UNLIKE IN CLASSICAL MUSIC or pop, vocalists have sometimes been looked down on by jazz instrumentalists. In the past, jazz players were often obliged to play the pop hits of their era to make a living, when their real desire was to play the unpredictable, improvised music they wanted, without commercial restrictions. Bandleaders therefore hired singers to make the music more accessible to the public, and the players resented it, contemptuously labelling the vocalists ‘canaries’.
