jazz2love

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...

Album:  Ever Since the World Ended Artist:  Lauren White Label:  Café Pacific Records Website:  www.laurenwhitejazz.com A torchbearer of cabaret jazz, vocalist Lauren White's contribution to the genre is embraceable.  Her fifth CD, Ever Since the World Ended features a collection of cover tunes and originals, finely groomed to a melodic sheen.  From the smooth jazz cruising of the title track to the swing jazz-influenced shimmies of "Take Love Easy," White moves through a series of vignettes, each presenting listeners with a sonically picturesque setting.   Like a favorite pillow, White's performance is comforting, offering solace and warmth.  The lingering tone in her voicing through "Alone Together" is supported by the bubbling doodles of Quinn Johnson's keys.  Switching to a light-hearted scamper along "Just the Two of Us," White's optimism is infectious, wrapping the listener in her perky timbres.  The soft flutter of Grant Geissman...

Album:  Life in the Modern World Artist:  Lauren White Label:  Cafe Pacific Website:  www.laurenwhitejazz.com The pretty vocals of Lauren White give a fresh take on modern standards like 1985's "In a New York Minute" and classics like 1944's "How Little We Know," written by the great songwriting team of Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer.  Her latest release Life in the Modern World recaptures several finds that she discovered while scavenging through the music archives of the 20th century and adding a handful of post millennial numbers like "Till I Get It Right," penned by Stuart Elster and Mark Winkler.   From intimate cabarets to casino lounges, White's music is sleek and tuneful with hints of jazz greats gone-by.  The airy atmosphere of "American Tune" is powdered in sparkling synth effects as the shimmering guitar chords of Grant Geissman show a flare for picturesque soundscapes, producing fluctuating shadows around White...