Showing posts with label female vocals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label female vocals. Show all posts

After Hours Review

After Hours
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After Hours ReviewThis collection of songs from 1961 shows the quiet and meditative side of MizzSassyVaughan--as if someone told her finally to tone it down after her somewhat over-the-top early recordings. She croons here with only a bass and guitar, and although at first I was skeptical, I soon became delighted and began to marvel at the control she so easily exhibits. I'm not a fan by any means of "The Sound of Music," but "My Favorite Things" is handled moodily and in the most sophisticatedly suspended jazz style I've yet heard. This is certainly a marvelously quiet collection for the after-hours, those desperate stretch of hours some of us know at 3 a.m. Sass will keep you more than company. She will warm you more than your flask will. This is a contented collection. A must for any jazz fan and certainly any Vaughan fan.
--danAfter Hours Overview

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Rickie Lee Jones Review

Rickie Lee Jones
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Rickie Lee Jones ReviewRickie Lee's self-titled debut album is essential listening for anyone who considers themselves a fan of jazz, female singer-songwriters, or plain old good music.
When this album hit the marketplace at the tail end of the 70's it was truly an oasis in what had become a rather boring era of music. Punk and disco had both burned themselves out, and the California singer/songwriter movement was on its last leg. There wasn't anything that could be considered "fresh" on the radio. And then, out of nowhere, came "Chuck E's In Love", heralding the advent of the most original artist of the era.
"RLJ" is primarily guitar based (Pirates, released 2 years later, would confirm the multi-instrumental power of Rickie), and the songs are so brilliant that as I write this, 25 years after this album was released, I can still play this music and think how fresh the sound remains. That's a testament to Rickie's writing and playing, which remain unmatched by any modern singer.
"Weasel And the White Boys Cool", a song about an acquaintance (Sal Bernardi), who would later become a lover remains my favorite from this disc. The guitar work on this song is incredible, and Rickie's vocals are playful and gorgeous. And her lyrics, while sometimes unintelligible upon first listen (the hiccuppy nature of her vocals, and her habit of eliding full syllables may turn off some listeners, but they are one of her most endearing traits), are as strong as any writer of popular music.
"Company" is a cabaret classic, and songs of longing like this tune fit Rickie's voice perfectly. This song has been covered many times since its release (Melissa Errico being the most recent), but nobody can capture Rickie's emotions while singing this tune.
"Danny's All Star Joint" is a genuine romp - its a shame Rickie doesn't play this song (and it's sister pieces, "Woody and Dutch" from Pirates, and "Juke Box Fury" from "The Magazine") more often in live shows. Rickie has an incredible way with uptempo pieces of this nature, and they are sorely missed on discs such as "Flying Cowboys".
"Last Chance Texaco" will break your heart if you ponder its meaning, and musically, it has to be one of the saddest uses of the guitar ever recorded. There is genuine heartbreak in this song, and no one conveys this type of feeling as well as Rickie.
"Coolsville" and "Easy Money" are wonderful songs, with what sound at first listen like incredibly simple arrangements. It is only after repeated listenings (and this album deserves such repeated listening) that the subtle complexities in the instrumentation, vocals and harmonies are revealed.
It still amazes me that an album this perfect was a debut release. And amazes me even further that she was able to avoid a spohmore slump by offering up the even more brilliant "Pirates". She is, in my opinion, the best singer of my generation, and a must-own for any serious music fan.Rickie Lee Jones OverviewCritics struggled to categorize Rickie as her 1979 debut soared to #3; they'd never be able to. She slithers from jazz to R&B to folk as you hear her hits Chuck E.'s in Love and Young Blood plus Coolsville; Easy Money , and more!

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Driving North Review

Driving North
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Driving North ReviewIf you're a fan of singer/songwriters along the lines of Patty Griffin, Cheryl Wheeler, Lucinda Williams and Elyza Gilkyson, then there's a fairly good chance that you will rejoice in the music of Chris Pureka. This New England-based folkie combines lyrical songwriting ability with an emotionally expressive (and thoroughly husky) voice, drawing you in with her simple homespun songs about heartache, happiness and the change of the seasons. Drenching the songs in the imagery of her surroundings, Pureka creates a soundtrack for East Coast travels, evoking some to compare "Driving North" to Bruce Springsteen's early '80s masterpiece "Nebraska." On gorgeous ballads like "Unwelcome" and "3 a.m.," she nails matters of the heart, while on driving, insistent tunes like the haunting "Silo Song" and "Reprieve," she does the same with a ferocity that will instantly capture your attention. Listen to any of those tunes (not to mention "Burning Bridges" or the urgently soulful "Porch Songs") and try not to instantly fall in love with Pureka's music. In fact, I dare you.Driving North Overview

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Bare Bones Review

Bare Bones
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Bare Bones ReviewMadeleine's musical training came on the streets of Paris, where she started as a busker, then after a street-corner audition she got a gig singing with the Lost Wandering Blues and Jazz band, performing songs by artists such as Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday and Fats Waller.
Her previous albums Careless Love and Half the Perfect World sold over a million copies, earning critical-acclaim for her Jazz-Blues interpretations of works by artists such as Leonard Cohen and Edith Piath.
When she went "missing" in Britain while promoting her breakthrough album "Careless Love", her record company couldn't wait to tell the media.
How better to differentiate Maddie from the rest of the jazz-lite crew than by painting her as a wayward chanteuse? She hadn't disappeared, of course. She'd simply become bored with the promo-circus and gone back to New York. And who could blame her?
But Madeleine didn't need a vanishing act to raise her above her rivals. Her smoke-and-honey vocals, Billie Holiday phrasing, and breezily bohemian way with classy material had assured her fanbase.
They won't be disappointed by her new release, "Bare Bones", produced by Joni Mitchell's ex, Larry Klein.
She has built a career on interpreting the works of other people.
Her sensitive, exquisite voice, reminiscent of the great jazz singers of our yesterdays has added her signature 'postmodernist coolness' (LA Times) and fresh brushstrokes to the work of artists including Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Hank Williams and Serge Gainsbourg.
"Bare Bones" is her 4th solo album and her third with Rounder Records.
It's her most personal, intimate and almost confessional album: she had a hand in writing all the 11 tracks, including collaborations with producer Larry Klein, Walter Becker, Julian Coryell, Joe Henry, David Batteau and Sean Wayland : her intimate readings of original and contemporary love songs evoke emotions laid bare.
It's a daring high-wire act for the 34-year-old singer who for the first time is working without the safety net of covering songs associated with her favourite musical acts, mostly from the past.
With "Bare Bones", Maddie has crafted her best album yet, an artistic breakthrough that finds her sublime voice wrapped around a collection of soulful, silky late-night songs that she helped craft from their inception, marking her evolution as a songwriter. One song, "I Must Be Saved", was written entirely by Peyroux.
While the surface of the songs she sings has an easy-listening quality, there are chasms of emotional turmoil lurking beneath.
She says the album builds from wariness, to loss, to acceptance, and finally to hope.
"I'm really happy that I got to write", she adds, "It feels like a new segment, and it's great work. I'm surrounded by beautiful sounds, really honest musicians, really honest playing".
In fact, the musicianship is excellent: a small group of top notch artists underscore perfectly the languid and bluesy singing of the unusual diva: organist Larry Goldings, pianist Jim Beard, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, plus producer Klein on bass, his new wife, Brazilian Luciana Souza - who, by the way, is a guest on all Larry Klein produced albums - on bckgr vocals, Dean Parks on guitar, and Carla Kihlstedt on violin.
"It's an exhilarating mixture of fear and self-confidence, in a way...And, obviously, because I am a very new writer, I'm kind of discovering myself by watching audiences' takes on this stuff".
She will always be a busker. Her bohemian upbringing ensures it. Her eschewing of the trappings of celebrity proves it.
And maybe this time around as well, sometimes soon she will vanish just to resurface some days later in another corner of her world.
"Peyroux's soul and melting voice stands out, ways out, from the pack". - TimeOut
Maddie, who said she spent time in a domestic violence shelter as a child, is donating $1 from every ticket sold on her current tour to local charities affiliated with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
My favourite tracks: "Instead", "River of Tears", "You Can't Do Me", "Love and Treachery" and "Something Grand", which she wrote "in support of the new era with Barack Obama".
Oceana
Update.
The album debuts at # 1 of Billboard Top Jazz Album.
Issue date: 2009-03-28Bare Bones Overview

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Sheryl Crow Review

Sheryl Crow
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Sheryl Crow ReviewAfter years in the business as a backup singer for a number of big name pop and rock acts, Sheryl Crow hit it big with Tuesday Night Music Club, an album chocked full of catchy, well-crafted, radio-orientated pop tunes. Nothing on that album, though, really hinted at what lay in store for 1996's self-titled album. Crow had become one of those very few artists who has been both lucky and brave with her career. Her years as a backing vocalist had made her industry savvy, and the big success of her debut album gave her enough industry clout that she could assume creative control of her subsequent albums.
In addition to singing and writing or co-writing all of the songs on the album, Crow also produced and plays guitar, bass, and Hammond organ on the disc. She brings to this album, a bigger, noisier, more rock n' roll sound to complement a more accomplished, edgier collection of songs. The guitar sound is somewhere between the Stones of Exile on Mainstreet and early Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Crow's voice is less studio- produced sounding than it was on her previous record, moving from a sweet soul/R&B sound on "Everyday is a Winding Road" and "Hard to Make a Stand" to a harsher, harder-edged, almost Janis Joplin-like buzz on "If It Makes You Happy" and "Ordinary Morning."
"Maybe Angels," "A Change," "Sweet Rosalyn," "Everyday is a Winding Road," "Love is a Good Thing," and "Hard to Make a Stand" round out a great record.Sheryl Crow Overview

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