"Blue Velvet" vocal
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Just listened to the classic rendition of that song by Bobby Vinton. I was struck by the way he executed the long drawn-out glissando from the close back rounded vowel to the voiced labiodental fricative.
The vocal tract as a sort of trombone.
Selected readings
- "Video of Trombone Shockwave" (5/28/11)
- "The sounds instruments make" (10/7/10)
- "Woo" (11/24/17)
- MNOZIL BRASS | Lonely Boy (2 years ago) — Austrian brass septet
- "What do you hear?" (3/1/20)
- "Names of Chinese birds" (11/16/14)
Violet Zhu said,
December 5, 2025 @ 10:18 pm
This song reminds me of another song, Cornflower Blue by Kate Wolf! Though the styles are somewhat different.
Victor Mair said,
December 6, 2025 @ 11:08 am
@Violet Zhu
You're the perfect person to write that comment.
Stephen Goranson said,
December 6, 2025 @ 1:12 pm
"Blue Velvet" was first recorded by Tony Bennett, and later by many others, including in the Spanish melodrama, "Velvet," which I recently heard, so there are abundant comparanda for the rendition of Bobby Vinton.
Victor Mair said,
December 6, 2025 @ 7:24 pm
Many thanks for the suggestion about Tony Bennett's recording of "Blue Velvet". I just listened to three versions by him, and in each one, he jumped precisely and neatly from the lower note to the upper note, a third higher, without sliding / slipping upward. A remarkable difference from the glissando of Bobby Vinton.
maidhc said,
December 6, 2025 @ 7:57 pm
The Clovers did a nice R&B version in 1955. I believe it was Willis "Gator" Jackson featured on tenor sax.
Victor Mair said,
December 6, 2025 @ 8:58 pm
A good saxophonist can glide over many notes of the scale.
KevinM said,
December 8, 2025 @ 4:13 pm
At least for a classically trained singer, sliding on the V sound, as opposed to the open vowel, is unusual. Sinatra, too, would hold on a non-vowel, but voiced (obviously) sound such as "ng".