book. Dig 'em out Jim.
>Keep swinging

In most of the songbooks, Ella is basically just singing them straight,
with verses, by the way. I've had the feeling that this might have been the
basic purpose of the songbooks, not so much the performances. Ella does
jazz up the Ellington albums, at least the small band ones. 

I really hate the arrangements on the albums with Buddy Bregman--they don't
seem to have any relevance to what she's singing...

I'll admit that I haven't enjoyed Lee's voice, because it seems so dry to
my ears. I'll have a chance to revisit her when I finish listening to the
Mosaic Condon Mob box--the last CD is all Wiley. I listened to most of the
box this week end while driving to/from Massachusetts (banjo festival).
Lotsa fun stuff in it.

BTW If someone wants the Jimmy Dorsey "Dorseyland" CD (Definitive DRCD11205)
I'll sell it for $14.00 incl. postage. Those tracks are in the Mosaic box,
don't need 2 copies...


--Sheik
David W. Littlefield, Piano, Guitar, Banjo, Washboard
Compiler: "Dixieland FB" (Bb, C); "30S-40S FB (Bb, C)"; "Gig Book"
http://cpcug.org/user/dwlit (Dixie playalong list, other tools)  
http://americanmusiccaravan.com (Fake Books, Chord Books, Bands)
eMail: dwlit at cpcug.org