JUDY WEXLER SINGS, AND WE ARE GLAD

I don’t know if everything happens for a reason, or that the cosmos is a series of accidents, some dreadful, some blissful.  But I can report on a happy encounter at the always-rewarding jazz club Mezzrow on West Tenth Street earlier this summer, when a nicely-dressed cheerful couple sat down next to me.  We began to speak (like my late father, I am not reticent when the mood seems right) and I met Judy and Alan Wexler.  I’d not encountered Judy in my California travels, but she told me she was a jazz singer; soon this CD arrived in the mail: 

I wouldn’t be writing these words were I not seriously impressed.

WHAT I SEE isn’t a brand-new disc: Judy and her wonderful musicians recorded it in 2013, but all that means is that I came late to the party.  (It’s her third disc for JazzedMedia, with good sound and liner notes.)  Her instrumental crew is Jeff Colella, piano; Larry Koonse, guitar, ukulele; Chris Colangelo, string bass; Steve Hass, drums; Ron Stout, flugelhorn, trumpet; Bob Sheppard, bass clarinet, also flute; Scott Whitfield, trombone; Billy Hulting, percussion.

The songs were not all familiar to me, but I was pleased and impressed with the breadth of Judy’s repertoire and the light-hearted conviction she brings to her material: a few classics associated with Louis, Billie, and Blossom, alongside lesser-known delights by King Pleasure (his lyrics to a Stan Getz solo), Benny Carter, Dory and Andre Previn, John Williams and Johnny Mercer, and songwriters new to me: TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY / THE MOON IS MADE OF GOLD / CONVINCE ME / THEY SAY IT’S SPRING /  A CERTAIN SADNESS / THE LONG GOODBYE / JUST FOR NOW / FOLLOW / ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE / A KISS TO BUILD A DREAM ON / LAUGHING AT LIFE.

Before I begin to write about Judy’s singing style, perhaps you should hear her for yourself: one of the songs on this disc:

The first thing I note is Judy’s distinctive — and pleasing — voice.  She has a beautiful technique but one is never drawn to pure vocal effects; rather, she puts herself at the service of the song.  I’d call her vocal timbre bittersweet, which fits the material — the voice of someone essentially romantic who knows that it’s necessary to look all four ways before crossing the street.  You wouldn’t mistake herself for another singer, which is a great thing.  She neatly balances emotional intensity and a swinging ease.  Her music woos; it doesn’t insist.  On other performances, such as TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY, her improvising skills are even more gratifyingly evident: she sings three choruses and her elastic variations from chorus to chorus are never stark — she never obliterates the composer’s intent — but one delights in her playfulness.  She sings with an irresistible conversational ease, and on some songs I feel as if she is wryly smiling.  That’s very good medicine for us in this century.

Here’s another:

Judy Wexler does everything right: she sings rather than dramatizes, she knows how to swing, she respects the melody and the words, and you know it’s her. What more could anyone want?  (Nothing, except perhaps a new CD to listen to.)

See what happens when you go to the best jazz clubs and strike up conversations?  Your life is enriched.

May your happiness increase!

“MR. AND MRS. IS THE NAME” (FOR ANA and MIKE)

Photograph by Rosibell Adolfo

That’s Ana. L. Quintana and Mike Davis, who are getting married in Puerto Rico this weekend.  Lovely people, they are — I speak from experience.

So, even though it’s too fast to use for a trot up or down the aisle, I offer the appropriate music — created on the spot at Fraunces Tavern (July 25 of this year) by Mike, Craig Ventresco (guitar), Rob Adkins (string bass) — a 1931 love song, LITTLE GIRL, by Francis Henry and Madeline Hyde:

Here’s the contemporary sheet music:

And here, since Mike was too occupied to sing, is a recording from the same year by “Whispering” Jack Smith, where he offers two verses as well as the chorus:

In case you don’t know the other song I reference in this post, enjoy this, sung by Dick Powell, from FLIRTATION WALK (1934), where the love interest is Ruby Keeler.  The music and lyrics are by Mort Dixon and Allie Wrubel.  This recording features some surprising Calloway-influenced scat from Powell, who had begun his career as a hot banjo player with Charlie Davis:

To Ana and Mike, and to everyone:

May your happiness increase!