[78-L] Pop and Jazz Singers

[Kristjan Saag]

I wrote:

> Al Simmons wrote
> (and added a list of singers who sang in English):

>> Here we go then. A year-end list of............
>> The Best of The Male Pop and Jazz Singers on  our 78's.
>> Who has been left off.
>> Who should be left off?
>> (Does anyone care?)
--
> My 78's also feature:
> Tino Rossi
> Jean Sablon
> Alberto Rabagliati
> Jean Lumière
> Jan Kiepura
> Max Hansen
> Sergio Bruni
> Claudio Villa
> Rudi Schuricke

>To name a few...
---
Al replied:
> Absolutely right Kristjan. I apologize.
> My usual cultural tunnel vision but...Jussi Bjoerling is my favorite 
> singer
> of all time, so I'm not completely xenophobic.

--
No needs to apologize, Al.
But I wanted to add a few of my favourite names in order to bring up a 
subject that hasn't been discussed on the list, as far as I know.
We all know Al Bowlly and his magic voice, the sensitive, fragile and very 
light voice, so much the opposite to the baritones of popular music who 
broke through at the same time: Bing Crosby (US), Denny Dennis (UK), 
Sven-Olof Sandberg (Sweden) etc.
The Crosby phenomenon has been explained with the fact that electric 
recording now made it possible for deep, intimate voices to be heard over 
the orchestra. At the same time we see guys like Al Bowlly, Rudy Valle 
(whose voice, at first, was a thin tenor), Rudi Schuricke, Alberto 
Rabagliati, Tino Rossi coming to the forefront with a completely different 
idiom: light voices that wouldn't hesitate to reach pitch levels that 
Marlene Dietrich and Zarah Leander never got close to. In opera, at this 
time, we have Tito Schipa, Richard Tauber, Josef Schmidt exploring the same 
hights.
I think that's fascinating: a sort of acoustic cross-dressing without any 
overtly gender-political connotations. To my ears just an exploration of the 
human voice, of human sentiment, of compassion and humbleness. And we're, in 
fact, precisely between two wars.
Was something lost there, in that effort? I've often wondered why these 
contrasting voice types were launched at the same time and what they tried 
to tell us.
I love both types. I'm a big Crosby fan. But popular trends are never at 
random, they have meanings.
I'd very much like to hear your thoughts about this - preferably without the 
usual sexist jokes, if possible.
Kristjan