Another jazz resource: Your local library

I used to go to the library quite often. For a while, I was renting two or three audio books every three weeks and plowing through them. In about a year, I pretty much wiped out everything of interest at our local library. (Yes, it is small.) After I got off the library kick, Mrs. S got on it. Since I developed an interest in jazz, she has often brought home a handful of jazz CD's that happened to catch her eye for me to listen to. Since she is not familiar with the jazz world, basically she just picks up any CD that has a "jazz" label on it. While this approach has not helped me to discover any unheard of musicians that I really liked (well, maybe Dave Grusin), it has helped me find some that I know I don't like, and it has also helped me find some rather different works from certain artists that I do like. If I like something, I note it down and buy it next chance I get. Right now I'm listening to Eliane Elias Sings and Plays Bill Evans. Now, I had never heard of Ms. Elias, but I figured if she was audacious enough to put out a CD of Bill Evans songs, she must be pretty good. (And actually, Bill's was a name Mrs. S recognized, which is why she brought this particular CD home for me.) Eliane plays pretty good. She has a nice mellow, full sound, and her voice is not fantastic but admirable and very well suited to jazz singing. Listening to her in my car, though, I thought I heard something funny. I listened more closely, and I noticed her pronunciation sounded foreign, maybe Japanese. Of course, with a name like Eliane Elias, I knew she wasn't Japanese (at least not pure Japanese), but what unusual pronunciation. I chalked it up to a bad recording. But then she got to Detour Ahead and I swear, I thought she'd turned into Elmer Fudd: "No twouble on the woad, no de-too...wah head." I started laughing out loud. Man, I felt sorry for the girl. Such talent. A decent voice. Not bad looking. Great piano chops. But, oh man, the lame English. Yikes. If I ever learn to compose jazz tunes, I promise to write her a song that contains no r's and only limited consonants. Maybe my Eliane vehicle can make her a true star...

Anyway, if you're new to jazz, take a trip to your library. They are likely to have a lot of standards by mainstream jazz musicians – what most people want to hear – and it is easy enough to steer clear of the popular stream stuff you might not (or might) be interested in (Kenny G, Michael Buble, that lot). You may even be able to find some Eliane.