The Jazz Singer

Before Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, and long before the Manhattan Transfer, there was Eddie Jefferson, a pioneer of vocalese--the practice of putting words to melodies based on instrumentalists' recorded jazz solos. THE JAZZ SINGER, reissued here by Evidence, is a classic slice of Jefferson's art, including some of his most memorable interpretations. Among them are his renditions of Miles Davis's "So What," Coleman Hawkins's "Body and Soul," and Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time." Jefferson is backed here by a vocal trio (they add accents and embellishments) and full band (including trumpeter Howard McGee and sax man James Moody).

Jefferson's voice is flexible, and--on cuts like his famous reading of "Moody's Mood for Love"--he approximates the timbre changes a horn player might make by adjusting his tone while speeding through a phrase or making intervallic leaps. Jefferson's deft facility with lyrics, and his ability to thread them rhythmically through tricky melodic lines, is consistently impressive. Many of his lyrics are about the musicians who originally recorded the compositions, so in addition to his unique talent, what comes through is Jefferson's love for jazz and his reverence for the artists whose work he interprets.