Doreen Smith

Not a "diva", not a "songbird"...
... a singer.

Biography
Discography
Hear Doreen Sing
First Memories of Doreen Smith
Or: how I came to dig her





In a time when vocal gymnastics are passed off as singing...
When Whitney's constant flitting around a note like a moth instead of hitting it is considered "great"...
When Mariah's dog-whistle is admired by millions...
When even jazz singers are not immune to the worship of sheer technique:

Doreen Smith Doreen Smith is the proverbial breath of fresh air.
While she does sing jazz, she extemporizes and all that, she also knows that some parts of a song are good enough to do them "as is" [or else why do that song at all?]. Hers is an art of subtlety and restraint, of feeling over contortion, of content over form: of refined creation. She's not "performing": she's singing, a distinction all too rare nowadays. The only other jazz singers I can think of offhand who are similarly devoted to emotion instead of showiness are Dave Frishberg, Billie Holiday and Tony Bennett...

... and I think Doreen is good enough to sit at the table with all of them. There may be other singers as good as she is, but none better.







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