I have to admit I'm probably one of Chris Connor's youngest fans, and when I heard she had died last week at the age of 81, I was truly saddened. I remember when I first heard about her. I was 23 years old and visiting a crumbling old hole in the wall record store on North Charles Street in Baltimore. The proprietor was a great guy and he terrific stuff in his bins, including several female vocalists, which have always been my favorites. As I flipped through each rack, he gushed about Nina Simone, June Christy, Julie London, Diana Dors, and Chris Connor. I bought the Diana Dors album "Swinging Dors" that day, but didn't forget the name of Chris Connor. I couldn't even tell you which lp he played for me that day. During those days I usually was a frequent visitor to Tower Records in Annapolis and in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Japan has always had a love affair with Chris, apparently, because even then they were certain to have pressed limited copies of her great Atlantic albums on cd. During 1990-91, I grew to love Connor, and over the years I managed to acquire all of her Atlantic pressings (which I admit was difficult in the early 90's since they were produced in limited quantities). Since then, I've managed to gather just about all of her albums, and there really isn't a clunker in the lot (although her Sweet and Swinging album tends to be my least favorite). I was fortunate enough to see her perform live, just once, in Rockville, Maryland, when she appeared in 1999 at the East Coast Jazz Festival. I remember she sang Blue Moon and Key Largo and three other songs before feeling faint. Russ Kassoff, a great NYC pianist, helped her off the stage and she never returned! I was disappointed since most of the singers who appeared would mingle after their set (and hers started at midnight)! But I have to hand it to Chris...I had brought a pile of her cds and wanted to gush to her like a silly kid abotu how I loved her voice, how she was so great...and despite the fact that she never came back, she made sure that one of my cds of hers, Blue Moon, was signed. I'll miss her...but I'll still be listening...
