England has given Noel Coward to the musical stage, the Beatles to rock and Mantovani to schmalz. But try as it might, it has not been able to make a major contribution to that indigenous American art form, jazz. Except, that is, for gin and Cleo Laine.
With the proper schooling early on, Cleo's superb natural voice could have carried her into an operatic or lieder career. Smoky and sinuous in its middle range, it leaps effortlessly between octaves (sometimes going as high as an Yma Sumac "super F" above high C). Sometimes it...
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