How many players here sing, as well as play?

[Ukena]

Long ago, when I was newly auditioning for Broadway shows, I got some very good advice from a director.

Most of the time, one is asked to have an uptempo and a ballad for auditions. But occasionally one will be asked to prepare a certain song. And usually one has a day or two to learn it.

So I was asked to prepare a song, and the night before the audition I went over it and over it.

At the audition, I forgot the lyrics after about 4 measures. In my naiveté, I said, "But I knew it last night!" I received a withering look from the director, who said, "Until you sing it in front of someone, you don't know it."

After that, I always made sure to perform a new song for someone before I tried to perform it. And make no mistake, an audition is a performance.

[Bop Head]

Look at the bright side: at least you didn't pick My Way.

That one sounds like shit in any key...

I like the song and I especially like the lyrics. And no one could be more credible on this one than Frank Sinatra.

I was asked to sing a few songs at the 80th birthday of someone I know and I choose My Way. This time I tried to work out the right key but the problem was I did it sitting on my sofa and at the performance I was standing and that felt totally different and I had a vocal range problem once more. In my eyes it was horrible but she liked it and was happy at least. But my next lesson was: When singing at the performance standing practice standing as well.

This is the French original but I like Paul Anka's life retrospect lyrics much more than the French disappoinment about the breakup of a liason.

[Webby]

I would never call myself a singer, but as long as I can hide behind my guitar I feel okay singing in my own band. With our Repertoire of vintage tunes I feel like some imperfection is more or less appropriate for the material.

[AllanAllen]

I would never call myself a singer, but as long as I can hide behind my guitar I feel okay singing in my own band. With our Repertoire of vintage tunes I feel like some imperfection is more or less appropriate for the material.

That's you singing lead? Shit man, they should take the guitar away from you and have you just sing.

[RobbieAG]

Even some of the all-time greats like George Benson expanded his audience and market opportunities by his singing more than his incredible playing.

Another artist that comes to mind even though obviously not a guitarist is Diana Krall. Granted, she's an excellent pianist, but how popular do you think she'd be without her vocal ability?

[Bop Head]

Another artist that comes to mind even though obviously not a guitarist is Diana Krall. Granted, she's an excellent pianist, but how popular do you think she'd be without her vocal ability?

Nat Cole is mentioned by many jazz pianists (e.g. Barry Harris) as a pianistic influence. One day in the studio a producer discovered by random the guy could sing. (We guitarists still know of course that he could play the piano as,too, because we like Oscar Moore and Irving Ashby in his trios.)

[RLetson]

It's just a fact of performing life: most people find singing more interesting than purely instrumental music, unless they're dancing. Even many of those strongly attached to instrumental music (me, for example*) are going to perk up at a well-sung song. I suspect it's just primate preference.

Fortunately, many instrumentalists turn out to be competent or even first-rate singers. I was tickled on my first listen to the CD variously titled "Nirvana" or "Somebody Loves Me" or "Send In the Clowns"--a Zoot Sims-Buddy Rich duet of "Gee Babe, Ain't I Good to You"--and they're both good. (I've noticed that a lot of horn players are respectable singers--good breath control and sense of phrasing, among other things.) And even singers with limited pipes can figure out how to sell a song--Randy Newman is my go-to example. But then, his vocal performances are also a form of composing. It's hard to imagine anybody else singing "Davy the Fat Boy" as effectively.

I recall on an old jazz-guitar Usenet group that there would be a certain amount of dissing of John Pizzarelli, partly because he sang. I never understood the scorn--John's a very decent singer--though maybe there was a dash of envy over the success he was having as a kind of cabaret artist instead of starving in a garret while guarding his jazz purity.

* As much as I love playing guitar, just as a sideman, I found that performing was even more fun after my bandmate/mentors talked me into singing. And, to my surprise, at least some in the audiences liked it as well. No accounting for taste, I guess.

Found it!

[joelf]

I like the song and I especially like the lyrics. And no one could be more credible on this one than Frank Sinatra.

I was asked to sing a few songs at the 80th birthday of someone I know and I choose My Way. This time I tried to work out the right key but the problem was I did it sitting on my sofa and at the performance I was standing and that felt totally different and I had a vocal range problem once more. In my eyes it was horrible but she liked it and was happy at least. But my next lesson was: When singing at the performance standing practice standing as well.

This is the French original but I like Paul Anka's life retrospect lyrics much more than the French disappoinment about the breakup of a liason.

Ugh: My Way-ptui. Anka: DOUBLE Ptui!! If that MFer had one 20th as much talent as ego he MIGHT be half-assed INTO something
The lyric is self-congratulatory BS to me, and the original French melody Plain Jane-no more, no less. And please no argument, Bopster (; I played that rotten song in mob joints in ‘78 and hated it THEN!!. I mentioned it only as gallows humor, since I still get f)&(ing requests for the POS, like when I play in my bldg. Thursdays. The neighbors in the audience even tease me to get a rise outta me. One day I’m gonna hand my gtr to someone doing that, and ‘Here, Big Shot-YOU sing it!! (Which actually reminds me of a humorous and oft-repeated yarn: Gene Quill was coming off a bandstand. Customer: ‘Gene Quill, all you do is play like Charlie Parker. Quill-offering his horn-‘Here. Play like Charlie Parker’)…

[Webby]

That's you singing lead? Shit man, they should take the guitar away from you and have you just sing.

Well, thank you!

[joelf]

Guys: Sorry if my rant about Paul Anka seemed mean-spirited. It’s my honest opinion, no more, no less. And I also take back my smartass comment on his supposed lack of talent. That’s not sporting at all, and probably untrue. TBH I don’t know his music all that well to be running off at the thumb (on the tiny iPhone characters). What I DO dislike is his oft-outrageous behavior. But that’s no excuse for putting a man’s music down unsampled…

[AllanAllen]

Guys: Sorry if my rant about Paul Anka seemed mean-spirited. It’s my honest opinion, no more, no less. And I also take back my smartass comment on his supposed lack of talent. That’s not sporting at all, and probably untrue. TBH I don’t know his music all that well to be running off at the thumb (on the tiny iPhone characters). What I DO dislike is his oft-outrageous behavior. But that’s no excuse for putting a man’s music down unsampled…

Well… I think Paul Anka is great.

[joelf]

Well… I think Paul Anka is great.

You’re entitled. Just don’t listen to me when I fly off the handle. No one else does (;

[Bop Head]

Guys: Sorry if my rant about Paul Anka seemed mean-spirited. It’s my honest opinion, no more, no less. And I also take back my smartass comment on his supposed lack of talent. That’s not sporting at all, and probably untrue. TBH I don’t know his music all that well to be running off at the thumb (on the tiny iPhone characters). What I DO dislike is his oft-outrageous behavior. But that’s no excuse for putting a man’s music down unsampled…

I never cared much about the cheesy watered-down Rhythm & Blues stuff Paul Anka did in his early Rock & Roll days as I always prefered people like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, early Elvis or Gene Vincent when it comes to Rock & Roll.

But I really like the lyrics he wrote with Sinatra in mind and I do not find them self-congratulatory at all. In recent years I try to live every day in a way so I can say I have lived my live and it was OK. It was not always like that and i do not succeed always, but still more often than not.

[joelf]

I never cared much about the cheesy watered-down Rhythm & Blues stuff Paul Anka did in his early Rock & Roll days as I always prefered people like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, early Elvis or Gene Vincent when it comes to Rock & Roll.

But I really like the lyrics he wrote with Sinatra in mind and I do not find them self-congratulatory at all. In recent years I try to live every day in a way so I can say I have lived my live and it was OK. It was not always like that and i do not succeed always, but still more often than not.

Well, maybe I got it wrong. Like I said, I don’t really know his stuff that well. That’s why I backed off from criticizing him.just wouldn’t be fair. But I will say that his voice never really appealed to me and maybe the reason I don’t like My Way is that to me its kinda heavy handed-no subtlety.

I also am troubled by how Sinatra lowered his standards in the ‘60s, some pretty poor choices, But he also never stopped singing the great songs. I feel he more than redeemed himself on Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back, singing 3 or more songs by Joe Raposo, to me one of the great songwriters of the last 50 years or so. I honestly don’t feel Anka’s In that league, but I could be wrong…