Back in the fifties when jazz vocalist Chris Connor was at her peak, it always seemed that like most of the other female singers of the period, she took a back seat to Ella Fitzgerald. It was as though there was Ella, and there was everyone else. Now while there is no question Fitzgerald was a remarkable talent who deserved every accolade she received, Connor and others deserve some time out from under her shadow. This is not to say that the singer had no recognition in her day. Her records were best sellers and her appearances in legendary jazz clubs like Birdland and the Village Vanguard were sellouts. Although she made her share of TV appearances, she never quite achieved the mass appeal of Fitzgerald.
Perhaps that's why in 1965, after leaving her long term contract with Atlantic
Records, she would join with producer Kenny Greengrass and arrangers Pat Williams and Don Sebesky to turn out a couple of pop albums much more likely to have an appeal to a larger audience. Unfortunately, if that were the intention, it didn’t quite pan out as hoped: for whatever reason the records never went very far. And that is doubly a shame, because they show the singer at her accessible best. Luckily the first of these, Chris Connor Sings Gentle Bossa Nova, is soon to be re-released by Just A Memory Records. Old timers will have the luxury of revisiting one of the great voices of their youth; youngsters will have the joy of discovery.
Connor's smooth styling and crystalline tone were made for the mellow dance rhythms of bossa nova, the jazzy Brazilian import which was sweeping the country with Stan Getz's 1964 recording of "The Girl From Ipanema" with vocalist Astrud Gilberto. Not only did the Latin transplant have pop cache, saxophone master Getz gave it jazz credibility as well. Choosing material for Connor was a no brainer; nearly all of the songs they selected for the album had been popular hits. There was a nice variety of tracks, and Williams' arrangements swing. It should have been a smash, and even a cursory listen to the album today has to make you wonder why it wasn't.
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