The Storyville Sessions 1954-1955 (2 LPs on 1 CD)

24 BIT
DIGITALLY REMASTERED
2 LPs on 1 CD
Possibly because of the sheer perfection of her vocal technique, Teddi King (1929-1977) may not have immediately seemed to some to be a jazz singer. But, in a career that included work with such piano luminaries as Nat Pierce, George Shearing and Dave McKenna, she won herself a small but discerning following as one of the best. Influenced by such outstanding jazz singers as Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, whom she did not resemble vocally, and Lee Wiley, Mabel Mercer and Mildred Bailey, whom perhaps to a slight degree she did, she was blessed with near-perfect intonation, impeccable phrasing and a voice of crystalline beauty and freshness. All this is evident on these early Storyville sessions, where she is backed by front-line jazz talent in Ruby Braff, Nick Travis, Bob Brookmeyer, Gene Quill, pianists Jimmy Jones and Billy Taylor and sterling drummers Jo Jones and Osie Johnson. In these intimate, subtly calibrated sessions she sings with a warmth and delicacy no less forceful for being presented with elegance, sophistication and a complete absence of superfluous gesture or vocal sleight-of-hand. It should surprise nobody that she held Sinatra as the epitome of what a popular singer should be and he, with his frank jazz awareness, was as close to perfection in terms of phrasing as any singer could aspire to.