jazz2love

Album:  A Little Taste: A tribute to Dave Frishberg Artist:  Dave Frishberg Label:  Cherry Pie Music Website:  rebeccakilgore.com The female singers of jazz have a special place in audience's hearts, recalling Billie Holiday, Dianne Reeves, and Jane Monheit among others, each sharing the vibrancy discernible in vocalist Rebecca Kilgore.  In her fourth decade as a connoisseur of jazz vocals, Kilgore celebrates 9 works of Dave Frishberg on her recording, A Litte Taste: A Tribute To Dave Frishberg , with 2 additional songs that she and her husband, flugelhornist-trumpeter-arranger Dick Titterington, often performed in their long collaboration. From swinging showtunes-style trots like Frishberg and Johnny Mandel's upbeat tune "Brenda Starr" to the sonic symphonic billows of Frishberg and Mandel's caressing ballad "You Are There," Kilgore covers jazz from nostalgia to modern.  Ragtime embers sparkle across "Ah, So Pure," a 1848 melody by Friedrich v...

Album:  Lemon Twist Artist:  Linda Carrone Website:  https://www.lindacarone.com https://lindacarone.bandcamp.com Roots music vocalist Linda Carrone once again charms audiences with her graceful style, feline phrasing and sultry vocalese on her 2023 release Lemon Twist .  A blues stylist reminiscent of vintage performers like Billie Holiday, Rosemary Clooney, and Peggy Lee, Carrone integrates the finery of jazz with the unpretentious melodicism of roots music embellished by a swig of Latin stimulants.     Her repertoire focuses on forgotten gems, classic ballroom jazz, swing standards, and cabaret blues.  Her treatment of the title track, written by Bobby Troup, puts a flirtatious edge on her vocals that grabs the listener's attention as she percolates, "Here is a word to the wise / The top dieticians in town insist / The best source of vitamin C there can be / Is a lemon twist."  Changing to a sultry swagger along "Having It All," Carr...

Single:  You're Driving Me Crazy Artist:  Naama Gheber Website:  https://www.naamagheber.com Naama Gheber's treatment of popular tunes from the Great American Songbook is manna for the ears.  Her reimagining of Walter Donaldson's 1930 classic blues ballad "You're Driving Me Crazy," made popular by vocalist Billie Holiday and saxophonist Stan Getz, is another delight that will be included in her November 2022 EP If I Knew Then. In the vane of Holiday, Gheber personalizes the song with flirty inflections and nuanced vocals that engage the listener's attention.  Joined by pianist Ben Paterson, bassist Neal Miner, and drummer Evan Sherman, Gheber indulges in a playful exchange with her band, displaying a charisma that is entirely of her own style.  Gheber's vocals move from a mambo-infused sway to a sprightly swing and closes with a bluesy vamp.  The arrangement keeps the listener bewitched by the versatility and flexibility in her vocals, and her instinct...

Album:  Guitar & Me Artist:  Aleksi Glick Website:  https://www.aleksiglick.com/ Guitar and Me , the debut release from jazz guitarist Aleksi Glick features six original compositions written by him and seven covers.   Glick recorded  the solo arrangements for guitar while in isolation at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.  A mixture of hard bop, blues, improvised jazz, and adult contemporary, the arrangements roll along like a cool breeze ruminating across the aural senses.  His fretwork is nimble and graceful, stringing together a series of soothing and sizzling chord patterns reminiscent of the dexterity and expressive versing of Gene Bertoncini. Launching the recording with the hard bop grooves propelling "With Ease," Glick's deft performance radiates a modern jazz glint that modulates a bluesy whisper across the title track.  His graceful maneuvers induce a dreamy state that wraps the listener in emulsifying verses.  The misty ...

Album:  I Just Want To Be Horizontal Artist:  Samoa Wilson with the Jim Kweskin Band Label:  Kingswood Records, LLC Website:  www.jimkweskin.com  &  www.samoawilson.com Vocalist Samoa Wilson and guitarist/bandleader Jim Kweskin make something special on I Just Want To Be Horizontal .  Their reimagination of classic jazz gems fuse a myriad of melodic-enriched traits, dabbling in the earthy country folk textures of Tin Pan alley jazz, mixed with the lively trotting of Prohibition Era hot jazz, and adding a glint of Broadway showtunes-style radiance.   Such sparkling qualities relatable to the jazz made famous in classic Hollywood films are revisited and revamped on Wilson and Kweskin's recording.  Inspired by Teddy Wilson's 1930's recordings that featured blues singer Billie Holiday, the music has roots in the jazz of the early 20th century with Samoa's striking vocals bringing the recording into the 21st century, carving out its right...

Album:  We've Just Begun Artist:  Sinne Eeg & The Danish Radio Big Band Label:  BFM Jazz Website:  https://www.bfmjazz.com/sinne-eeg We've Just Begun , the latest offering from Danish vocalist Sinne Eeg is a collection of jazz standards performed in her deep bluesy register and features the Danish Radio Big Band backing her up.  The assortment of vintage swing and torchlight blues melodies harks back to the clarion voicing of jazz music's pioneers like Billie Holiday and Dinah Shore. The refinement in Eeg's vocal nuances are alluring, moving with a charismatic stride along "Hv asorfor er lykken så lunefuld" as the winsome scatting in her vocalese embellishes the tune, giving it greater depth and sex appeal.  Stretching out her vocal inflections through the verses of "Detour Ahead' enhances the intimate mood that she conveys with her audience, making the enunciation of the words long and languid, oozing with desire in her delivery of the lyric...