Pinky Winters: Lonely One

January 09, 2018

Pinky Winters: Lonely One

First, let me say there are no bad Pinky Winters albums—even though they span more than 50 years. This fact alone is extraordinary, since many singers' early albums are their best works, with later efforts growing progressively lighter as the voice ages and work slows. Not so Winters. Second, great jazz musicians (Zoot Sims, Lou Levy, Gerald Wiggins among them) were smitten by Winters' phrasing and tone, which is reedy, jazzy and inventive. Naturally, Sarah Vaughan was Winters' major inspiration from the time she was 15.

Like Vaughan, Winters, had no problem veering away from a song's melody in places. Listening to her find her way back is fascinating. She often took such creative chances on the fly. That's the bold and clever jazz musician in her, the artist who liked to take vocal risks without a net.

Of her 10 albums, I rather like Lonely One best. Not because it beats all the others but because her voice was at its youthful, optimistic peak and her sidemen were sensational. Recorded in 1958, the album featured Winters backed by Gerald Wiggins (p), Howard Roberts (g), her husband at the time Jim Wolf (b) and Chico Hamilton (d). See what I mean by perfect rhythm section?

The songs were Lonely One, Polka Dots and Moonbeams, Cheek to Cheek, It Never Entered my Mind, You Smell So Good, Easy Living, Jeepers Creepers, I've Got Plenty of Love, Gone With the Wind, October's Dream, Pennies From Heaven and My Heart's a Child. On all tracks, Winters' voice has a relaxed innocence, but she wasn't content to sing these songs straight and knew exactly when to take a vocal chance.

Winters' earliest albums were Pinky (1954), Pinky & Zoot (1954, with Zoot Sims) and Lonely One (1958). During this period, she was married to Wolf, and they had a daughter. In the late 1950s, Winters divorced. Let's pick up the story from her site's bio, which was written by Bill Reed:

[After the divorce], Pinky got an office job to make money to raise her daughter. Eventually she met and married Bob Hardaway (who was on the NBC staff as a saxophone and reeds player), had another daughter and happily raised her children in their lovely home in the Hollywood Hills. During that time, she didn't sing for 13 years.

In 1979, Winters found a babysitter and resumed singing at clubs in L.A. The albums she recorded after returning to performing were The Shadow of Your Smile (1983), Speak Low (1983), Let's Be Buddies (1985), As Long as There's Music (1994), Happy Madness (1994), Rain Sometimes (2001), World on a String (2006) and Winters in Summer (2010). [Photo above, from left, of Pinky Winters, pianist Lou Levy and singer Jackie Cain]

In listening to all of her albums, I've long wondered why she wasn't a bigger deal. She certainly had the chops and connections to wind up on EmArcy and become a household name. My guess is that as a new mom in the early '50s in L.A., touring was out. And without extensive touring, she was a lot less appealing to labels that expected their artists to perform and promote records on the radio and TV while building a name for themselves. I suspect Winters' daughters are grateful their mom was around for all of the milestones they went through growing up. Becoming famous has always been a full-time enterprise with enormous personal sacrifices. We're just lucky Winters had the passion and drive to make the 10 albums in her discography.

If you're unfamiliar with Winters, you're in for quite a treat.

JazzWax tracks: Pinky Winters' Lonely One is hard to find and goes for upward of $30. It looks like the album and her other recordings are available at her site. But be warned, I'm not sure it's still active, since I sent an email last week and never heard back. If you want to buy from the site, I suggest you do the same first. Or at Amazon here.

JazzWax note: For more on Winters' bio, go here. For her discography, go here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Winters' entire Pinky album for Vantage in 1954...