Carol Fredette was a lovely and much-admired singer who see-sawed between supper club and jazz. When she sang jazz, her voice grew hushed, as if telling you a secret. It also could become husky and rich, as on songs like This Is Always and Long Ago and Far Away. Born in 1940, she started singing right after college in the late 1950s with the touring big bands of Sal Salvador, Larry Elgart and Neal Hefti. Sadly, none of those dates were recorded, and if they were they were never released.
Fredette then spent the 1970s on the road as a club headliner. When she started to record in the early 1980s, she produced only six albums. Jazz had dried up and was especially hard on jazz singers. Then Carol became ill and died in January 2021. [Photo above of Carol Fredette]
Out today is a previously unreleased album by saxophonist Bill Kirchner that features Fredette and pianist Marc Copland. Recorded live on April 17, 2013, at The Players, a historic private club dating back to 1847 on New York's Gramercy Park, the album features seven standards and put Fredette's intellect and voice to the test. Both Bill and Marc are challenging jazz players who come at songs from unusual, sophisticated angles—Bill on the soprano sax and Marc with unusual chord voicings and singular counter-melodies. They take songs apart, reassemble them differently, change the tonality and bring them around—all on the bandstand and all on the spur, as the mood dictates. [Photo above of Bill Kirchner by Ed Berger]
As a result, Fredette was in deep waters and had to dig deep. My guess is she initially had to focus hard on the song's melody and listen for core notes that would keep her on track rather than distracted or derailed by the musical swerving of Bill and Marc. But in short order, Fredette was in sync with what Bill and Marc do with songs. The result was a completely different Fredette than the singer who appears on most of her other recordings, which tended to be rather formal.
Bill and Marc together produce renditions with aching melancholy and cascading drama with wonderful results. In the process, their deconstructive collaborations nudged Fredette into fascinating vocal risks and shaded corners. The tracks are All of You, Some Other Time, Dreamer, Beautiful Friendship, A Time for Love, Zingaro and For All We Know. [Photo above of Marc Copland by Guido Werner, courtesy of Marc Copland]
I've listened to this album seven times and I'm going to listen another seven times today. There's so many twists and turns in the music and how Fredette responds and interprets what's going on around her, musically. Listen to what she does on Some Other Time and Antonio Carlos Jobim's Dreamer. Or A Beautiful Friendship. Each interpretation has a song within a song within a song. Fredette had two choices on this live date: She could have performed these songs straight while Bill and Marc worked around her or she could have worked them with unusual choices of her own. Fortunately for us, the artist in her was pushed to the fore and she chose the latter very quickly and fearlessly.
I have all of Carol Fredette's albums and this is her finest by far, largely because of the demands that nudged her to new heights. Kudos to Bill for realizing when he lined up the gig that this would work splendidly and deliver timeless surprises. An amazing live journey. [Photo above by Ed Berger]
As you'll hear, Bill's playing is magnificent—harmonizing in places and adding counter-coloration in others. And Marc's chord voicings and side explorations are a trip. Remember, don't listen just once. You really need to listen to this album multiple times to pick up on what the performers were doing and how they managed to walk the creative tightrope together without slipping off.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Bill Kirchner's For All We Know here.
JazzWax note: For more on Bill Kirchner, go here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Dreamer...
And here's A Beautiful Friendship...
