Monday, February 2, 2009

Name this singer, win a prize.

Ready for another contest? Click here and listen to a mystery track on my Vox blog.

The first person to correctly name that singer – in the comments section here – will win a prize. (Only one guess per person, please.)

That prize is a new CD featuring Miles Davis in his boppish prime, alongside John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and other all-stars. The “Broadcast Sessions” album contains performances recorded for radio in 1958 and 1959. (Click here to hear one of those tracks.)

UPDATE (02/04/09): Well, no winner this time. Contest is over. The song is called “Miles,” and the singer is Frank Holder, an esteemed jazz vocalist in the U.K.

Holder also used to be a Calypsonian. He was born in Guyana.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to admit it but this sounds like Tony Bennett to me... Gonna go slit my wrists now...

Kellybelle said...

I was gonna say Tony Bennet, too!
I listened to Wlakin' straight through til' I realized there was no vocal. Duh.

um...can Ihave another guess? Mel Torme?

Sam said...

George Benson?

Sam said...

I take it back, its not George Benson, it's probably Craig Easley.

Undercover Black Man said...

^ You take it back??

Sam, even if it was Craig Easley, you wouldn't have won the prize. Only one guess allowed.

I can't be fucked with when I'm in game-show-nerd mode.

Now who-da-hell is Craig Easley?

Anonymous said...

The pronunciation of some of the words gives it away as someone British or from perhaps from the Caribbean. I know who it is but only because I found the answer in an obvious place and confirmed it via Wikipedia. I'll leave it for someone else to claim the prize.

Undercover Black Man said...

^ You don't want the prize, neptune?? You earned it, brah. Take it!

Undercover Black Man said...

Also, neptune, I suppose you found it in an "obvious place" after making an educated guess as to the title of the tune?

Unknown said...

Johnny Hartman?

Withnail said...

Well, shit, if no one else is gonna try.

Harry Belafonte?

Undercover Black Man said...

neptune, where y'at?

Withnail said...

So it's not harry belafonte?

Undercover Black Man said...

^ Afraid not.

Anonymous said...

Eddie Jefferson?

Anonymous said...

Nobody's guessed it yet? The answer is on UBM's Vox site.

(Hah! The captcha for this post is "ashiness". Dang, Google, hittin' a little close to home there.)

Undercover Black Man said...

^ neptune, if you think it's Oscar Brown, you're wrong.

Anonymous said...

Carmen McRae?

boarddebi said...

Hey UBM,

Is it Miles Davis?

Undercover Black Man said...

^ No, it's not.

S.O.L. said...

I know it's gonna kill me when you reveal this -- or maybe not. The voice is so familiar and yet ...

Whoever said Tony Bennett needs to listen to TB sing a bit -- nothing like him at all. I got three guesses and I know they're all wrong so I'm gonna say ... Johnny Hartman?

Unknown said...

Thats what I thought too...If its not Johny, I am stumped..

Anonymous said...

Oh wah, I was going to guess that next after some cursory googling earlier today. I just wanted to get a listen to his voice first and didn't have time to find a sample. Good contest but did you really expect anyone to get this? That guy is fairly obscure, no? Give us a reasonable shot. :-)

That said, I'm going to ask a aficionado who's closer to Miles Davis' age whether they've ever heard of this guy.

Undercover Black Man said...

^ neptune: I like a challenging contest. And it's a tricky zone between finding one that anybody would know and finding one that's ridiculously impossible.

And while I didn't expect any of my readers to recognize Frank Holder's voice (especially since I don't have any regular U.K. readers, to my knowledge), this is one that was figure-outable... if someone wanted to invest 15 minutes or so.

You were doing it right when you said: "The pronunciation of some of the words gives it away as someone British or from perhaps from the Caribbean." That excludes a lot of people.

Then, if you guess that the title of the track is "Miles" (or even "Miles, Miles"), then it's a matter of just doing a little search-engine work on iTunes. It's there (audio sample and all).

S.O.L. said...

Damn, I looked it up on iTunes and couldn't find it. And I knew the name of the song. I knew it had to be an obscure guy cause you wouldn't make it that easy. Give us a new one, UBM. I want that there prize. LOL