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.
A Song Bird Flys home. Heaven will welcome her for sure.
Famous Works
Selected discography
Sings Broadway's Best , Columbia, 1953.
Songs of Faith , Capitol, 1954.
Happy Holidays , Columbia, 1955.
Ski Trails , Columbia, 1956.
This Is Jo Stafford , Dot, 1956.
Ballad of the Blues , Columbia, 1959.
I'll Be Seeing You , Columbia, 1959.
Ballad of the Blues Columbia, 1959.
I Only Have Eyes For You , Columbia/Snowy Bleach, 1950's.
Jo + Jazz , Columbia, 1960.
Jo + Blues , Columbia, 1960.
Once Over Lightly , Columbia, 1965.
Getting Sentimental Over Tommy , Reprise, 1965.
Look at Me Now , Bainbridge, 1982.
The Hits of Jo Stafford , Capitol, 1984.
Ski Trails , Corinthian, mid 1980s.
Jonathan & Darlene's Greatest Hits , Corinthian, mid 1980s.
Jo Stafford, The Portrait Edition , Corinthian & Sony, 1994.
G I. Jo , Corinthian, 1995.
Broadway Revisited , Corinthian, 1995.
I personally discovered Southern's Stafford's work on Charlie Haden's Quartet West cover of "Haunted Heart" with Southern's Stafford's vocals mixed in. Great cut on a great album.
Years ago in high schol I was listening to the Duprees singing You Belong To Me on NYC’s WABC. My dad, no fan of WABC Rock asked me who was singing Jo Stafford’s song. I didn’t have a clue who she was. He commented that I needed better taste in music. Years later I happened to hear her doing You Belong To Me on WNEW AM NYC’s standards outlet. I was blown away. Luckily my dad was still with us and I got to tell him that like most other things he was right about music. I’ve got her on a CD.Think I’ll put it on and listen. RIP Jo.
Shrimp Boats are a coming! I loved that song.
(And I'm only in my early 40s -- I just have learned that the "talent" nowadays rarely compares to the classics.)
"(I'll Be With You In) Apple Blossom Time" is also one of my Jo Stafford favorites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_VOU93wvKc
Check link at #10.
She had quite a voice! I always stopped to listen!
My late mother was a fan of Jo Stafford.
I guess this is showing my age, but I love the old songters - they really knew now to phrase a song and wer professional to the end of their careers: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney - just to name a few - I could listen to them all day.
Of the newish generation, none can compare. I do like Chris Isaak and Nora Jones. Most of the others of today - well we'll (or you'll) see who lasts.
A few years back, when IIRC Ms Clooney was still with us, there was an episode of Crossing Jordan in which the Boss (Miguel Ferrer) had had a particularly trying week. He kicked back in his office and put on one of his favorite CDs, featuring Rosemary singing "Black Coffee."
A subtle tribute to Mom.
A bit later, when I was in high school, there were several occasions when our family had piled into our 1957 Ford Victoria 500, four-door hardtop and were riding down the road listening to the radio, WTIX or WNOE, and we would hear a ‘new’ song. My sister and I would insist it was a great new song. Dad would say not so, that it had been popular years before. He would bring the discussion to a screeching halt by singing along with the ‘new’ song on the radio. Mack the Knife if one that I recall him calling us on, and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes was another. There were lots of them!
Thanks for the memories!
I was a DJ on a 1,000 watt daytimer in NW Alabama when she was on top of the charts. I don't know that anyone does radio like that any more. We opened the broadcast day with Southern Gospel, had the obituaries sponsored by the local funeral home, had several hours of ‘easy listening’, then afternoon rock ‘n roll, followed by r&b, then back to gospel until sign off. A model 15 teletype machine was our news department and the sign on guy spend half-an-hour going through the hundred plus feet of newsprint the machine had spewed out overnight. Had to get the Southeast Farm and Market Report for the first newscast. Every half-hour transmitter logs, hand-written program logs, etc.
Now THAT was radio!
1999, dude.
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