Album Review: Taking My Seat: A Musical Inheritance from Alexis Cole

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Album:  Taking My Seat: A Musical Inheritance 
Artist:  Alexis Cole
Label:  Tiger Turn
Release Date:  November 6, 2026
Website:  www.alexiscole.com

At 50 years of age, Alexis Cole releases the first album on which she is both the singer and pianist, calling the release Taking My Seat: A Musical Inheritance.  The title is pertinent to Cole's life story, having inherited her father's talent for playing the piano, and her maternal grandmother's affinity for creating an intimacy with the audience by singing and accompanying herself on the piano.  Supporting Cole is David Finck on bass and Kenny Hassler on drums, erecting an environment that is reflective of cabarets and after hours clubs.

Fluent in both Latin jazz and American swing, Cole holds her audience captive with the bossa nova sashaying of "My Little Boat" and the torchlight setting of "Bye Bye Blackbird."  The delicate flicker in her keys shroud her vocals in beads of crystal through "Blues For All Us," switching to a tinpan-alley-like storytelling narration along "Momentary Lapse," making the audience part of the performance.  

Her retooling of "Girl From Ipanema" gives Antonio Carlos Jobim's iconic track (Portuguese lyrics by Vinícius de Moraes with English lyrics written later by Norman Gimbel) a modern polish, and her reimagination of "My Funny Valentine" infuses a modern pop glisten into Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's vintage gem.  Her nuanced vocal inflections strewn across "Jitterbuy Waltzwav" give the track a lustrous character, reminiscent of the intuitive radiance of Ella Fitzgerald.'s vocalese.  The slowness in Cole's vocals make audiences feel like she wants them to absorb every lyric in the tale she is delivering.

Though singing remains Cole's primary means of expression, she shows a strong command of shaping the harmony and rhythm by accompanying herself on the piano. Finck and Hassler enhance the candlelit ambience, inviting the audience to from a bond with the intimate exchange of the trio.

Musicians:
Alexis Cole - piano, vocals
David Finck - bass
Kenny Hassler - drums

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