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:  If Love Were All Artist:  Wayne Powers Label:  Kabockie Records Website:  www.waynepowers.com Blues crooner Wayne Powers sings the praises of love found and pines over love lost on his latest offering If Love Were All from Kabookie Records.  Each track is a dreamy swinging tune with his caressing vocals sweeping across the melodic musings of Keith Davis on piano, Ziad Rable on tenor saxophone, and Al Sergel on drums.  His tenor register is aurally pleasing to listeners as he traipses through a selection of jazz standard favorites. The warmth he projects in his interpretation of "Body and Soul" lulls the listener into a dream state as Davis's keys blanket the melody in a downy bedding.  The pathos in Powers's vocal nuances inject genuine emotion into Billy Strayhorn's timeless ballad "Lush Life," whisking the listener away as Rable's saxophone bastes the melody in slow simmering swells. The sensitivity Powers displays in his treatment of the ...

Album:  Close Your Eyes Artist:  Carolyn Lee Jones Label:  Catn'round Sound Website:  www.carolynleejones.com Cabaret jazz had a place in each decade of the 20th century with its leading vocalists from blues singer Bessie Smith to jazz crooner Michael Feinstein.  Often characterized as burlesque music and bohemian blues, singer Carolyn Lee Jones revamps the cabaret style on her fourth release Close Your Eyes .  From the gentle amble of the storytelling verses in "I Was a Fool" to the enthusiastic splashing of the horns and the grooving swells rollicking along "That Old Black Magic," Jones embraces the multiple aspects of the cabaret culture and infuses a modern twist into jazz favorites. The bossa nova trimmings of "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" silhouette Jones's vocals like a silk glove, embellished by Daniel Pardo's tweeting flute.  The swinging vibe of the horns shower lively sparkles across "When I Found You" as Jones...