A friend started blogging this month by doing a post every day in re Black History Month. I'm really enjoying his posts. Something about doing a blog post is that it shapes a bit of research and I wonder what it would be like to try to do the same for the month. I'm so lazy!

My first thought was to do a post about King Pleasure, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Pleasure but I couldn't find any rreally good pictures. Pleasure hit the charts in 1952 with "Moody's Moods" with Pleasure singing vocalese www.ralf.org/~colomon/vo...ocalese.html that is vocal lines following the melody lines of an instrumental work. King Pleasure cited Eddie Jefferson as an influence, but it seems like everyone credits Jefferson with "Moody's Moods" except King Pleasure. They're both passed now, Jefferson in 1979, shot outside a club in Detroit and King Pleasure in 1982 in LA.

Here's what Yahoo Music has to say about Jefferson:

The founder of vocalese (putting recorded solos to words), Eddie Jefferson did not have a great voice, but he was one of the top jazz singers, getting the maximum out of what he had. He started out working as a tap dancer, but by the late '40s was singing and writing lyrics. A live session from 1949 (released on Spotlite) finds him pioneering vocalese by singing his lyrics to "Parker's Mood" and Lester Young's solo on "I Cover the Waterfront." However, his classic lyrics to "Moody's Mood for Love" were recorded first by King Pleasure (1952), who also had a big hit with his version of "Parker's Mood." Jefferson had his first studio recording that year (which included Coleman Hawkins' solo on "Body and Soul"), before working with James Moody (1953-1957). Although he recorded on an occasional basis in the 1950s and '60s, his contributions to the idiom seemed to be mostly overlooked until the 1970s. Jefferson worked with Moody again (1968-1973), and during his last few years often performed with Richie Cole. He was shot to death outside of a Detroit club in 1979. Eddie Jefferson, who also wrote memorable lyrics to "Jeannine," "Lady Be Good," "So What," "Freedom Jazz Dance," and even "Bitches' Brew," recorded for Savoy, Prestige, a single for Checker, Inner City, and Muse; his final sides appeared in 1999 under the title Vocal Ease. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Written by Scott Yanow

I hadn't known before that Eddie Jefferson was from Pittsburgh, that's where I live. There's a short interview at www.gallery41.com/JazzArtis...ferson.htm Once you listen to that surf around the site a bit. The photos are way expensive, but the site is really priceless.

Here's Amazon's page on Vocalese www.gallery41.com/JazzArtis...ferson.htm And the photo of Jefferson comes from this site www.ozsons.com/Vocalese.htm How come so many sites about Jazz are in other languages than English? I guess prophets are never honored in their own land.