The founder of vocalese (putting recorded solos to words), Eddie Jefferson did not have a great voice, but he was one of the top jazz singers, getting the maximum out of what he had. He started out working as a tap dancer, but by the late '40s was singing and writing lyrics. A live session from 1949 (released on Spotlite) finds him pioneering... [+] Read More

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The genius of vocalese, Jon Hendricks' ability to write coherent lyrics to the most complex recorded improvisations is quite notable, as were his contributions to the classic jazz vocal group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. Hendricks grew up in Toledo, OH, singing on local radio. After a period in the military (1942-1946), he studied law but... [+] Read More

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Along with Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure was one of the early masters of vocalese -- a style in which lyrics are written and sung to the solos of jazz instrumentalists. Although Pleasure cited Jefferson as his main influence and said that Jefferson was embracing vocalese before him, Pleasure's sax-like phrasing and scat singing proved equally... [+] Read More

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Les McCann reached the peak of his career at the 1968 Montreux Jazz Festival, recording "Compared to What" and "Cold Duck Time" for Atlantic (Swiss Movement) with Eddie Harris and Benny Bailey. Although he has done some worthwhile work since then, much of it has been anti-climatic.

Les McCann first gained some fame in 1956 when he... [+] Read More

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New York native Lynn Ahrens is, along with partner Stephen Flaherty, one of the most successful writers of modern musical theater. After graduating from college with a degree in journalism, Ahrens spent several years in advertising, where she would have her first brush with the fine art of balancing theme with words and music as a writer for the... [+] Read More

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Mark Murphy often seemed to be the only true jazz singer of his generation. A young, hip, post-bop vocalist, Murphy spent most of his career sticking to the standards -- and often presented radically reworked versions of those standards while many submitted to the lure of the lounge singer -- during the artistically fallow period of the 1970s... [+] Read More

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Songwriter, pianis, and singer Matt Dennis composed hit pop songs for Tommy Dorsey's band and Frank Sinatra during the 1940s and 1950s. Born into a vaudeville family in Seattle, in 1914, Dennis learned how to play the piano at a young age, leading to a job with Horace Heidt while Dennis was still in his teens. He eventually moved to Hollywood,... [+] Read More

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Not unlike his namesake, Luther Allison, pianist Mose Allison has suffered from "categorization problem," given his equally brilliant career. Although his boogie woogie and bebop-laden piano style is innovative and fresh sounding when it comes to blues and jazz, it is as a songwriter that Allison really shines. Allison's songs have been recorded... [+] Read More

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Although rooted in jazz, singer, poet, and activist Oscar Brown, Jr. defied musical categorization throughout his long and eclectic career -- a forerunner of the political consciousness that would become predominant in soul, funk, and hip-hop in the decades to follow, his efforts to exact social change spread across the arts and even into... [+] Read More

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