Singers Find Many New Modes of Expression

Jazz seems to be everywhere these days. Popping up in the dozens of reissue packages keyed to the turning century, in the growing swing dance movement, in the samples of hip-hop and rap artists, in the arrival of such talented international jazz artists as bassist Richard Bona and saxophonist David Sanchez, and in burgeoning secondary school and college music programs. Beyond the instrumentalists, there are the vocalists, who have been arriving in such profusion that the ‘90s are beginning to look like a jazz singers’ decade.

Here’s a cross section of some new vocal recordings illustrating the multitude of ways jazz singers are finding to express their ideas.

Take Luciana Souza, for example. Sa~o Paulo certainly can claim an important role in the evolution of music in Brazil. But it’s not exactly the location one might pick as the source for a gifted, new young jazz vocalist. Yet Souza, who comes from a musical background--her parents were songwriters who wrote material for Elis Regina and Joa~o Gilberto, among others--was recording by the time she was a teenager, and subsequently came to Boston’s Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship.

Her debut recording, “An Answer to Your Silence” (NYC Records, *** 1/2), reveals how effectively she has blended the Brazilian music of her youth with the rhythms of the active Boston jazz scene. A talented composer, she has written a set of songs in which she interacts with a talented quintet--pianist David Kikoski, saxophonist George Garzone, bassist John Lockwood and drummer Ignacio Berroa--essentially as one of the musicians. On her own “Muita Bobeira,” her melody soars above the rhythm with the intense articulation of a jazz line; on her “3 to 2 in Overtime,” “Say No to You” and the title track, she sings her crisp, attractive phrases wordlessly amid the ensemble. And, affirming her Brazilian roots, she adds lovely versions of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Bonita” and, especially, a passionate, darkly woven “Retrato em Branco e Preto.” Then, as a final bonus, she closes with a strikingly un-Brazilian version of “Embraceable You.” All of it is clearly the work of a potentially important new jazz arrival.

No one ever accused Kansas City’s Karrin Allyson of being Brazilian--or French, for that matter. But her new recording, “From Paris to Rio” (Concord, ***), presents Allyson singing a far-reaching collection of Portuguese- and French-language songs, climaxing, unpredictably enough, with a song, “That Day,” based on Italian composer Ennio Morricone’s theme from “Cinema Paradiso,” with English lyrics by Stan Dunn.

The album is a tour de force for Allyson, whose French singing--on songs such as “Sous Le Ciel De Paris,” “Ne Me Quitte Pas” and “Plasir d’Amour”--is first-rate, capturing the traditional cabaret style and framing it with jazz phrasing. Although her Portuguese doesn’t quite match her French, the renderings of “O Pato” and “O Barquinho” simmer with brightly buoyant rhythmic articulation. A wordless version of Bud Powell’s “Parisian Thoroughfare” allows Allyson to briefly exercise her scat singing, and an unusual arrangement of Villa Lobos’ “Aria” from “Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5” works better than one might expect. Allyson’s only misstep, in fact, is a peculiarly overheated English and Portuguese interpretation of Jobim’s “Inutil Paisagem” (Useless Landscape) that simply misses the point of the song.

The remarkable return of singer Teri Thornton has been well documented: the winning of the Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition award in 1998 after decades of virtual obscurity, personal problems and illness. Her first new album since the ‘60s, the ironically titled “I’ll Be Easy to Find” (Verve, ***), provides firm evidence as to why Thornton dominated the competition. Her big, dark-sounding voice is a throwback to an era dominated by Sarah Vaughan, when the prevalent jazz vocal style was comparable to the tenor saxophone playing of Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, filled with lush tones, a wide vibrato and a strong sense of paraphrase.

But Thornton has a more direct connection with the blues, amply apparent on her “Knee Deep in the Blues” and “Salty Mama,” and the edgy, blues-drenched tones and highly individualistic vocal manipulations she uses in these pieces are what give the stamp of originality to her sound. Traces of Vaughan may course through her version of “Somewhere in the Night,” and there are other spots where the voice-as-instrument approach of Al Jarreau comes to mind, but in each case Thornton’s originality perseveres, as the music is filtered through her own musical perspective. One can only marvel that such originality has sustained itself through all the down periods in her career, and be thankful that she has returned to action.

The roots of jazz have drawn sustenance from gospel music from the very beginning. But the reverse--gospel music as a jazz expression--has not been especially common. Singer Ruth Naomi Floyd is a rare exception. Her third album, “Walk and Not Be Faint” (Contour Records, ***), is another entry in her extraordinary efforts to create jazz settings for her Christian spiritual beliefs. It includes a group of songs--many composed by Floyd--based on biblical settings from, among others, the books of John, Isaiah and Jeremiah. In addition, there are original works exploring Floyd’s desire “to address certain social concerns that I believe ask questions about the quality of our collective humanity.”

This may sound like an arena far removed from the more familiar jazz environs, but the quality of the music and, especially, Floyd’s solid vocal skills make the album consistently rewarding. Any doubts about her jazz skills are thoroughly dispelled by her lovely, musically insightful versions of Billy Strayhorn’s “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing” and Abbey Lincoln and Mal Waldron’s “Straight Ahead.”

Interestingly, despite the biblical associations and the spiritual-like quality of some of the pieces, Floyd’s vocals steer well clear of the overdone gospel-based techniques dominating so much of pop singing. At heart, she is clearly a jazz artist using her creative vehicle of choice to express her profound beliefs. In the process, and in the company of some first-rate jazz instrumentalists, she has produced a set of fascinating performances. (“Walk and Not Be Faint” and Floyd’s earlier albums are available on the Internet at https://www.contourrecords.com.)