April Hall with the Pamela Hines Trio: Hall Sings Hines (2005)

Jerry D'Souza

CD/DVD Reviewer since 2001

From Bombay, India to Indianapolis, Indiana via Toronto!

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Published: December 13, 2005

April Hall with the Pamela Hines Trio: Hall Sings Hines

Pamela Hines and April Hall continue their collaboration with a full album of tunes that Hines composed. The last time around, Hall was a guest vocalist on Twilight World. On the present effort, the tunes cross different streams and Hall gets in to them with compact ease. Her voice is supple and she uses phrasing to bring out the emotional strength of the lyrics.

Hines has a free-flowing gait as a pianist. Her ideas are relevant and they bring context to the development of her songs. She gets off on the right track with "I Go For You, essaying a light undercurrent of swing. She improvises but keeps her inventions in check to make this a nice lithe tune. There is a balmy air to "Encinitas. Hall has a sultry edge to her singing, but the overall atmosphere is an easy one, a warm wind wafting across softly.

It is time to go up-tempo and flex the rhythm when they take it "To the Street. Hines parlays some colourful runs, making her work all the more interesting as she steers clear of unnecessary flourishes. The blues has to be in there, and "4 Blues, a traipsing song, is given a lucent presence by Hines while Hall makes the lyric jump and sit up with her vocal acrobatics.

Track Listing: I Go For You; I-95; Just Us; 4 Blues; Encinitas; To The Street; A Stone; We Could Have The Same; Traces.

Personnel: April Hall: vocals; John Lockwood: bass; Reed Dieffenbach: drums, percussion; Pamela Hines: piano.

Record Label: Spice Rack Records
Style: Vocal