My love for Michel Legrand led me to Les Swingle Singers, due that his sister Christiane Legrand is part of the ensemble. Basically The (or Les) Swingle Singers are jazz scat singers, but mostly did classical compositions, and usually the very famous pieces such as Chopin's "Étude (Op.25 No. 2) and Beethoven's "Allegro (Sonate Op; 26) and so forth. A mixture of tenor, bass, and alto vocals, with a backing of a stand-up bass and drums, gives a full-sound that is right in the middle of jazz and classical. Too light to be jazz, and too low-brow for classical, it's the ultimate bachelor's pad music, yet the singing is unbelievable.
As much as possible I try to follow the late great Christiane Legrand (1930-2011) as much as possible. It's her vocals on Procol Harum's "Fires (Which Burnt Brightly) off the classic "Grand Hotel" album that first got me started, and of course, when I found out the connection that Michel is her brother, I had to fulfill my collector's instinct. She also has done work with her brother on some of the Jacques Demy soundtracks as well. Still, for the beginner, I strongly recommend "Getting Romantic" which is a sampler of the more 'amour' melodies from Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Shubert.
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