BEVERLY BOYNTON, BLUES BELTER

It was said of Miss Boynton, after her now legendary performance at Hal’s Hi-Jinks Music Club in Portland, Oregon, in 2004, that nearby Mount St. Helens blew its stack in envy, for she had a voice that could shake the apples from the trees and the grapes from their vines.  Though just five feet three inches tall, the mythic Beverly was composed of – according to equally fictive jazz historian, Ken Epperson – “98 percent lungs,” bestowing her with stunning vocal power matched by exquisite timing.  Beverly was born, like other stellar female singers Sarah Vaughan, Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick, in Newark, N.J., an incubator for the development of Black musical greatness.  She died not far from her birthplace, in South Orange, N.J., in 2012, beloved by millions, and was buried still wearing her trademark long black gloves.