jazz2love

Album:  If I Knew Then Artist:  Naama Gheber Website:  https://www.naamagheber.com Vocalist Naama Gheber illuminates a cache of swing era standards on her sophomore release If I Knew Then with her alluring timbres and smooth, tranquilizing glide.  Gheber's revamping of classic tunes like Cole Porter's jazz ballad "Dream Dancing," Frank Sinatra, Jack Wolf and Joel Herron's reflective serenade "I'm A Fool To Want You," and the title track written by Dick Jurgens and Eddy Howard, induces a succor effect on listeners.  She demonstrates a poise and elegance in her delivery that produces an intimacy with her audience, which heightens the listening experience. Her interpretation of Cole Porter's 1941 spellbinding melody "Dream Dancing" is adorned in shimmery percussive trimmings that wind around her charismatic vocal stride as she muses about a phantom partner, "So say you love me, dear / And let me make my career Dream dancing, dream d...

Album:  Something Here Inside Artist:  Benji Kaplan Label: Wise Cat Records Website:  https://www.benjikaplan.com/home A blending of soulful flamenco, ambient jazz, balmy meditations, and breezy torchlight musings, guitarist Benji Kaplan performs solo on his latest release Something Here Inside .  Inspired to be a painter by his mother, Kaplan applied his skills using the hues of the rainbow spectrum to the sounds of the music spectrum.  The pastoral textures, twirling patterns, and tranquil moods he projects convey a message to  listeners that he shares without inhibition. Using a swing jazz palette fringed in swathes of Latin accents on "Anything Goes," Kaplan brings a freshness to Cole Porter's track, viewing the classic melody with a contemporary set of eyes.  The gliding strokes of his fingers have a lulling effect on listeners along "Easy To Love" and  rather uniquely, he pervades a soothing, Hawaiian-like caress along "But Not For Me."...

Album:  It's Alright With Me Artist:  Liz Terrell Label: Westmont Records Website: www.lizterrell.com The rich sonorous of Liz Terrell's vocals make listeners turn their heads in her direction.  Her 2022 release It's Alright With Me is a compilation of classic pop and jazz standards that she treats with her distinctive stylizing. A stylizing that audiences will relate to the soulful inflections of Thelma Houston and the arresting luster of torchlight crooner Nina Simone, augmented by a dreamy, bluesy vocalese that lingers in the mind long after the recording comes to a close. Her treatment of Cole Porter's trademark melody "Night and Day" highlights the swing jazz elements of the track, turning the balladry verses into a simmering burner with bopping traction.  Her phrasing adjusts to the soars and inclines along the chord movements, as though knowing when to emphasize a lyric and when to let her resonance drift off.  Her vocal inflections certainly heighten ...

Album:  Wonderful World Artist:  Chris Standring Label:  Lateralize Records Website:  http://www.chrisstandring.com Guitarist and improviser Chris Standring performs with a 19 piece orchestra on his 14th release as a leader, Wonderful World .  He puts his own unique spin on songs from the Great American Songbook as he reimagines an assortment of jazz standards, setting the listener at ease track after track.  His articulation of the verses beckons the listener to savor each musicians input, enticing one to be absorbed by the warm climate Standring creates with his guitar riffs. His treatment of Cole Porter's staple "Night and Day" highlights the ruminating mood of the track, transitioning into the soft billowy phrasing of "Autumn in New York," composed by Vernon Duke.  Vocalist Kathrin Shorr's performance on "What a Wonderful World" is spellbinding as her vocals caress the lyrics with warm, feminine tenderness.  The low-lit simmer in her timbres h...

Album:  My Funny Valentine Artist:  Grace Haggerty Label:  Self-Released Website:  www.gracehaggerty.com My Funny Valentine , the new solo offering from vocalist Grace Haggerty, is pristinely put together.  An assortment of jazz standards from the perky swinging thrusts of Cole Porter's "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" to the Brazilian smoothness of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Quiet Nights, Quiet Stars," Haggerty whisks listeners along a pleasing voyage that elevates the senses and stirs elation. The repetitive tossing motion of Mauro Refosco's percussion contours Haggerty's vocals in a soft kindle along "You Go To My Head," giving the track a cocktail shaker trope.  Artfully, "Quiet Nights, Quiet Stars" is seasoned in Calpyso-hued flickers as Angelo DiPippo's accordion moves in and out of the track with whirling figures that stimulates the listener's pulse.   Endowed with a whispery vocalese reminiscent of Judy Collins,...

Album:  More Than A Song Artist:  CeCe Gable Label:  CCGableLLC Website:  www.cecegable.com Vocalist CeCe Gable works her sultry timbres through a trove of jazz standards on her latest release More Than A Song .  The warm texture of her register and graceful swagger of her vocal inflections make her recording sonically heavenly on the aural senses.  From the seductive lure she projects through "As Long As I Live" to the reflective shimmer in her vocals ruminating across "Fotografia," Gable holds her audience with rapt attention. The coquettish lilt in her vocal inflections caress the gentle swells of "East of the Sun" as Harvie S's bass solo engraves a rumba-esque sway augmented by the gentle waves of Roni Ben-Hur's guitar riffs.  Gable treats each track with loving care as she fodders the amorous embers of "Love Is a Necessary Evil," transitioning into the soft rhythmic pulse of "I Thought About You," as the tender billow o...

Album:  R&D Artist:  Jeff Rupert and Richard Drexler Label:  Rupe Media Websites:  facebook.com/jeffrupertsax Saxophonist Jeff Rupert and pianist Richard Drexler come together for their second collaboration R&D, on the heels of their first offering together, Imagination in 2017.  The music captured on their latest release was a portion of two nights of music performed by the duo at the Timucua Arts White House in Orlando, Florida in June of 2015.  The standards featured on the recording demonstrate the pair's instinct to communicate meaningful exchanges with one elaborating on the other's thoughts, sometimes finishing the summary being posed to the audience.   The melodic progressions bond seamlessly as the two hewn imaginative phrases, which they parlay into reclining soundscapes. Lulling nocturnes and soothing bedtime-sounding passages emerge from the recording as Rupert and Drexler weave around one another.  Their re-imagine...