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Spider Saloff
Biography
Known for co-hosting the public radio program Words & Music and for her live tributes to Tin Pan Alley icon George Gershwin, Spider Saloff is a Chicago-based jazz vocalist with a clean, uncomplicated, straightforward approach. On ballads, Saloff can be a vulnerable, tender, and introspective torch singer; on up-tempo material, the Windy City resident can be fun and playfully swinging. Because Saloff has devoted entire concerts to the Gershwin songbook and obviously has an extensive knowledge of the classic Broadway theater music of the '20s, '30s and '40s, some have described her as a cabaret artist. But even though Saloff has attracted her share of attention in cabaret circles and has performed at some cabaret-friendly venues, she prefers to be categorized as a jazz vocalist -- and, to be sure, her approach is more jazz than cabaret. Saloff scats and improvises -- two of the main things that jazz vocalists are known for doing -- and the people who have influenced her the most are definitely jazz-oriented, including Anita O'Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Julie London. When Saloff scats, one can tell that she has paid very close attention to Fitzgerald's scatting (which isn't to say that she is actually emulating Fitzgerald, or anyone else).
Selected Discography