Album Review: Making It Up As We Go Along from Lauren White

Album:  Making It Up As We Go Along
Artist:  Lauren White
Label:  Café Pacific Records
Website:  Laurenwhitejazz.com

Making It Up As We Go Along is vocalist Lauren White's fifth album and showcases her refined vocal style.  Her voice shines on the ballads, demonstrating an easy command of the soft vocal inflections in her register and a penetrating tenderness when she cradles the lyrics as though she lived through the stories she describes.  Working with producer Barbara Brighton, White exhibits a leaning to sing love songs that delve into the complex entanglements bound to surface while consumed in a mature affair.

The jazz romp “Unlikely Valentine," penned by Ron Boustead, is a poignant example of White's attraction for songs that delve into the complexity of love, portraying two people who like to play the field and are surprised when they fall in love. The swinging horns performed by Brian Swartz on trumpet and Katisse Buckingham on saxophone brim with celebratory aesthetics.

“I’m Glad There is You,” written by Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira, is one of White's nods to the Great American Songbook.  Quinn Johnson arranged the song with a smooth bossa nova rhythm that features a beautiful guitar solo by Larry Koonse.  The suave-imbued sway of the brushed drums and the soothing vamp of Johnson's keys give the impression of being on the relaxing beaches of Acapulco.

Her dip into a Latin fare continues with “Tin Tin Deo," a number co-composed by Gil Fuller and Luciano "Chano" Pozo.  Johnson arranged the melody with a cha-cha shimmy and features a stylish hip flute solo by Buckingham, giving the track a modern flare.  The title track, composed by Eddie Arkin with lyrics by Lorraine Feather, is a ballad where White's vocals shine, drawing the listener into the story.

"Make Sure You're Sure" by Stevie Wonder is another smooth ballad with lyrics that reveal the human desire to reach out for a promising future while the candlelight ambience of "Turn Out The Stars" projects a reflective mood, adorned in sensitive keys that punctuate the crestfallen experience.  The two contrasting moods are beautifully expressed in White's delivery.

Another stunning vocal performance from White is on "Our Game" by German trumpeter Till Brönner.  Her emotive strokes are enhanced by Johnson's responsive keys.   White's rendition of Mimis Plessas infectious “Vrohoula” features a duet with vocalist and scat master Paul Jost whose flirtatious vocal swagger filament a lively spark, bolstered by the smooth Latin beat.  White's warm timbres and smooth vocal resonance are prevalent in "I Have The Feeling I've Been Here Before."  She sings with such passion it is as though she lived the story being told in the lyrics.

White has been a public figure, mainly as an actress and then a producer for the TV series Homeland, but her experience as a lead singer and solo artist brings out a side of her that is unscripted and likely self-fulfilling.  Known as an expressive storyteller, White comes off as someone who has lived these experiences in the songs, or at least, the passion she applies to her vocal delivery gives the audience this impression.  A dramatist both on stage and in her recordings, Lauren White knows how to reach out to the human soul and treat it with an intuitive tenderness.

Musicians:
Lauren White - vocals
Quinn Johnson - piano
Larry Koonse - guitar
Kevin Axt - bass
Trey Henry - bass
Brian Swartz - trumpet
Katisse Buckingham - saxophone and flute
Chris Wabich - drums
Dan Schnelle - drums
Ray Brinker - drums
Paul Jost - harmony vocals