Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
It's no secret that three of my favorite female vocalists are Julie London, Sarah Vaughan and Chris Connor. Yesterday, I spent time listening to Chris with Stan Kenton in the spring of 1953 and Sy Oliver in December of that year, especially her electrifying tracks on the road with Kenton. Prior to Kenton, Chris in 1952 recorded as a solo singer with Jerry Wald and then Claude Thornhill. She had already been with Thornhill in 1949 as part of his Snowflakes vocal group. Much of her 1952 work was good but unfortunately she was framed either by Wald's rinky-dink arrangements or Thornhill's time-for-bed charts. The excitement picked up dramatically when Chris was provoked by Kenton's and Oliver's brass sections.
Here's Chris Connor with Kenton in 1953 on Jeepers Creepers...
Here's Chris with Kenton on Bill Russo's arrangement of All About Ronnie...
Here's Chris with Kenton on Russo's chart for I Get a Kick Out of You...
Here's Chris with Kenton on Lullaby in Rhythm...
And here's she is with Sy Oliver's band on Everything I Love...
JazzWax note: To read my multipart interview with Chris Connor, go here.
Used with permission by Marc Myers
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