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Interview: Irma Curry (Part 2)

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Irma Curry
Irma Curry was a big band singer at a time when most big bands were shifting to the blues and the college dance circuit. Despite the trend, Irma developed a style all her own and stuck with it, with an emphasis on romantic ballads that she delivered with enormous feeling. In some respects, she had been hired by Lionel Hampton in 1950 as Little Jimmy Scott's female replacement when it appeared Scott would leave to become a solo act. Throughout the 1950s, Irma delivered songs with enormous passion, the slower the better. [Above, Irma Curry singing Love Is a Necessary Evil on stage in the early 1960s]

As you'll hear in the two clips I've included from her 1962 album, Love Is a Necessary Evil, Irma should have been recorded around the clock. What a voice and what phrasing! (All photos of Irma Curry courtesy of Irma's daughter, Kim.)

In Part 2 of my two-part conversation with Irma, she talks about Hampton, Al Cohn, Don Elliott and Benny Carter...

JazzWax: What was it like working with Lionel Hampton?

Irma Curry: We were always working. In May 1951, I went into the studio in New York with Lionel Hampton to record A Kiss Was Just a Kiss. It was given to Hamp by Fanny Wolff. Hamp handed it to me, we recorded it and soon after we did a club date in Beverly Hills. That’s when I met Harry James and Betty Grable. They were watching me sing. They said they were surprised that this big voice came out of such a tiny girl.

JW: You left Hampton in 1953. Why? IC: I began working gigs to take care of my daughter, Kim. I had been married, but it didn’t work out. I had a lot of offers from some very big names, who encouraged me to put Kim in boarding school so I could travel. But I couldn’t do that. I always had my baby in my heart. There’s no way I’d make that choice.

JW: In 1962, you made an important album for Columbia called Love Is a Necessary Evil. How did that come about?

IC: In 1962, my manager at the time was in touch with a publishing company that had a collection of songs by lyricist Jack Segal, with music by Marvin Fisher and a few different writers. They wanted to record the songs as a concept album that told the story about the devil and someone in love They put me in touch with John Hammond at Columbia, who set up the recording session with Don Elliott.

I remember getting to the studio all wrinkled up. I had on a peach linen suit and was crunched into my manager’s small car. When I walked in, the studio was huge and everyone there smiled at me. We didn’t rehearse. I had run down the music at the publisher’s office with Jack Segal (above) on piano. Then the publisher selected the tunes for an album, gave them to Al Cohn to arrange, who was familiar with my sound.

At the studio, I went into the booth, and we cut the sides. After being with Hamp’s band for three years, my ears were used to a full arrangement. I had no say in the material we recorded or the keys, but Al's arrangements were special and inventive. They were really exciting. When I heard them, they fit me like a hand in a glove. We did one or two takes per song and that was it. Don Elliott (above) was a real swinging, fun guy. Al was very shy. While I was singing from the booth, I’d look straight toward him through the glass. When I came out to hear the playback, Al gave me the thumbs up. It was love at first sound. When the album came out, I got four stars.

JW: What was it like recording with Benny Carter IN 1965?

IC: Great. Quincy Jones had introduced me to Benny in Hollywood in the early 1960s, after one of Quincy’s recording sessions for Frank Sinatra. Teddy Reig was there to hear the Sinatra session along with some other A&R people. Benny wanted me to be heard by different people he knew out there, such as Lee Young, Lester’s brother, who was an A&R guy for Vee-Jay Records. I recorded several singles with Benny. [Above, Frank Sinatra and Quincy Jones]

JW: What came next?

IC: From there, I appeared on TV’s Run for Your Life, starring Ben Gazzara (above). I played a singer in a German nightclub. After, I recorded additional sides with Benny Carter, he became my mentor. I remained in Hollywood for a few years but it was getting harder to find opportunities when rock and soul came in. I went back to New York and worked around town with my own trio. By then, disco was taking over. I was fortunate to continue working through the 1970s and played with Roland Hanna, Ron Carter and others.

I never stopped singing. I stayed in New York and raised my daughter, Kim, and gigged wherever I could. Kim and I eventually moved to Philadelphia and then to Connecticut when Kim attended college. I was in contact with Quincy whenever I could be. When he came to a bookstore near my house to sign his memoir, Q, in 2002, I waited on line. When he saw me, he gave me a big hug and said, “Oh, Lil’ Bits, you didn’t have to stand in line.” I said, “Oh yes I did.” [Above, Irma Curry performing in Savannah, Ga.]

JW: How would you describe your singing style?

IC: I’m too often misidentified as a blues singer. I’m not. I’m really a jazz, ballad and feeling kind of singer. I never had any formal training, so my approach is by my ear and heart. [Above, Irma Curry with Louis Jordan]

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Irma Curry's Love Is a Necessary Evil (Fresh Sound) here. The also are four bonus tracks with Lionel Hampton in 1950 and 1951, and two with Benny Carter in 1965.

Known personnel on the Don Elliott session: Hal McKusick (as), Barry Galbraith, Chuck Wayne (g), Bill Crow (b) and Jo Jones (d).

JazzWax clip: Here's Irma with Don Elliott's orchestra in 1962 on Love Is a Necessary Evil:

Here's Forget About the Boy: Forget About the Boy

And here's Can't Help It with Don Elliott's “doo-wee" scatting behind Irma. Dig the key change toward the end and how Irma handles it: Can't Help It

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This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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