[Dixielandjazz] Vocalese on "That Was the Week That Was"

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

I'm sure the performance was intended as straight, probably as the musical interlude not uncommon on comedy shows, as they would be called in the USA.  The musicians might have been jazzmen gigging --I was startled to see very recognisably the still not middle-aged English trumpeter Guy Barker got up in 1930s band costume in an episode of Agatha Christie's POIROT on British TV.  A protege and pupil of Clark Terry, Barker has composed, performed and broadcast actual tributes to a sequence of heroes of his early period with  twisted lips (as he described what his mouth did before it was Clarkly Terryfied into an embouchure)  such as Rex and Red ....  

But Vocalese is FUN and cleverness, and any example of  extreme cleverness which is consciously performed ought to include an aspect of self-deflation.  The singer in question was -emerging after a nose-j......  minor cosmetic surgery and a Summerisation of over- or aroundhead plumage, and probably also had had to work hard on the business. I'd imagine the quickfire of the vocal also consonant (handy word) with the topical patter delivered as other songs about politics. Bizarrely when I turned the TV on after sending the mails I found a documentary about Britain in the 1960s and some footage of Acker Bilk with band, and even a clip from the soap his composition, renamed from its original "Jenny" for his daughter, prefaced as theme tune. I wonder whether Acker received a fee for the use of the recording as soundtrack of a delicate little piece which features a shore and a young lady wearing no more than she came into this world in.  
Although everything was there for a bath I don't remember any soap when I was shown that short on-line, 

innocent times!Robert R. Calder 


 
      From: Charles Suhor <csuhor at zebra.net>
 To: ROBERT R. CALDER <serapion at btinternet.com> 
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
 Sent: Saturday, 12 March 2016, 20:04
 Subject: Vocalese on "That Was the Week That Was"
   
It’s really interesting that the singer appears to be satirizing something that was then super-hip, the genre of “vocalese.” Wardell Gray of course was the tenor man whose work on “Twisted” was put to lyrics earlier in the Annie Ross version. Bette Midler did a cover on it later, no where near as skilled IMO. I think King Pleasure started it all with Moody’s”Moody Mood for Love,” which James Moody took to court with an intellectual property or plagiarism suit. 

I take it that the vocalist’s stiff rendering of the chart and Gray solo were intended as a put-on rather than the best she could do with the material. Or maybe I’m mis-hearing her interpretation. What’s your take on it? The band is playing very good modern jazz, so that argues against the idea of satire. It’s clear in any case that the vocalese genre calls for great musicianship-- control of intonation and verbal articulation on high-speed phrases. One of my favorites is the Lambert-Hendricks-Ross fast-clip rendering of Basie’ “Cloudburst,” below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFsH1ZuR3-I

Charlie



> On Mar 12, 2016, at 12:56 PM, ROBERT R. CALDER <serapion at btinternet.com> wrote:
> 
> Stranger --- 13.30 into the following the critique of the now late Mr. Paramor can be seen 
> 
> Bejabers, now I look at it on YouTube there are even references to jazz 
> 
> and a song on the line of a solo from Wardell Gray.  
> 
> Of whom I had that early in my life never heard. This comes immediately after the cartoonist
> 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG3Uz4srwqo
> 
> 
> That Was The Week That Was TW3 (2of3) TX 23:15Sat29Dec1962 BBC
> 
> 
> 
> Robert R. Calder
> 
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