Phonology

    When listening to music, I regularly go through short lived obsessions. As a person of "catholic" tastes, these may take the form of some obscure electronica, rare disco, morbid choral music or something even more indescribable. I often have a few obsessions on the go at once. At the moment I'm still enjoying female vocal jazz more than anything, (apart from my obsession with the solo works of David Sylvian, and Caetano Veloso's amazing Cucurruccu Paloma).

    So, about these jazz ladies, all amazing, all unique, and all very different. This week's number one is Betty Carter . Until a few weeks ago I'd never even heard of her and now she's top of the pile. Listening to her has taught me a whole lot of things I didn't even know I needed to learn. The thing that amazes me most about her is her incredible tone. Great sounds in her voice, like an alto sax. The only other person I've heard sing like that is Joni Mitchell, on Herbie Hancock's Gershwin's World . There's a whole lot of breath in her voice, but it's not weak or tired sounding. It's full, and round and reedy and rich, and unearthly strange at times. Her phrasing sounds a little lazy and late, but quite obviously she's in control of the whole shebang. What she's inspired me most with, though, is her pitching. Listening to her interpretation of Lonely House is like listening to an alien sing. The woman is howling, she doesn't pitch one single note straight, and yet it sounds absolutely amazing.

    Blossom Dearie . With a name like that, what do you expect? Yes she's cute and kooky and absolutely adorable, but she gets away with it. Despite the fact that she often sounds like a girly little girl, she stamps her mark on it and makes it her own. Other than that I love her songs, (and her piano playing too). Ridiculous lyrics and knowing references maybe, but like her song says, She's Hip.

    Lazy, bluesy, and sultry, with a lot of breath in her voice, we have Miss Anita O'Day . When you listen to her voice in isolation, cutting out the instrumentation, there's something completely without ego there, a naturalness you very rarely hear, even in jazz. Even in her later recordings, there's an unaffected girlishness in her voice. And she has fine taste in hats.