About Me
Sensual and dignified, sophisticated and warm, Lee Wiley has inspired outbursts of sheer poetry from many a captivated listener. Her sound induces a "marvelous," "ticklish" sensation, akin to "running your hand over a piece of fine Harris tweed," marveled producer Dave Garroway. She "blows smoke rings, each note a puff that melts into wisps of vibrato," conceptualized author Will Friedwald. Her voice and style "have long since made me extremely eager to go to bed with her," disclosed critic James Frazier. Not content with this daring confession, he also bluntly labeled her "one bitch of a singer."Protested singer and Wiley scholar Barbara Lea: "She had more fire, more rhythm, more roughness, more silkiness, more deep personal warmth, than the job description of Pop Singer called for." Asked writer Richard Hadlock, in an open letter to Wiley, "Lee, have you ever wondered why so many from road-tough musicians to jaded pub-crawlers, act like kids on Christmas when they hear you sing?" (Wiley did wonder.) The eulogies could go on for pages, but the point is clear enough: Lee Wiley is a singer with a certain mystique.The Wiley mystique was generated by both personal and professional circumstances, and further fed by some willful biographical manipulation by her musical associates, her record labels, and the artist herself. Nicknamed "Pocahontas" and characterized as regal by her friends, Wiley descended from the princess of a Cherokee tribe and from an English missionary who married an American parishioner... according to publicity material. Her birth date remains uncertain - initially given as 1915, then moved back to 1910, still more recently to 1908 - and revisionism has taken over the more sensational aspects of her biography (running away from home in the late 1920s, temporary blindness after a fall from a horse in the early 1930s, a near encounter with tuberculosis in the mid-1930s, etc,).Her looks most certainly contributed to the Wiley allure. Her brother Ted once reported that everybody wanted to marry the tall, strikingly attractive Oklahoman with corn-colored hair and olive skin. ("Everybody" included the eight-times-married bandleader Artie Shaw, whose offer was declined by the twice-married singer.) One motivation for her long retirement (from about the age of 50 until the years preceding her death from cancer, in 1975) was the apparently high price that Wiley placed on physical attractiveness. It was her contention in 1971 that "singing includes a number of things ... aside from the voice ... these girls who are trying to get up on the bandstand at forty years old ... doesn't make any sense to me."An enigmatic personality likewise fueled the fascination. Various oral and written accounts paradoxically depict her as difficult and easy to work with; proud and/or bitter about the treatment received from the music business; heavily addicted to alcohol but outspokenly intolerant of other musicians' addictions; foul-mouthed, even unkind to other singers yet fiercely loyal to those within her own circle; hesitant while speaking though assured when singing. Friends and colleagues further portray her as a woman with a strong sense of integrity and a fierce sense of independence, traits that caused her to give up on various "golden" opportunities to further her career. The best documented of such opportunities happened in 1935 when she departed from a feature role in the top-rated Kraft radio show because its producers refused to give billing to composer Victor Young, who was then personal and musical partner.Wiley's relatively small discography further contributes to her mythic status. Over a four-decade career, she recorded less than ten albums and about 40 singles; live and radio broadcasts make up for the remainder of her material in circulation. Thus her mystique stems not only from her biography and her persona, her looks and her sound, but also from a sort of bittersweet adoration accorded to great but under-recorded artists.The appropriately titled Legendary Lee Wiley: Collectors' Items, 1931-1955 offers ample evidence of this artist's vocal allure, and in the process fills numerous gaps in her CD discography. Originally issued in LP configuration (1985), the CD improves over its vinyl predecessor by the addition of ten songs and five photos, and by enhanced sound quality. The CD omits two valuable items, however: one of two songs recorded with Dixieland backing for a 1956 RCA session, and a transcription of an extensive radio interview with Wiley, which the disc's producer printed on the back cover of the LP and continued on an insert. Fortunately, producer Takashi "Ted" Ono plans to feature the interview in a CD-ROM. As for the lamentable omission of Stars Fell on Alabama, Ono simply reminds us that it is already available on another Wiley CD (As Time Goes By, BMG).Those omissions are minor, particularly given that this generous release is over 70 minutes long and has a high proportion of rare items previously found on LP only. Of its 25 tracks, nearly 20 are new to CD, and the few that aren't can be found only on CDs not under Wiley's name - with one exception (It's Only a Paper Moon).But how does this collection help to reveal the Wiley mystique - the great fascination with a voice that has been variously described as "sultry," "intriguing," "straightforward," "husky," "exalted," "magical," "intimate," "southernly," "wistful," "genteel" and yet "devastating in its sex appeal?" Simply by showcasing her mellifluous alto voice and style, evident right from the outset of her career.The disc opens with perhaps her biggest single (Time on My Hands), a brief 1931 canary vocal for Leo Reisman's orchestra that reached the charts' top ten. It was only her third (known) record, following a 1928 "trial recording" for Victor and another Reisman vocal. This and other early tracks spotlight an already unique sound, albeit one that still bears a passing resemblance to that of Ethel Waters, whose style Wiley candidly acknowledged as having "adapted" and "softened."Of her other selections from the 1930s , the very rare piano-and-voice demo tracks (All I Remember Is You, You're So Indiff'rent) reveal so pure a tone, so mellow a sound that musical accompaniment often strikes the ear as mere ornament. Were this appreciation and review not so long already, much could be said about more technical aspects of Wiley's style - her avoidance of harsh R's; her distinctive pronunciation of vowels and of certain consonants, most notably her L's; her trademark trills or, more accurately, "inverted mordants" at the ends of phrases. Suffice it to say that many a listener has confessed to falling under the Wiley's vocal spell. Its effects range from one of comforting tenderness, as if a motherly voice were lulling you to sleep, to one of sexual yearning - as if a womanly voice were whispering sweet nothings in your ear.The post-1930s tracks showcase a thrillingly huskier voice and a less formal style than in the previous decade. They also feature some stellar, far from "ornamental" jazz and Dixieland accompaniment. Highlights include It's Only a Paper Moon (a minor hit in jazz circles, with accompaniment by then-husband Jess Stacy) and the five recordings with Eddie Condon's orchestra, two of them alternate takes. Her plaintive reading of The Man I Love suggests that she is panting after Jack Teagarden's marvelous trombone solo, perhaps also after the excellent brass figures played by Bobby Hackett and Billy Butterfield. Ditto on Someone to Watch Over Me, which, along with Sinatra's version, ranks among the best of this song's many beautifully vulnerable readings. As for Wherever There's Love - a song that saw minor action in the jukebox - the hymn-like simplicity of its lyrics suits her particularly well.Wiley is less successful on several up-tempo songs, and on ditties such as her 1947 duet with Bing Crosby of Kern's I Still Suits Me, which requires a colloquial, lowbrow delivery at odds with her sophisticated sound. Despite singing that is flawless and charming from beginning to end, the impression remains that this is an "aristocrat" impersonating a woman from a lower social background. And no wonder: Her persona is Regal, her voice Sublime.
