There was a time when Frank Sinatra had the ladies swooning and Nat Cole elicited sighs, but back then there were those of us who also appreciated the vocalizing of chitlin-circuit singer best known for his rendition of a raunchy song entitled “I want a bow-legged woman”. Like his contemporaries Arthur Prysock, and Billy Eckstein, a guy named Bull Moose Jackson could also wrap his pipes around love ballads and make female hearts flutter.

Yes, Ella’s fans considered her the best, and blond blue-eyed Doris Day was everybody’s favorite girl next door but, with her soaring range and luscious tone, Sarah Vaughn could hold her own.

A lurker chided me for choosing Bull Moose Jackson over Billy Eckstein on this post, the feeling being that Billy was a more appropriate choice, him being typical of the deep-voiced mellow toned male ballad singers of this era whose lush orchestral accompaniments always featured a lot of violins. I suspect that music fans of today will find this music schmaltzy, unless maybe - they are fans of Luther or Maxwell. But again I stress how mind broadening diversity can be.

I think I have exhausted my quota for embedding YouTube videoes on this site, but for anybody who is curious here is a link to a favorite by Mr. B., as Billy Eckstein was nicknamed by his fans.

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Dear Cynique:

It is 2010. Try to promote somebody who at least recorded in the last 30 years.

Dear Chris: I am not trying to promote anybody. The artists I focused on here are all dead. As I have repeatedly stated, my aim in showcasing all of these stars of yesteryear is to introduce people to what they might not be familiar with, which is the music of the past. Everybody who comes to this board is certainly familiar with the music of the last 20 years or 30 years. They don't need me to refresh their memories.