Album Review: Love Is from Yvette Norwood-Tiger

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Album:  Love Is
Artist:  Yvette Norwood-Tiger
Label:  Serenity Records
Website:  www.yvettenorwoodtiger.com

Whether vocalist Yvette Norwood-Tiger is a chameleon or emotionally attached to the lyrics she sings, she is able to portray a wide range of feelings that demonstrates a penetrative vocalese.  Her latest release Love Is proves her versatility as a singer, reaching a range that extends from a graceful gait to a sultry purr. 

Starting off, the Latin trimmings of "Song for My Father" move to the sensual sway of Tiger's vocals, which switch to a rhumba-esque rhythm along "Long Lost Friends," adorned in the ruffling toots of Michael Mackey's trumpet.  Her treatment of "La Vie En Rose" is heartfelt as Mackey's trumpet contours the melody with soaring pouts.  Languid and luxuriating, Tiger's vocalese on "My Funny Valentine" has a smooth bluesy sheen that is incomparable, as she transitions to a spiritual voicing in "Come Sunday," carrying the tune a capella.  The vulnerability in her voice is emotionally charged and moving.

The prayer-like nuances in her voice vibrating along "Dear Lord (Psalm 40)" pulsate a tenderness that is unmatched, as she orchestrates a sleek scat versing along the island-tinged grooves of "It's Time for Love" reminiscent of Dee Dee Bridgewater's off-the-cuff improvising.  In "Blues Skies," a trademark tune for Irving Berlin, Tiger makes the song her own, shaping a jaunty vocal melody that takes the listener on an enjoyable flight.  The swinging pendulum sway of the beats carrying "Time Is a Wrecking Ball" is magnetic, enchanting the playful child-like side of the listener.

From smooth blues jazz rides to soulful spirituals and from lamenting ballads to Latin rhumbas, Yvette Norwood-Tiger generates sensations that strokes the listener in all the right places. Her storytelling repartee showcases an emotional depth in her voice that is unmatched.

Musicians:
Yvette Norwood-Tiger, Love Is, blues, jazz vocals
Ken Burkhart – Piano
Joshua Ewers – Contrabass
Michael Mackey – Trumpet
Jose Roman Duque – Drums
Phil McArthur – Bass on "Time Is A Wrecking Ball"

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