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  Joe Williams speaks highly of Madeline Eastman—she’s featured in
  a  section devoted to the part of the working, non-major-label vocalist.
  Rebecca Parris contributes a sultry performance of "Little Sunflower,"
  and Shirley Horn adds commentary, along with record producers
  Orrin Keepnews and the late Carl Jefferson and jazz writer Al Young.
  As slick as this production is, it would have been nice to hear a
  complete take or  two from Carmen and the others.

  Of all the stars in the jazz firmament, singers are the least understood.
   But when we hear gifted divas such as  McRae, Alexandria, Jones, Sloane,
   Eastman and Parris not  only sing, but talk, clouds lift. Probing the
   intertwined  questions of how and why singers communicate, director 
   Joan Merrill gets to the essence of "saying it with jazz."  Sloane, for example,
   in assessing McRae's indelible appeal  points out that "she never lets you go.
   She tells us how  to cope with pain, and with loss." And with good times.
   As Merrill’s camera shifts effortlessly between performances  and interviews,
   the divas demonstrate and theorize about the  importance of the word. All
   agree that lyrics are the means  for conveying the specifics of life’s experiences.
    It’s a point that comes to poignant life as we actually hear them sing.

   Embellished with insights by host Al Young, singers Shirley Horn and Joe
   Williams, radio announcer Bob Parlocha, producers Carl Jefferson and Orrin
    Keepnews, and booker Sonny Buxton,  Merrill presents a telling overview.
   At the end, when Alexandria  says she only feels totally alive when she’s
   singing, you believe her, and her sisters in song.

Whether you aspire to be a Jazz singer, want to find out about Jazz singing,
or just appreciate good examples of the genre, this video will have something for you. Merrill has interviewed five vocalists and gathered their insights into
some first-rate footage. Discussions are mixed with songs, avoiding any lecture-hall feel. Most of the singers get a full number without interruption, and then another song is interspersed with observations about Jazz singing. On a couple of segments the sound quality is less than ideal. A nice touch is the use of subtitles to identify accompanying musicians and venues.
   Overwhelmingly the most important thing, say all the singers, is the lyrics and how they are used to communicate emotion. How this accords with scat singing, which many of these vocalists do and which has become a veritable rage since the video was made, is not touched on.
   Carole Sloane, who came up in the 1950s, remembers hearing good white
   vocalists on the radio stations of the day, singers like Vic Damone and Rosemary Clooney, but when she discovered Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine, and other black singers, it was like a new world opened for her, and she knew she had to sing that way. Since then, she says, she's been eliminating extraneous things that don't need to be in the song, like pulling away the leaves of an artichoke to get to the heart of the music.
    Etta Jones describes herself as a flat-footed singer because she tries to
 communicate with the listener through the words alone, with no waving of
 arms or other dramatic touches. Lorez Alexandria points out that you have
 to make listeners feel or else it doesn't matter how complicated or hip you make
 the song sound.
   Madeline Eastman talks about the tradeoff between art and business, getting  your music out there yourself through self-produced CDs when major record
 labels aren't waiting to snap you up. Joe Williams testifies to Madeline's talent,
 and several music industry figures discuss the business issues she raises.
The late Carl Jefferson, founder of Concord Records, and producer Orrin
 Keepnews talk about the importance of recording for a vocalist, while KJAZ
 disc jockey Bob Parlocha deals with the airplay a recording gets once it's been
 issued.
    The video opens and closes with performances by the late Carmen McRae,
 "the grand dame of Jazz vocalists," as narrator Al Young calls her. Her work
 is stunning, and Merrill's respectful treatment makes it shine. But for me the
 real magic comes from Rebecca Parris, who walks right off the video into the
 living room and tears me up with her absolutely gorgeous rendition of Billy
 Strayhorn's "Lush Life." Rebecca has a personality and stage presence
 stronger than any I've seen since Dizzy.
    An excellent inside look at Jazz singing, showing what vocalists are trying
  to do and how they do it.