[Dixielandjazz] Doris Day - jazz singer or non-jazz singer

[Ken Mathieson]

Hi All,
As regular listmates will know I'm not keen on pigeon-holing styles or 
performers - jazz has always been *all the one music* to me. Over the 
years I've worked with lots of singers and very few of them were natural 
improvisers in the way that jazz instrumentalists have to be if they're 
going to interpret, deconstruct and re-assemble tunes in a new fashion. 
That requires knowledge of harmony, either learned or intuitive, and 
most singers who think of themselves as jazz singers simply can't or 
won't attempt this - the ice is too thin out there!

Having said that, I've enjoyed working with singers who don't improvise, 
but who sing in tune and in time and phrase sympathetically with the 
backing. Given this, I think the best definition of *jazz singer* I've 
heard is *a singer that jazz musicians enjoy working with.* I still 
enjoy working with non-improvising singers and view the chance to hear 
or play with improvisers like Rebecca Kilgore or Cecile McLorin Salvant 
as being the icing on the cake. My favourite put-down of a gushing 
self-important *jazz singer* was delivered by a friend of mine, a very 
fine Scottish bass player, but no names, no pack drill! He was outside a 
club at the interval trying to restore his sanity, when he was 
approached by the said *jazz singer* who gushed at him about how 
wonderful it was to sing jazz and how great all the singers had been in 
the first half of the open-mic *jazz singers* night. When she finally 
stopped for breath, he said *you don't sing jazz; you sing cabaret. You 
only think it's jazz because the money's sh*te!*

Cheers,
Ken