I have some totally cool Twitter followers. There's a car commercial on television. It's a car commercial promoting the new Lincoln Aviator. In the ad, you hear a female vocalist do a sensationally smooth jazz rendition of "It's a Most Unusual Day," a song introduced by Jane Powell in a 1948 MGM musical titled A DATE WITH JUDY.
I'd never heard that jazz vocal before but I loved it immediately. Who was the singer? Was it Blossom Dearie? Chris Connor? June Christy? None of the three. I asked for help on Twitter and, within 15 minutes, a follower messaged me that the singer is Beverly Kenney. Thank you, Charlee, for the answer!
Here's the Beverly Kenney jazz vocal heard in the TV commercial:
Wasn't that a treat for the ears? Here's another one. This song, I first heard on an album I had of vocals by Lee Wiley. Now, Beverly Kenney also does jazz justice to "A Woman's Intuition."
I searched online for some biographical information about this singer. It was sad. With that velvety voice, she suffered from mental issues and took her own life in 1960. New Jersey native Beverly Kenney was only 28 when she died in Greenwich Village.
She left us with rediscovered beauty.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuUyDmeWmRg
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDone. And thank you.
DeleteBeautiful. Thanks for the ad peole for finding such gems to put with today's music. Great.
ReplyDeleteMy comments above (deleted) make no sense anymore now that you've removed the snake oil intrusions. (Good!) So now let me say how much I love Bev's pure, sweet, jazzy voice. After hearing so much American Idol style over-emoting and shrieking high notes, its a relief to hear what great singers with laid back musicians can do. Thanks Bobby (and that car ad) for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with the comments here in praise of Beverly Kenney's rendition of "It's a Most Unusual Day." On a first listen, I had guessed that it was Stacey Kent!-- (who sounds very much like her). Thank you Bobby Rivers for bringing this little factoid to light. And well done Lincoln Aviator for choosing to bring to us, even in the form of a commercial fragment of the original, a really fine jazz tune of Beverly Kenney's!
ReplyDelete