the rix mix

Listening to this winter-theme LP from the Fifties, I wondered why I had never explored Jo Stafford's music. She had a natural, girl-next-door voice, a mix of cool & warm,  versatile enough that she could parody other styles & singers; a relaxed sense of swing, albeit vanilla-flavored.  Like Sinatra, she had her big break with Tommy Dorsey & became a major solo star during WWII.  So I made a fast survey of her recordings into the Sixties, when Jo retired from show biz.  A very small portion of them attempt to connect with jazz or put her in that framework, which singers of her era usually did in a small group setting. It isn't enough to record classic popular songs associated with jazz. The answer really is in this album. Jo was comfortable with schlock, dancing at the edge of the cornfield, with lots of strings, with choral backgrounds, with recording country & folk songs as pop, anything that might sell. It was quality for what it was. Collaborating with her husband, Paul Weston, not the most swinging arranger in Hollywood,   Jo pretty much stuck with the style she had in the Forties.  She  sounds emotionally contented, maybe a bit lonely waiting for some guy to come home or settle down - the promise of the girl-next-door.   World-weary numbers like "One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)" didn't suit her. But Jo was a lovely singer.

Jo with jazz accordionist Art Van Damme

Labels: holidays, music, video