Mary Ann McCall

McCall was described as a rising star in 1939.^[4] She sang with jazz bands led by Charlie Barnet,^[5] Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton,^[6] Artie Shaw, Teddy Powell, and Woody Herman.^[3][7][8] In 1949, she won the Down Beat Readers' Poll for "Girl Singer (With Band)".^[9]

McCall made several recordings in the 1940s and 1950s.^[10][11] Billboard magazine reviewed her 1947 recordings of "Money is Honey" and "On Time", praising her "torchy and scorchy pipes" and "real blues feeling."^[12] Woody Herman recalled that "she was truly a great jazz singer."^[13] In 1952, Jet magazine included McCall in a feature titled "Do White Singers Imitate Negroes?"^[14]

McCall experienced heroin addiction, was found guilty of drug possession in San Francisco in 1953, and spent 23 days in jail.^[15][16] In 1954, she toured the United States with Stan Kenton's Festival of Modern American Jazz.^[17] In 1960 she and the Barney Kessel Quintet played six nights in San Francisco.^[18] In 1973 she sang at an event in Sherman Oaks, sharing the stage with Sam Yorty, William Conrad, and Jerry Scoggins.^[19] In 1976 she performed at the Concord Summer Festival, with Jake Hanna's Kansas City Express.^[20] As late as 1985 she was still singing occasionally in clubs in Southern California.^[21]

• Mary McCall Sings (Discovery, 1950)^[22]
• An Evening with Charlie Ventura and Mary Ann McCall (Norgran, 1954)^[2][23]
• Another Evening with Charlie Ventura and Mary Ann McCall (Norgran, 1954)^[24]
• Easy Living (Regent, 1957)^[10][25]
• Detour to the Moon (Jubilee, 1958)^[2]
• Melancholy Baby (Coral, 1959)^[26]

• Jake Hanna, Kansas City Express (Concord Jazz, 1976)
• Nat Pierce, 5400 North (Hep, 1979)^[2][27]

McCall was briefly married to jazz saxophonist Al Cohn.^[2] She died in Los Angeles, California in 1994.^[1] Her son Don Siok was a professional golfer.^[21]