Madonna? You are getting the celebrity mixed up with those who can actually sing. Amy could sing jazz. And the list she should be on is Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Ike & Tina Turner. Just as Janis was inspired by Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staple. Tony Bennett said: “What I love about Amy Winehouse is that, of all the singers since the Beatles, you automatically check everyone out who’s a lot younger, but there’s been such a big walk away from jazz. Some people think that anyone could sing jazz, but they can’t. It’s a gift of learning how to syncopate but it’s also a spirit that you’re either born with or you’re not. And Amy was born with that spirit.”
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Tina (475)
a month ago
You're kidding right? Did Amy Winehouse look like any kind of jazz singer to you?
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letess (1083)
a month ago
Yes. She was totally jazz. From the beginning - her beginning. If you can’t tell that, you don’t know your music.
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Tina (475)
a month ago
Take a look at Amy's fashion style and then look at the fashion style of great jazz female vocalists. Does Amy look like a jazz singer to you? How many jazz records did Amy make vs pop records?
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letess (1083)
a month ago
Why are you hung up on her fashion? I am not talking about looks, I am talking about the sound. It’s also phrasing. Not every jazz singer is going to wear a gardenia in her hair. Music should be listened to, not watched. She blended jazz and soul in her sound, plus she was a great songwriter. Some say jazz is dead but it wasn’t to her. Listen to Hazel Scott, Anita O’Day, June Christy, Julie London, Carmen McRae; she fits in with this group. Just google Amy at 16 singing Moon River and listen to her.
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Tina (475)
a month ago
So if a country singer wearing a cowboy hat, dungerees, chaps, a bandana and cowboy boots got up on stage and started singing It Don't Mean A Thing( in a traditional jazzy way) you would say that that person is a jazz singer? Or just a country singer that just happens to sing a jazz song real well?
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letess (1083)
a month ago
You missed the point about everything. But it’s odd that you should say country - because there are a lot of country songs done by country singers that R&B singers have done which are considered soul and vice versa. You have Willie Nelson singing Funny How Time Slips Away, because he wrote it, but Al Green sang it too. So did The Spinners. And you have Otis singing Sitting on the Dock of the Bay because he wrote it, but then you have Glen Campbell singing it. And nobody has to get dressed up to do anything. You have to listen to music not watch it. Which is kind of what you do by your list of female singers. Some are really really great singers but a couple are just performers and icons. I like Cher but I would never listen to her sing. Never. And never Madonna. These two are not great singers.
You obviously have little respect for Amy’s talents but many of us recognize them. You might see her as a useless pop star or what was it - a one hit wonder - but her distinctive vocal style was shaped by her love for jazz when she was a teen. Listen to her and Tony Bennett - Body and Soul. She sounds a lot like Billie. And It Don’t Mean a Thing. Jeez. Is that your idea of jazz or I guess it’s maybe just jazzy.
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Tina (475)
a month ago
Lady Gaga collaborated with Tony Benet to do one jazz album. Does that make Lady Gaga a jazz singer? Amy Winehouse would never have been as talented as Lady Gaga.
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letess (1083)
a month ago
Yes. She her inspirations were totally jazz and R&B. From her core. You can hear her style in all the jazz and soul greats. That’s all she was interested in. As far as what she looked like, she went back to the early 60s girl groups with beehive hairstyle and elongated eyeliner. She’s not doing Madonna. Celine. Cher. She’s a Ronette. It’s always the Brits who fall in love with American jazz and rhythm and blues. And if you loved jazz and R&B as much as I do, and I’m not British, then you’d hear it in her singing. She was one of the great ones. And they don’t happen often.
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Tina (475)
a month ago
But the issue was about Amy Winehouse as a jazz singer. Stop bringing in other genres of music into it. As far as I can tell based upon what the woman accomplished, was that she was a one hit wonder.
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letess (1083)
a month ago
She did it all. Sing jazz. Sing soul. Sing pop. R&B, gospel. And she could compose music and lyrics. But she started out with jazz. She was talented. And I get it. You’re not a fan.
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BillySlater (4126)
a month ago
She was a jazz singer, her fashion sense is not relevant, neither is whether she was a one hit wonder or not. Although, I disagree with that since both Rehab and Back to Black made the US top 10.
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