note: this article was reprinted with permission from Michael Steinman's Jazz Lives website.



The remarkable jazz singer Barbara Lea has left us. Her dear friend Jeanie Wilson writes, "I am deeply saddened to have to report the death of our own Barbara Lea, "The High Priestess of Popular Song". She died peacefully yesterday, Monday, December 26, here in Raleigh, North Carolina; I was with her as were my husband, Bill, and our dear friend, Junk. And as most of you already know, Barbara has been battling Alzheimer's for quite some time. So, "Sleep Peaceful", dear Barbara… we will miss you but now you are free to sing once again."

I know that many JAZZ LIVES readers have their own memories of hearing and working with Barbara, which I will share in an upcoming post. For now, this is the way I and so many others will think of her:

It's an informal exploration of SKYLARK at the 1983 Manassas Jazz Festival - where Barbara is backed empathically by tenor saxophonist Mason "Country" Thomas, who also left us in 2011; Larry Eanet, piano; Butch Hall, guitar; Van Perry, bass; Tom Martin, drums. Thanks to Sflair for the original video and for sharing it with us on YouTube.

A musician who worked and recorded with Miss Lea several times is the fine drummer Hal Smith, who had this to say, "She had a lovely voice, terrific intonation, perfect diction and her voice aged very well. I had heard that she adopted the last name of "Lea" as a tribute to Lee Wiley. If that's true, she deserved to invoke Ms. Wiley's name. At the recording session she was well-prepared with a list of songs and keys, easy-to-read charts and ideas for routines. In that respect, and in her pleasant demeanor, she reminded me of another great vocalist - with the last name of Kilgore."

Saxophonist, pianist, and director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Loren Schoenberg, also worked with and learned from Barbara: "Barbara Lea passed away this week and the world has lost an exemplary interpreter of 20th century popular music and I've lost a dear friend and mentor.

I was driving Benny Carter down Seventh Avenue to a rehearsal years ago and Louis Armstrong came over the radio playing "Ain't Misbehavin'" . Benny's response was "Listen to that – no bullshit!" And in the generous sense in which Benny meant it, one can transpose the same comment to Barbara's music, though I'm sure she wouldn't be happy with that language.

She was above all an intelligent and classy lady, with a gift for discovering the melodic and lyrical essence of a song. We started working together in the late 70's and continued up to the point her illness made it impossible several years ago. If I heard her sing one tune, I heard her sing several hundred, because I was first and foremost a fan, and went to as many of her gigs as I could, many times with my parents. The Mr. Tram ensemble we had with Dick Sudhalter and Daryl Sherman was nothing less than a joy. You should have heard the conversations; they were as good as the music! Barbara was incapable of coasting when she sang. No wonder so many composers, starting with Alec Wilder, were so crazy about her. What a variety of timbres she had, and a variety of ways of phrasing to match the words. Scatting wasn't for her, and she was forthright about her opinions, and blessedly empathetic with others who didn't necessarily agree with her. There's much more to be said about her, but for the essence, just listen. It's ALL there."

We'll miss Barbara Lea.

(Thanks to David J. Weiner, Hal Smith, and Loren Schoenberg for their help.)