Album Review: Set Your Heart Free from Donna Singer

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Album:  Set Your Heart Free
Artist:  Donna Singer
Label:  Emerald Baby Recording Company
Website:  www.donna-singer.com

Vocalist Donna Singer presents jazz that communicates a universal language that speaks to people's hearts.  Her latest CD Set Your Heart Free blends big band-inspired scores with elements of blues, swing, and soul.  Supported by Ranses Colon on bass, Brad Keller on piano, Adolfo Herrera on drums, Yamin Mustafa on trumpet, Melton Mustafa, Jr. on saxophones, and Greg Minnick on guitar, Singer gravitates to songs that reflect about life's pinnacle moments on the recording, always moving towards expressions that leave the listener feeling positive.

"To Be A Child" is warm soul jazz number that Singer treats with a maternal sensitivity as Melton Mustafa, Jr.'s saxophone weaves elegant spirals along the track, lifting the listener's spirit.  Yamin Mustafa's trumpet adds lively frills along "Why Should Kids Have All the Fun" as the pumping beats of the rhythm section played by bassist Ranses Colon, drummer Adolfo Herrera, and Brad Keller on piano coalesce into a succession of bubbly grooves.  Her duet with Colon on bass through "My Dear" is a delightful, feel good tune.

Slowing the tempo to a meditative pace, "Spread Your Wings" is a tender ballad augmented by shimmering chimes and Mustafa's smooth saxophone furls.  Staying with a languid tempo, "How It Ends" displays the soulful, smoky blues depth of Singer's register as she reflects, "It's quiet now / everyone has gone / the microphone and uniforms moved on / the buildings and the sidewalks all sort of look the same / cleaning up the evidence that everything has changed... cause in my head / I hear the voices / in my eyes, I see the tears / in my body i'm still rotting and falling / looking for my friends / wondering how it ends."  The pensive stroll of the piano keys support her sober retrospection.

Keeping a positive outlook, Donna Singer speaks to people's hearts on the recording, musing and reflecting about life's challenges and turning points and aiming to lift one's self up above the tribulations. Her message is a positive one, communicating in a universal language.

Musicians:
Donna Singer - singer
Ranses Colon - bass
Brad Keller - piano
Adolfo Herrera - drums
Yamin Mustafa - trumpet
Melton Mustafa, Jr. - saxophones
Greg Minnick - guitar

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