Posted on 07/17/2008 11:49:45 AM PDT by Borges
Jo Stafford, who died yesterday, is mostly forgotten now, save by those who were young a half-century ago, but back then she was one of the most popular singers in America, a wholesome beauty with a smooth, perfectly produced voice who sold millions and millions of records. Some of them were silly novelties, others bland period ballads, but when she had a good song to sing, nobody sang it better.
Stafford dealt in reassurance, a commodity much appreciated during World War II and in the Age of Anxiety that followed it, which may explain why she is not so nearly well remembered as Frank Sinatra (with whom she sang in Tommy Dorsey's band) or the hotter, sexier canaries of the Fifties. Her tasteful singing was rhythmically fluid without ever sounding self-consciously "jazzy," and her warm mezzo-soprano voice had a maternal quality that eased the troubled heart, though it didn't do much for the critics of the day. "I never made it with the critics," she once told Gene Lees. "I think what the critics didn't like was that it was simply singing."
Stafford went into semi-retirement in 1966. By then most of her records were out of print, and when I wrote a piece for Mirabella in 1994 occasioned by the release of a three-CD box set of her old Columbia recordings, she was very much a figure of the past. That hasn't changed. Most of the collections of her singles that are currently available are junky hit-oriented anthologies that give no sense of what she was like at her best. Fortunately Corinthian, her own label, put out two excellent CDs, Big Band Sound and Jo + Jazz, in which she sings blue-chip standards accompanied by some of the greatest jazz and pop instrumentalists of the Swing Era. Jazz musicians loved Stafford's voice and knew her worth--Lester Young was one of her biggest fans--and were always glad to play for her.
Stafford was only a vague memory of my childhood when a septuagenarian friend of mine played me a Columbia 78 of her version of "Early Autumn" a decade and a half ago. (It's on Big Band Sound, and you can also download it from iTunes.) The record, arranged by her beloved husband Paul Weston, couldn't be simpler. Stafford is accompanied by a clarinet choir and a soft-spoken rhythm section, and she sings Johnny Mercer's haunting lyric in the most direct and unmannered way imaginable:
There's a dance pavilion in the rain All shuttered down A winding country lane All russet brown A frosty window pane Shows me a town grown lonely.
That deceptively uncomplicated-sounding performance hit me with the force of revelation. All at once I knew that good old Jo Stafford was a great artist, and I resolved to spread the word about her artistry in any way I possibly could. A couple of years later I wrote about her in Mirabella, and after that I made a point of mentioning Stafford whenever I had occasion to write about golden-age popular song and its interpreters, but never again did I have occasion to write a full-length piece about her. I wish I had, and I wish I'd sent it to her while she was still alive. Perhaps she would have enjoyed knowing that her quiet, unpretentious art was still giving pleasure long after her fame had faded.
I use that site all the time - as you know.
Strangely it came up on the first page of search!
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How ‘bout that!
Jo Stafford did a beautiful “White Cliffs Of Dover” recording -
You didn’t know that! Lol, I think I have been through every single page of that site - and that’s saying a lot!
Tons of music there. She had a soft pretty voice. Music our parents probably danced to.
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A wonderful talent and voice -
For some reason “I’ll Be Seeing You” sticks in my mind as a post WWII song. I didn’t note her age in the article so could be totally wrong.
Lol, this was meant for you!
Isn’t Miguel Ferrar one of Rosemary Clooney’s sons ?
Yes. Daddy being Jose Ferrer (who kicked ass in “The Caine Mutiny”).
My grandmother used to sing her songs as she did her house work. Farewell gracious Lady, and we’ll hear you on the other side. :)
Not “I’ll Be Seeing You”, lol. September Song is a sad one.
Lovely song, huh? Phil I posted a link to the best site for wav music files, if you investigate you will find hundreds of vocalist songs on it.
http://www.pcdon.com/JoStafford.html
Audio clips from “Jonathan and Darlene’s Greatest Hits”:
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Good version
Yes, it’s pretty. I know you like September Song by Sinatra.
how I miss my Mom and Dad.....
Thank you for posting that song devolve. It is a beautiful one, including the lyrics.
Beautiful.
Thank y’all.
Rest in peace, Jo Stafford.
I honestly don't understand why women do this; for most of them, it ruins good looks and makes them look like cartoon characters.
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