29 Comments

Brilliant, as usual. And oh, how I long for the great singing we’ve missed.

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Mar 5, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Sweet little essay. Don't know if it will persuade doubters. I'm in the other camp. I miss her every time I hear her.

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Mar 5, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Perdition to the purists! Vive la musique!

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Mar 6, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Thanks Ted for this great article. I listened to the all the videos you linked in your essay and, unfortunately for me, that's the most I've listened to Amy. I now regret that. As far as whether it is "jazz", I don't care what they call it; her phrasing and command on "Someone To Watch Over Me" is breathtaking. Too soon gone.

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I have little patience for the purists. Let's not forget that jazz was born as a popular music - and that during the Swing Era, it was THE popular music! Most of the postwar "pop" singers - Bing, Frank, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee - had cut their teeth in jazz or swing.

Jazz is a feeling as well as a format. Amy Winehouse, like Lady Gaga, like Queen Latifah, like James Darren after his Star Trek Deep Space Nine appearances, had the FEELING to allow her to sing most anything she wanted (check out her reggae cover).

Does that make every cross-over release by an aging rock star "jazz"? Of course not. I didn't care for Rod Stewart's or Linda Ronstadt's swing releases, but that doesn't mean that somehow they're not "authentic jazz."

The gatekeepers miss the point that music is a spectrum: Jazz is on the improvised side of the spectrum, and there is a ton of overlap between all those semi-improvised forms, like jazz and blues, jazz and tango, jazz and chanson, jazz and fado.

Amy Winehouse was a gifted, dedicated singer whose time on this earth was cut short by human weakness and those willing to enable her weaknesses for their own profit.

But if you watch the videotaped backstage interactions of Winehouse with Tony Bennett, she had a craving to learn more about the music - the phrasing, the approach, the LISTENING that goes into singing the music. (It's much like watching Karen Carpenter trade choruses with Ella Fitzgerald on that TV special.)

While I think we sometimes fixate too much on those we lost at the expense of those we still have (Janis Joplin vs. the still-performing Tracy Nelson; Jimi Hendrix vs. Carlos Santana or Jeff Beck; etc.), when someone with Winehouse's prodigious chops is taken too soon, it does sting.

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I first heard Amy along with a cohort of British talent that included Duffy and Corinne Bailey Rae. This was circa 2005-06. For some undefinable reason I thought of all of them as "British Jazz & Blues" - in fact, that's what I named my playlist that included songs from all of these wonderful singers. Amy, of course, rose to meteoric heights in the subsequent years. Until her sad demise. I'm with you on this one, Ted :-)

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Mar 10, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

My favorite Amy is the slower version of "Valerie." And for fun, her remake of "Monkey Man" with The Specials.

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Thank you, great article and great choice in clips. All hail Amy💫

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Thanks for doing this research, for the explications, and the video clips. Jazz vocals is an area I’m educating myself to appreciate, and your piece here was perfect. RIP Amy.

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Mar 6, 2022·edited Mar 6, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Thanks --another wonderful essay. So much more than missed opportunity. The duet with Tony Bennett is pretty damn good, and though I'm not a hard core jazz fan--in the sense usually meant which is an ear twisted to catch endless (yawn) bop solos-- I do listen avidly to Nancy Wilson, Cassandra Wilson, and Dianne Reeves.

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Even when I sympathise with them I have low tolerance for ‘jazz police’ sorts, feels entirely contrary to the whole ethos of the genre to police it’s boundaries so rigidly. When it comes to people like Amy and the suggestion she isn’t a jazz vocalist they just betray their own ignorance. I think she’s first & foremost a jazz singer and an exemplary one too - this was the realisation moment for me - https://youtu.be/6NhkjW9DYLw

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Mar 6, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Thanks for this installment. She could “own” a song. She redefined the pop standard “Teach Me Tonight”, late to the game…she just nails it! Not everything was wonderful, but the ability to produce a gem is clear. I was extolling the wonderful Dinah Washington ballad style and someone said “Listen to Amy Winehouse”! Glad I did!

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Mar 6, 2022Liked by Ted Gioia

Articles like this really help me appreciate music more. As someone who has only made halting attempts to get into jazz, and never knew Amy Winehouse's music beyond the big hits, this essay just reveals so much of why music is meaningful to people as individuals and as a collective. I loved the line about how "she could have taught us something about music we didn't already know." I think you're spot on with that observation, based on watching the videos/songs you've shared. Thanks for the great writing!

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Oh, I so much like to read your articles. Thank you so very much! Even for a non-English speaker like me, your writing is clear, brilliant and wonderful to read. Merci. Vive la musique.

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As always Ted great article. She had deep soul and that came out through her voice . I had never heard her Reggae version of "Our Day Will Come" which is very good, but Ruby and The Romantics kinda owns that song.

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Excellent essay. I had not done a deep dive into her music until now. What a loss. I was a big Janis Joplin fan. Essay like this [and thinking about Janis] lead me to mourn the loss of the person and what could have been in their music; too this day I do periodic searches to see if there are any new/recently undiscovered Janis recordings. I love music and feel a strong connection to music and performers I love. I am off now to do a deep dive into Amy's music.

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