Just as Anita O'Day recommended June Christy as her replacement in the Stan Kenton Orchestra, Christy, after tiring of the road life with the Kenton band, heard Chris Connor sing with Jerry Wald on the radio and recommended her. Connor had long had her sites on performing with the Kenton band, and she felt her succession of Christy and O'Day made musical sense, “My voice seemed to fit the band, with that low register like Anita’s and June’s." Like her two predecessors, Connor also had a hit record with Kenton, "All About Ronnie." Although her tenure with Kenton lasted only about ten months, prior engagements with Claude Thornhill and the previously-mentioned Wald meant that Connor had been on the road almost continuously for almost six years. She was ready to go it alone when she left Kenton in 1953.
Upon leaving Kenton, Connor became one of the first jazz artists to sign with the independent label, Bethlehem. The musicians with whom she recorded on that label included some significant figures from the period: Ellis Larkins, Herbie Mann, Kai Winding and J.J.Johnson. While with Bethlehem, Connor recorded what critic Will Friedwald designated as the definitive female version of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life."
Connor's three successful recordings with Bethlehem caused some of the larger labels to take notice and helped Atlantic to stake their claim in the jazz world when she signed with that label in 1956; she would record with that label until 1962. The three Bethlehem albums and the 12 she recorded with Atlantic (2 per year is a pretty good pace) are considered to be the essential body of Connor's work. While with Atlantic Connor primarily recorded with three types of ensembles: a foursome, a larger ensemble (often a nonet), and a string orchestra. Many of the larger orchestrations were arranged by conductor Ralph Burns, while pianist Ralph Sharon, who would go on to a long and successful collaboration with Tony Bennett, arranged much of the smaller ensemble work. One album, Double Exposure, that didn't fit these categories featured Connor singing in front of the big band of trumpet pyrotechnician, Maynard Ferguson. Most, if not all, of the Atlantic catalog is available as individual CDs, plus Atlantic has compiled a "best of" collection, Chris Connor Warm Cool, selected jointly by the singer and critic Will Friedwald.
Friedwald, in comparing Connor to O'Day, described her singing this way, "But mainly, when you think of O'Day, think spontaneity, when you think of Connor, think control. Think also of an O'Day-ish voice whose shaping of lines and phrases owes more to Holiday, Sinatra, and Lee. Think of understatement but not undersinging or "minimalism."" Scott Yanow considered her, along with Christy and Lee, as symbolizing the cool jazz of the 1950s. He wrote, "Her straightforward, vibratoless delivery gives one the impression that she is both vulnerable and very guarded ..."
As teen-oriented music began to dominate the charts in the 1960s, Connor, like many other jazz singers, lost her contract with a major label. Unfortunately for this blog, the Chris Connor who dominates You Tube is a British Elvis impersonator, and I can't find any videos from her Atlantic years to include. What follows, however, are two videos of songs Connor recorded on minor labels in the mid-60s that still represent what Friedwald and Yanow wrote about.
Along with many other jazz artists, Connor spent time and gained popularity in Japan during the late '60s and '70s. She did experience a resurgence in the '80s. Here is "Sweet Happy Life" from 1987's Classic album.
On August 29, 2009, Chris Connor was the last of the vo-cool school of singers to depart this earth. She was 81.
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