General Artists Corporation/General Artists Corporation - Gloria Lynne is seen posing for a portrait in this undated publicity image.
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If ever a song captured the allure of chanteuse Gloria Lynne at her peak, it was the improbable jazz-pop war horse “Birth of the Blues.”
Backed by a romping trio on her 1961 album “I’m Glad There Is You,” she transformed the tune into an electrifying tour de force. It began with a teasing gospel refrain before blasting completely unforced into the stratosphere, as Ms. Lynne remained in complete command of the performance.
The jazz critic Leonard Feather wrote that Ms. Lynne “shook it apart, disintegrating it and reintegrating it in revitalized shape.” The full-throated interpretation was all the more impressive because of her ability, on other albums, to channel great tenderness on torchy ballads such as “I Wish You Love,” which became a signature number, and “I’m Glad There Is You.”
Ms. Lynne, the jazz singer whose expressive style made her a staple of nightclubs from New York to Las Vegas in the 1950s and 1960s and who enjoyed a resurgence of critical recognition in the 1990s, died Oct. 15 at a hospital in Newark. She was 83.
The cause was a heart attack, said her son, Richard Alleyne, a rock arranger who works under the name P.J. Allen.
Ms. Lynne grew up in Harlem, where at 15 she won an amateur-night show at New York’s Apollo Theater. She was befriended by singers Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, both of whom helped guide her career at pivotal moments.
She made a jaunty and promising album debut in 1958 with “Miss Gloria Lynne,” backed by a band that included trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edison, saxophonist Sam Taylor, organist Wild Bill Davis and guitarist Kenny Burrell.
Her other notable albums of the early 1960s included “I’m Glad There Is You,” with the Earl May Trio; “At the Las Vegas Thunderbird,” backed by the Herman Foster Trio; and “Gloria, Marty and Strings,” with a big band arranged by Marty Paich. She also wrote lyrics to the song “Watermelon Man” by Herbie Hancock and “All Day Long” by Burrell, both of which she recorded.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/jazz-chanteuse-gloria-lynne-dies-at-83/2013/10/18/223c08c4-3808-11e3-ae46-e4248e75c8ea_story.html
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