{"id":1018,"date":"2010-03-17T12:46:55","date_gmt":"2010-03-17T16:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/?p=1018"},"modified":"2010-03-17T12:46:55","modified_gmt":"2010-03-17T16:46:55","slug":"eddie-jefferson-makes-me-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/eddie-jefferson-makes-me-smile\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie Jefferson Makes Me Smile"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Trane’s Blues<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Eddie Jefferson (3 August 1918 – 9 May 1979) was a celebrated jazz vocalist and lyricist.<\/p>\n

He is credited with having invented vocalese, a musical style in which lyrics are set to an instrumental composition or solo. Perhaps his best-known song is “Moody’s Mood for Love”, though it was first recorded by King Pleasure, who cited Jefferson as an influence. Jefferson’s songs “Parker’s Mood” and “Filthy McNasty” were also hits.<\/p>\n

One of Jefferson\u2019s most notable recordings \u201cSo What\u201d, combined the lyrics of artist Christopher Acemandese Hall with the music of Miles Davis to create a masterwork that highlighted his prolific skills, and ability to majestically turn a phrase, in his style [jazz vocalese].<\/p>\n

Jefferson’s last recorded performance was at the Joe Segal’s Jazz Showcase in Chicago and was released on video by Rhapsody Films.
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So What<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The first time I heard his studio version of “So What” it just knocked me out. He captured Miles’ lyricism and openness perfectly…all the while singing a paean to the trumpeter. The live version is a bit faster, and Richie Cole plays great.<\/p>\n

Here’s a studio recording from 1976 of “Sherry”<\/p>\n

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His voice is so full of warmth and welcome. I always felt that Eddie Jefferson was my friend.<\/p>\n

\nAlthough there were a couple obscure early examples (Bee Palmer in 1929 and Marion Harris in 1934, both performing \u201cSinging the Blues\u201d), Eddie Jefferson is considered the founder, and premier performer of vocalese, the art of taking a recording and writing words to the solos, which Jefferson was practicing as early as 1949.<\/p>\n

Eddie Jefferson\u2019s first career was as a tap dancer but in the bebop era he discovered his skill as a vocalese lyricist and singer. He wrote lyrics to Charlie Parker\u2019s version of \u201cParker\u2019s Mood\u201d and Lester Young\u2019s \u201cI Cover the Waterfront\u201d early on, and he is responsible for \u201cMoody\u2019s Mood for Love\u201d (based on James Moody\u2019s alto solo on \u201cI\u2019m in the Mood for Love\u201d). King Pleasure recorded \u201cMoody\u2019s Mood for Love\u201d before Jefferson (getting the hit) and had his own lyrics to \u201cParker\u2019s Mood,\u201d but in time Jefferson was recognized as the founder of the idiom.<\/p>\n

Jefferson worked with James Moody during 1955-1957 and again in 1968-1973 but otherwise mostly performed as a single. He first recorded in 1952 (other than a broadcast from 1949) and those four selections are on the compilation The Bebop Singers. During 1961-1962 he made a classic set for Riverside that is available as Letter from Home and highlighted by \u201cBillie\u2019s Bounce,\u201d \u201cI Cover the Waterfront,\u201d \u201cParker\u2019s Mood,\u201d and \u201cThings Are Getting Better.\u201d<\/p>\n

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“Filthy McNasty”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trane’s Blues Eddie Jefferson (3 August 1918 – 9 May 1979) was a celebrated jazz vocalist and lyricist. He is credited with having invented vocalese, a musical style in which lyrics are set to an instrumental composition or solo. Perhaps his best-known song is “Moody’s Mood for Love”, though it was first recorded by King […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,9],"tags":[356,210,357],"class_list":["post-1018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jazz","category-music","tag-eddie-jefferson","tag-genius","tag-vocalese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1019,"href":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions\/1019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.warrensenders.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}