Making the Case for a New Era in Singing

The ‘80s and ‘90s may have been the guitar decades for jazz (along with the return of bebop), but the first few years of the new century are beginning to shape up as a new era in jazz singing. It’s astounding, in fact, to see the virtually nonstop flow of recordings from vocalists of every style and manner. And they are arriving not just from U.S.-based performers, but from other parts of the world as well.

Anna Lauvergnac, for example, might logically be expected to be French in origin. But she is an Italian singer from Trieste, has studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and recorded half the tracks on her first album, “Anna Lauvergnac” (* * 1/2, TCB, the Montreux Jazz label), in Brooklyn. Most appealing is her desire to cruise the cutting edges of jazz vocal performance. The result is a dark album with barely a moment of up-tempo liveliness (the sole exception is Andy Bey’s subtly rhythmic accompaniment on “Don’t You Know I Care?”).

Lauvergnac’s vocals twist around and through fascinating accompaniments: the oddly vocalized flute playing of Wolfgang Puschnig on “Corcovado”; Peter Bernstein’s lush solo guitar on “You Must Believe in Spring”; and a horn-like duet with tenor saxophonist Johannes Enders on “Spring Is Here.” Praised by Sheila Jordan, Lauvergnac shares that veteran jazz artist’s willingness to risk unusual musical efforts, regardless of the potential consequences. Everything doesn’t work as well as it should, and Lauvergnac’s otherwise attractive voice occasionally falters into distracting lapses of pitch. But she is clearly an unusually compelling work in progress. It will be interesting to see how her singing evolves--assuming she can manage to clear up the various glitches in her technique without sacrificing her insistent artistic adventurousness.

Nanette Natal may be U.S.-based, but her career has been elusive enough for her to be considered a virtual outlander. This despite her presence in the music world as a folkie in the ‘60s and ‘70s, a participant in Manhattan’s downtown loft scene in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, a vocal teacher, and owner of a record company that has released five of her albums. The sixth, “Is Love Enough?” (* * * , Benyo Records), underscores the question of why Natal has received so little attention.

Working with first-class accompaniment--including pianist Richard Wyands and fluegelhornist Warren Vache--Natal sings a program of tunes aimed, she says, “at presenting various aspects of love in a deeply emotional way.” She succeeds admirably, her singing occasionally reminiscent of the sensual but virtuosic stylings of Cleo Laine. In other passages--the title track, for example--the intensity of her songwriting and melodrama of her delivery call up memories of Laura Nyro. Her versatility refuses to allow her to settle into any single groove, however, and the interpretations range widely, from a percussion-accompanied romp through “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” to a tender reading of her own “Sometimes,” enhanced by Vache’s elegant counter lines.

Jeanie Bryson brings an impressive genetic background to her jazz vocalizing: Her mother is singer Connie Bryson and her father was the legendary bebop trumpet master Dizzy Gillespie. “Deja Blue” (* * * , Koch Jazz) is Bryson’s first release in more than five years. Working in an empathetic setting provided by such players as bassist Christian McBride and vibes player Steve Nelson (with special guest Etta Jones on “It’s So Nice to Have a Man Around the House”), she sings with the loose-jointed sense of swing and warmly seductive sound that are her essential stocks in trade. The album is enhanced by her unusual selections, which reach from two originals and pop-derived numbers such as Phoebe Snow’s “Poetry Man” and Todd Rundgren’s “Hello It’s Me” to Gillespie’s “Con Alma.”

Laverne Butler is another singer who likes to surround herself with first-rate backing. On “A Foolish Thing to Do” (* * * , MaxJazz), her accompanying group is a virtual all-star assemblage: tenor saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman, alto saxophonist Steve Wilson, trumpeter Terell Stafford, pianist Bruce Barth, drummer Victor Lewis and bassist Darryl Hall. It’s hard to go wrong with that sort of lineup in the studio, and Butler is in fine form. Like Bryson, she generates an easy-flowing groove and a tenderly insinuating timbre. It may not be envelope-stretching music, but it’s hard to resist the warm embrace of Butler’s style.

Three other new albums illustrate some of the options being taken by jazz and jazz-oriented male singers. Kurt Elling’s “Flirting With Twilight” (* * 1/2, Blue Note) is the vocally gymnastic performer’s apparent effort to demonstrate his capacity to deal with standard material in communicative fashion. But the very first notes of his opening track, the old Glenn Miller theme song “Moonlight Serenade,” reveal the scope of the problem. Starting on a low-note phrase, he wanders vocally and lyrically, with the tune not really finding its focus until the middle of Laurence Hobgood’s piano solo.

Other pieces--even something as presumably well-centered as the Neil Hefti favorite for Count Basie, “Lil’ Darlin’ “--are deeply tinged with manner rather than interpretation, with attitude rather than insight. Occasionally his readings suggest the potential for touching material that is not completely colored by his personality. But even here--”Not While I’m Around” is a good example--he rushes through phrases in pursuit of the long notes at the end. Elling is an enormously talented artist who still hasn’t discovered the knack, so essential to the art of singers such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Joe Williams, of becoming one with the song, rather than vice versa.

Music executive Gary Lemel continues his quest for credibility as a mainstream pop-jazz vocalist with “Lost in Your Arms” (* * , Atlantic). His choice of material and his musical settings are flawless. The program begins with the lovely Carolyn Leigh-Cy Coleman ballad “It Amazes Me” and concludes with Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Imagination,” with stops at Irving Berlin’s “I Got Lost in Her Arms” and Stephen Sondheim’s “I Remember.” All this marvelous material has been arranged beautifully, in everything from trio settings to string ensembles, by pianist Billy Childs. Working in such a warm musical embrace, Lemel sounds fine, in part because he remains close to the melody, staying well within the modest but gently appealing limits of his vocal skills.

Both the style and the substance of actor-singer James Darren’s “Because of You” (* * , Concord) have the sound of the ‘50s and ‘60s--the Sinatra and Bennett ‘50s and ‘60s, to be precise. Darren is unhesitating in his devotion to the bright swing and the sensitive balladry of those crooners. Arranger-conductors Patrick Williams, Ray Ellis, Bob Krogstadt and others have provided orchestral settings that further solidify the style in a group of numbers mostly tracing to the Sinatra/Bennett songbooks. Darren delivers an amiable set of performances, attractive primarily for the reflective sheen of the ‘50s and ‘60s rather than for their own inner musical glow.