It continues to boggle the mind when one starts realizing how many excellent female vocalists were on the jazz scene in the 1950s and 60s. You only scratch the surface with Ella, Sassy, Chris Connor and Peggy Lee, as Spain-based Fresh Sound Records keeps digging up buried treasures that deserve to be heard and heard again. Here are a couple recent finds…
Philadelphia-born Terry Morel was a fixture in the local scene, and never stretched out much further, yet her husky cool June Christy’d tone is both flexible and warm on this inviting collection of material. There are a handful of 1955 studio sessions with her local working band, and she plays around with the lyrics of “I Can’t Get Started” while carrying a glowing torch on “I Remember You”. A 1956 gig in New York has her teamed with Tony Bennett’s pianist Ralph Sutton as well as Herbie Mann/fl, Jay Cave/b and Christy Febbo/dr with some nifty work on “How About You?”, “Mountain Greenery” and a glowing work with Sutton on “More Than You Know”. A few tunes from a 1957 LA TV Show has her with all stars Bob Dorough-Gerald Wiggins-Claire Fisher/p, Gene Wright-Woody Woodson-Gary Peacock/b, Bill Douglass-Chuck Thompson-Larry Bunker/dr and Jackie Mills/perc to display a cooing warble on “But Not For Me” and “Skylark”. Dry ice at the mic.
THE VOICES THAT TIME FORGOT series continues with a pair of obscure gems.
Lodi “Ladybird” Carr was part of the Detroit scene in the 50s and 60s, and her recording here from 1960 teams her with Don Elliott/vib-vphone, Al Klink/reeds, Stan Free/p, Mundell Lowe/g, George Duvivier/b, Ed Shaunessy/dr and the Jerry Segal Trio. She’s got a luscious late night vibrato, as on the intimate “The Masquerade Is Over” and oozes with Elliott’s mellow mellophone on “When I Fall In Love” and the personal “My Ship”. She floats with Klink’s flute on a genteel “I’m Lost” and is California Cool for “There’ll Never Be Another You”. An evening breeze.
Norman Mendoza is not exactly a household name either, but her Anita O’Day’d clarity and swing has a mix of confident sass as on “Our Love Is Here To Stay” or the bopping “And Then There Were None”. The pianist Jimmy Wisner composes a healthy does of the material and with Ace Tessone/b and Hank Caruso-Dave Levin/dr, leads the band through a haunting take of the traditional “Black Is The Color” or his casual and misty “Dreamy Eyes” and glowing “ Warm”. She flexes her muscles backed by Wisner’s Big Band on a swinging “If It’s Love”, making you wonder how you missed this lady first time out.
https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/14193-lodi-carr-norma-mendoza-albums