[78-L] Pop and Jazz Singers

[simmonssomer]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kristjan Saag" <saag at telia.com>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009 4:41 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] Pop and Jazz Singers


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

_______________________________________________
Perhaps the gender-neutral..or should I say the faux castrato voices so 
favored in the 20's were adopted by the record industry to broaden their 
marketing reach so that women's male partners would not be jealous 
(threatened) by the appeal of  a virile baritone voice. If a girl-friend 
wanted to listen to neuters like Ballew or Austin that was fine. A sort of 
audio burka.. And Vallee didn't threaten anybody either. But when the women 
started to feel their oats in the middle twenties and early thirties those 
wishy-washy singers were out and "real men" were in.

Now Kristjan, if you swallow that explanation you should go see a doctor 
immediately.

Al S.