Lee Wiley was a song stylist who, beginning in 1939, focused on songs from the Great American Songbook, way before that term came into being. She usually interpreted them complete with the verses, which added considerably to her story-telling impact. She was backed up mainly by musicians in the Chicago-style and Eddie Condon groups, such as Bobby Hackett, Max Kaminsky, Bud Freeman and Jess Stacy, but also by such musicians as Red Allen, Billy Butterfield, and Fats Waller. As an example of her jazz singing, I’ve chosen “I’ve Got the World on a String” from 1940. Tony Flood tells me … Continue reading Jazz Birthdays: Lee Wiley (1915) and Yusef Lateef (1920)