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The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums
by Roger Crane
The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums Will Friedwald 432 pages ISBN: 0307379078 Pantheon 2017 The Great Jazz and Pop Vocal Albums is unique and Will Friedwald, who has extensive knowledge of and affection for singers and songs, has mined an area all his own. Sure, there are books ...
Jazz With Strings
by Roger Crane
Please note the title of this collection. It does not include symphony orchestras playing jazz compositions. Nor does it feature what is known as third stream" music, which is the combination of jazz and classical elements for what is hoped to be a unified whole. No, just like the title says, this collection includes jazz musicians ...
Roberta Gambarini: Easy To Love
by Roger Crane
With all due caution about overstatement, let me say that I don't know of a better pure jazz vocalist than Roberta Gambarini. She shows us all that the art of jazz singing is alive and well. During the past few years she has become almost a cult figure, thrilling live international audiences, becoming the subject of ...
Merle Haggard: Unforgettable
by Roger Crane
Merle Haggard is, as the great Duke Ellington used to say, beyond category." Like the best, he is a genre-defying artist. There is a strong influence of both jazz and blues in Haggard's work, though it's usually labeled as country and western. For example, he phrases like a jazz singer and he features horns in his ...
Chatting With Jackie Ryan
by Roger Crane
Jackie Ryan is a San Francisco-based vocalist with three excellent CDs available. The most recent two are on Open Art records, the latest is titled This Heart of Mine.All About Jazz: Congratulations on your latest CD, This Heart of Mine. It is an exceptional vocal album and certainly one of the best in the ...
Tierney Sutton At Monteleone's
by Roger Crane
As Tom Monteleone seated us in his attractive San Fernando club, pianist Dave Mackay and bassist Kenny Wilde were doing some lovely things with I Can’t Get Started. Dave’s chords, in contrast to the extroverted masses that most pianists use, turn in and muse. No pianist gets a better sound out of the instrument. Kenny, who ...
Jackie Ryan: This Heart of Mine
by Roger Crane
You simply cannot sing a song any better than Jackie Ryan does. And you cannot make a better jazz vocal CD than this one. It is perfect. If that sounds too reverent, let me change the praise to “perfectly wonderful.” Each of the elements is truly wonderful: the choice of songs, the arrangements, accompanying musicians, even ...
Armonica: From Me to You
by Roger Crane
The word “armonica” has two meanings, both relating to music. An armonica is a glass harmonica (which, interestingly, was invented by Benjamin Franklin) and it is also the Italian word for “harmony.” So Armonica, the Portland-based singer, has the perfect name to accompany her marvelous singing. By the way, this is not a name that she ...
Hanna Richardson and Phil Flanigan: Something to Remember You By
by Roger Crane
Vocalist Hanna Richardson will most likely be a new name to you. But hopefully not for long. She has a natural, relaxed voice and was born to sing. Her warm timbre and uncomplicated phrasing are notable for their ease and expressiveness. You understand every word she sings-- and, given her selections on this CD, the lyrics ...
Sunna Gunnlaugs: Fagra Verold
by Roger Crane
An Icelandic woman who leads her own group is not the most common thing in jazz, but pianist Sunna Gunnlaugs just may be the best jazz pianist you’ve never heard. As a child she played polkas and Beatles tunes on the organ in her homeland, but an encounter with an LP by pianist Bill Evans was, ...