Pop culture in the mid-20th century included Playboy magazine, the one men claimed they bought to read the articles, not to “appreciate” the model spreadeagled in the centerfold. Published by Hugh Hefner, the rag doubled-down on an image of women’s role that the Second Wave of feminism of the 1970s and 1980s labored to correct. Hefner’s successful print empire expanded into major cities with Playboy Clubs, styled not as brothels but as extensions of Hef’s fabled and desirable rumpus room.
This 1959 video here was recorded in that very place during one of Hef’s legendary star-studded parties. An assemblage of the top jazz musicians of the day can be seen and heard, including Count Basie at the piano with the singer from his acclaimed orchestra, Joe Williams; a young listener named Tony Bennett; and the trio of members of “the hottest new vocal group in jazz” Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks, and Annie Ross.
The first clip shows Annie singing her original lyrics to “Twisted” — a song covered and made much more popular by Joni Mitchell in 1974. A difficult type of lyric writing is aced by Ms. Ross: “vocalese.”
Vocalese is a type of rhymed poetry whose form precisely clings to a previously recorded jazz instrumental tune. Sometimes the lyricist pens words to match a melody as Abby Lincoln did in 1991 to Freddie Hubbard’s 1966 song, “Up Jumped Spring.”
Sometimes a memorable soloist has his ideas illuminated in syllables, as Eddie Jefferson did with James Moody’s sax work on “I’m In the Mood for Love.”
In the case of “Twisted,” Annie used a composition by the same name recorded in 1949 by her friend, saxophonist Wardell Gray. She decorated his melody, solo and coda with words. Annie’s story reveals presciently feminist thinking for the post World War II period in which it was written. I believe that is what attracted Joni Mitchell, a singer/poet with a similar vocal range and attitude, to cover it in 1974, popularizing it two decades after it was first released.
The ostensible subject matter of this poem is a conversation or two that Annie had with her shrink. Initially she relates the various ways he alleges that she is “out of my head”. Then she corrects his assertions by explaining her thinking. “I heard little children were supposed to sleep tight, that’s why I…
