Jazz, blues and nostalgia. This time about Julie London.
She was a singer who once said herself that she ‘only had a thimbleful of a voice’, but she did fabulous things with that small thimble. It has been said that she had a voice for a room filled with smoke. Men went weak at the knees and women were filled with envy due to her cool sound and her thrilling body shape (which was fully exploited on the record-sleeves). Julie London began her career as an elevator operator, became a pin-up for soldiers and eventually began singing. The world of women was very simple for jazz pianist and songwriter Bobby Troup, the pretty ones don’t have talent and therefore a good singer will never look pretty. That idea suddenly changed when he had to accompany Julie London at a party. He became her coach and her future husband. He carefully worked out the draft which would make her famous. Her sound, which was described with terms such as ‘sultry’, ‘husky’, ‘breathy’, and ‘intimate’, came out the best with a small, intimate accompaniment. And it resulted in beautiful albums. From this a random selection in this portrait of Julie London.
