Tag Archives: Jazz Singer

62nd Street Adds, Reviews

Kristin Callahan – Lost In A Dream

Leave a comment
Kristin Callahan

Kristin Callahan – Lost In A Dream
Released – 16 July 2021

I started listening to the one original from Ms. Callahan, surrounded by a half-dozen cover tunes. “Lost In A Dream” is a perfect introduction to her lyrical styling.  It is both melancholy and inviting at the same time.  The love story not returned floats along perfectly framed by Matvei Sigalov on guitar and Mark Prince’s percussion.

You don’t know what you have lost,

But one day, you will remember.

“The person in love is literally lost in a dream, hoping their love will finally be reciprocated,” Callahan remarks.

Ah, but returned love is hard to find anywhere on this sad set.  The classic mid-60s Oscar + Grammy-winning “Shadow Of Your Smile” from Johnny Mandel and Paul Francis Webster is a winning testament:

Now when I remember spring
All the joy that love can bring
I will be remembering
The shadow of your smile.

Ms. Callahan says she wanted standards that were “a move away from being quite so traditional.

Kristin Callahan

She’s got that here.  There’s no big band, but rather a collection of acoustic artists that, while sounding fresh, never depart far from the essence of the melody.

The intimacy of Ms. Callahan’s voice belies her range. It only became evident to me after hearing the second or third track. There’s much to like in Bassist Eliot Seppa’s arrangements, but at times they can nearly overpower Ms. Callaghan’s delicate voice.  A little lighter hand on the mix would have served this set nicely.

Still, it’s a well-conceived and executed set.  It makes me want to look for two earlier releases, “A New Love” and “One Magic Day.”  This set was primarily recorded pre-pandemic. Some percussion was added from Lee Pearson and Carroll Dashiell III in their home studios.

My favorites include Ms. Callahan’s original “Lost In A Dream” along with “Shadow Of Your Smile” and the lone ray of optimism, Duke Ellington’s “Caravan.”

I’ll be adding these three at the little online radio station (62nd Street) come 12 July and checking DC performance venues to make a road trip once live performances return.

This set is very highly recommended.

Website

A personal note: This blog sometimes lies fallow for weeks, no months at a time. Other priorities, other commitments, other shiny things – well, none of that is an adequate excuse. Either I’m going to do this, or I’m not, I tell myself.

But here we are again. Another promise to tend the garden with more regularity and a couple of albums that arouse me from my reverie. One a week – either current or vintage. That’s the renewed goal.

Hopefully, with better ears and some notion of work that approaches commercial viability. I’ve received a couple of albums lately that clear that hurdle. This is one of them.

62nd Street Adds, Reviews

Bianca Rossini – Rio Paradise

Leave a comment
Bianca Rossini - Rio Paradise

Bianca Rossini – Rio Paradise
(Apaixonada Music/BDM Records)
Released – 11 February 2021

Can I fully appreciate music with lyrics in a language that’s not mine?

Bianca Rossini is a Brazilian-born, Beverly Hills-based singer-songwriter.  This is a five-track EP that features all original material in Portuguese and English.  This builds on her last album, “Vento do Norte.”  Ms. Rossini flips the switch on one track from that album – “Ipanema Paraíso” – from Portuguese to English, to become “Ipanema Paradise.”

“Return to Brazil,” released in 2017 as a single, is performed both in English and Portuguese.

Once again, Ms. Rossini brings an effortless sensuality to the lyrics in both Portuguese and English.  The two opening tracks are in Portuguese – “Mariana” and “Canto de Mi Tierra.”

Bianca Rossini


About “Canto de Mi Tierra,” Ms. Rossini says it was composed on a trip to Lima, Peru:

“One night, I visited an art gallery next to where I was staying, where there was a sculpture exhibit by a Columbian artist. An art piece immediately touched my heart, and – boom – right there, the entire song was born. I was alone in the gallery, and I walked around singing the new melody and words. There was a bit of an echo; it was a very intimate and spiritual experience. Peru is an extraordinary place for me.”

The backing group frames Ms. Rossini’s supple voice nicely.  Back to the original question – Can I fully appreciate music with lyrics in a language that’s not mine?

This is a set of tunes that are easy on the ears.  When it’s this good – it really doesn’t matter.

This set is highly recommended – “Ipanema Paradise” will be added to the playlist at 62ndStreet.com Online Radio.

Website

Reviews

Jenny Davis – Rearranged

Leave a comment

Jenny Davis – Rearranged
(Three Penny Records)
Released – 21 Feburary 2020

The full name of this set is “Rearranged (The Yeoman Warders Project),” which sent me scurrying to find out more about “Yeoman Warders.”

It seems they (thanks, Wikipedia) are “…responsible for looking after any prisoners in the Tower (of London) and safeguarding the British crown jewels.”

Ms. Davis says in this case, her music is “…a metaphor for raising children in a dangerous world – where parents protect and behave as the Queen’s guard, unflinching, loyal and sometimes silent in the face of ignorance, fear, even hatred. It reveals the duty of a parent standing guard where the children are free to thrive – safe in a sanctuary of parental protection, without care or worry.”

And while I can appreciate any inspiration for marvelous work, this is all way too complicated for me.

Here’s what I know – I like this set.

The old disc jockey in me looks for a catchy tune and a hook.  And while that may sound crass to the artiste, it is what sells music.  Otherwise, one creates art to please only themselves.

And the other thing the old disc jockey knows is that sometimes, it’s multiple exposures to new music that makes it stick.  The former marketer in me (more money in that than being a disc jockey) knows that one must be exposed multiple times in multiple ways to have it all stick.

Enough pontificating – back to Ms. Davis: this set features soaring, spot-on vocals in front of a group of talented pros, led by Grammy-nominated pianist Jovino Santos Neto – who knows when to shine, and when to get out of the way.  The original pieces – three-fourths of the dozen tracks are topped by the final version of the title track, “Rearranged,” backed by the Sirius String Quartet.

Inspired arrangements and shimmering vocals make this an ambitious, perhaps audacious set that belongs in your collection.

I highly recommend this album.

Reviews

Amber Weekes – Pure Imagination

1 Comment

Amber Weekes – Pure Imagination
Released – 3 January 2020

Amber Weekes’ biography says she’s a “straight-ahead jazz” vocalist.

She never strays far from that brand, but there’s a lot of versatility in the selections she chooses on this set.

Lightly swinging through most of a baker’s dozen tunes, ranging from Cole Porter to Duke Ellington.  There’s a new standard from Paul Simon (a gospel-tinged “Gone At Last”), and two versions (Ballad and Bossa) of Johnny Mercer’s “When October Goes,” an unfinished lyric picked up and finished by Barry Manilow.

Exceptions are a pair written by Oscar Brown – the classic “Brown Baby,” covered by artists ranging from Mahalia Jackson to Diana Ross over the years.  Trevor Ware delicately backs this one on bass.  You’ve probably never heard Mr. Brown’s classic “The Snake,” performed like this before.  (Yes – that one, made famous in the 70s by Al Wilson.)  Mr. Brown is also represented with “Mr. Kicks,” from a theatrical effort that never made it to the stage in the early 60s.

A pair of duets – Sue Raney joins on “Pure Imagination,” and Mon David on “The Way He Makes Me Feel.”

Backed by a band that sounds bigger than it is, it’s a diverse set, but even with the occasional arrangement that strays, Ms. Weekes brings it back to Main Street.  Credit also to a team of recording engineers, as well as Mr. Ware, who co-produces

This set is highly recommended.

Reviews

Lizzie Thomas – New Sounds From The Jazz Age

Leave a comment

Some tire of what is called the “Great American Songbook.”
Yeah, I’m not one of those.

Lizzie Thomas – New Sounds From The Jazz Age
(Self-Published)
Released – 24 January 2020

From Wikipedia: “The Great American Songbook…is the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century. (It refers) to a loosely defined set including the most popular and enduring songs from the 1920s to the 1950s…created for Broadway theatre, musical theatre, and Hollywood musical film.”

I prefer to think of each of these classics as a blank canvas onto which talented artists can project their style. Not unlike a painting, it may resonate or not.

In this fourth set of recordings from Lizzie Thomas, she pairs her versatile, supple voice with a backing band that provides a perfect frame, led by pianist John Colianni arranging. Jay Leonhart and Boots Maleson on Bass, Russell Malone and Matt Chertkoff on guitar, Omar Daniels on tenor sax and flute, Felix Peikli on clarinet, Bernard Linette on drums, and Doug Hendrichs on percussion.

But make no mistake – it’s Ms. Thomas up front, flowing around and through the backing like a stream – be it moving quietly or rushing through the rapids.

The collection of tunes includes a pair of Gershwins (“Fascinating Rhythm” and “Our Love Is Here To Stay”), and two Porters (“You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To” and “In The Still Of The Night”).

There’s one each from Berlin (“Cheek To Cheek”), Ray Noble (“The Very Thought Of You”), and “Close Your Eyes,” written by Bernice Petkere, who Mr. Berlin once called “The Queen of Tin Pan Alley.”

There’s the nearly-obligatory Jobim number – although I’ll bet you’ve never heard “One Note Samba” executed like this – and Duke Ellington’s “I Didn’t Know About You.”

And if the painter would never paint the same subject the same way twice – so it is with the music. “I can call a tune for the rest of my life, and I will never sing it the same way,” Ms. Thomas says. “That’s freedom, that’s provocative – that’s jazz.”

This collection of standards comes very highly recommended.

Reviews

Robin McKelle – Alterations

Leave a comment

Robin McKelle – Alterations (Doxie Records)
Released – 14 February 2020

One of the things I miss because of the Amazonification of the music business is the ability to go into a record shop and browse the bins looking for something new.  If you can find a real record shop these days, they’re mostly selling used discs, and if you can name something, “…we can order it for you.”

Heck, I can order it, too.

Which is a long way of saying that I first found Robin McKelle’s work in the bins of a music store that didn’t stock the same fifty jazz recordings found at Target.

And I’ve been a fan since.

Eclectic in style and choices of music, she’s bypassed original material here for a “best of” list of “…cover songs by different female artists from different genres, and kind of change them…create them into my own thing.”

And her own thing is as varied as the source material.  Pulling from artists as diverse as Dolly Parton, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin and Billie Holiday, Ms. McKelle and the talented group she’s assembled here manage to put these songs through the jazz filter, and what comes out is – “Oh, my – she’s singing ‘Jolene!'”

Part of that credit goes to pianist, arranger, and producer on this set, Shedrick Mitchell.  The arrangements manage to retain just enough of the original but allow Ms. McKelle enough room to take the off-ramp to someplace special.

My favorites include Sade’s “No Ordinary Love,” which was the first single released from this album, and the iconic “Mercedes Benz,” the Janis Joplin classic.

“When you create change, you create space for something to shift in the world and in yourself.  As an artist. And as a human. And that is a change for the good.”

This is Ms. McKelle’s ninth recording.  The first is a collector’s item.

If you’re unfamiliar with Ms. McKelle’s work (she spends a lot of time in Europe), this is a great place to begin your collection.  Good luck finding that first one.

Highest recommendation.