Home » Jazz Musicians » Chris McNulty Discography
Soul Journey
Chris McNulty
Label: Pearl Coast Jazz
Released: 2026
Duration: 01:09
Views: 1,429
Tracks
Secrets That We Keep; Elegy for Olga; Gratitude; Estate; The Waiting Game; The Blessing; Nothing Like You; It Never Entered My Mind; Beneath the Winter Sun; Flying Still, All My Tomorrows; There's No Such thing As Love; Alfie
Personnel
Chris McNulty
vocals
Brett Williams
keyboards
Ben Robertson
bassLewis Pierre
drumsCarl Mackey
saxophone, altoTony Hicks
saxophone, tenor
Gianni Marinucci
trumpet
John di Martino
pianoAdditional Personnel / Information
Brett Williams plays acoustic piano; Carl Mackey plays tenor, soprano saxophones; Tony Hicks plays flutes, clarinet, bass clarinet
Album Description
Chris McNulty is an award winning jazz vocalist, composer and educator. She is the recipient of the 2013 Australian Bell Award for Best Vocal Jazz album for ‘The Song That Sings You Here’ (Challenge Int) and the recipient of a 2019 Bundanon Trust Prelude Composer Residency award.
McNulty became a fixture on the New York vocal jazz scene after moving to the USA in 1988 with her then 7 year old son. Her emergence on the international jazz scene began around 1991 with the release of her critically acclaimed Waltz for Debby (Discovery). Since then her recordings and performances have garnered 4 and 5 star reviews in publications including DownBeat, Jazz Times, The Irish Times, Jazz Wise, All About Jazz, JazzIs and The Australian, among others.
Chris McNulty’s 2015 groundbreaking release ‘Eternal’ (Palmetto) which melded chamber ensemble and jazz quintet with orchestrations by Steve Newcomb and core ensemble arrangements by John Di Martino, received 5 and 4.5 star reviews in All About Jazz and DownBeat among many others. The album placed 11th on the 80th DownBeat Readers Poll 2015 for ‘Album of the Year’ and was listed in the ‘Best Albums of 2015’ category in both DownBeat and Jazz Times among others.
In late 2015 McNulty returned to Australia after spending 28 years in NYC. Now based in Soldiers Hill, SW Victoria, Australia.
'Soul Journey' is Chris McNulty's 8th album and her first release recorded in Australia featuring Australian, American and expatriate European jazz musicians. Her previous releases were all recorded in NYC and released on American labels. McNulty's 'Soul Journey' uses her sonic and compositional skills to explore a deeply personal journey through past, present and future. The album recorded in Melbourne, Australia features seven McNulty originals along with five of her favourite standards from the Great American Songbook with Melbourne based musicians American-Australian Brett Williams (piano); Ben Robertson (bass); Lewis Pierre (drums); Carl Mackey (tenor, sop sax); Tony Hicks (flutes, clarinets); Gianni Marinucci (trumpet-flugelhorn) and John Di Martino (NYC) piano. Additional woodwind/flugelhorn arrangements by Mirko Guerrini. Session engineers: Pat Telfer (Melb), Dav Byrne (Bakery Hill, Vic) and Chris Sulit (NJ, USA). Mixed and mastered by Dave Darlington (NYC).
Highlights so far…..
‘Soul Journey’ was ‘Featured Album of the Week’ on ABC Jazz nationwide and 2MBS Fine Music (Sydney) in May and July 2026. The album received a 5 star review from Eric Myers which published in the Weekend Australian’s Culture Magazine July18-19 2026 issue. Links to reviews, features and interviews supporting Chris McNulty’s ‘Soul Journey’ album release as follows:
Weekend Australian: https://ericmyersjazz.com/cd-reviews-page-101
Ian Muldoon album review: https://ericmyersjazz.com/essays-page-139?rq=Chris%20McNulty
2MBS Fine Music: https://omny.fm/shows/ajazzhour/2mbsfinemusicsydney-ajazzhour-5june2026
David Moyle, Bent Notes, Joy fm: https://joy.org.au/bentnotes/2026/04/the-soul-journey-of-vocalist-chris-mcnulty/
Compositions and lyrics by Chris McNulty (tracks: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10)
Voice - Chris McNulty
Piano - Brett Williams (tracks: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13)
Piano - John Di Martino (tracks: 4, 8, 11, 12)
Bass - Ben Robertson (tracks: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10)
Drums - Lewis Pierre (tracks: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10)
Saxophones (tenor/sop) - Carl Mackey (tracks: 1, 3, 5, 7)
Flutes, bass clarinet, clarinet - Tony Hicks (tracks: 1, 3, 5)
Flugel, trumpet - Gianni Marinucci (tracks: 1, 5)
Core Ensemble Arrangements
Chris McNulty & John Di Martino (tracks: 3, 5)
Chris McNulty (tracks: 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13)
John Di Martino (tracks: 1,10)
Woodwind and Flugel Arrangements - Mirko Guerrini (tracks: 1, 3, 5)
Additional Background Vocal Arrangements - Chris McNulty (tracks: 3, 5, 6)
Reviews for 'Soul Journey'
5***** Stars from Australia's preeminent jazz critic, Eric Myers published in the Weekend Australian’s Culture magazine on July 18, 2026. https://ericmyersjazz.com/cd-reviews-page-101
"Only a highly accomplished jazz singer produces an album like Soul Journey. In fact there’s so much to praise that I need more space to adequately cover all the plaudits necessary. Chris McNulty’s voice is blessed with impeccable sound quality and a lovely vibrato; she’s a superb exponent of the wordless vocal; her compositional skills, particularly as a lyricist, are formidable; and brilliant jazz musicians, both local and international, are on hand to accompany her. McNulty closes the album with a tour de force of two ballads: Anthony Newley’s There’s No Such Thing As Love, and the Hal David/Burt Bacharach classic Alfie, so beautifully sung that the listener is taken to another place. This album is testimony to how well McNulty developed her artistry during 30 years in New York, before her welcome return to Australia in 2015."
★★★★★
Eric Myers
More review excerpts.....
"Exquisitely delivered...with consummate feeling and jazz sensibility. McNulty’s uniquely emotive vocal interpretation...achieves a transcendent quality." — 4 1/2 stars John McBeath, The Australian
“Exquisite....McNulty applies poignant jazz chops to the vocal, while accomplishing the impossible, the expression of her story through song....making listeners rethink the meaning of why we love jazz..”— 5 Stars Blaine Fallis, All About Jazz, July 2015
"The Australian born, New York City-based singer and a veteran performer on the international jazz scene, has many gifts as a performer and a direct channel to the emotional core of a lyric. On this CD, McNulty bares her soul, and one doesn’t dare look away." — 4 1/2 stars Allen Morrison, Downbeat, June 2015
"McNulty has a refined musical intelligence, deep understanding and mastery of the bebop idiom and complete control of the ballad with an emotional wallop of lived experience. Her great ability to tell a story, with perfect diction, engaging tone and expressive range combined with a programme chosen with such care and intelligence - old, new, popular, classic, original, standard, swing, ballad - was a degustation of jazz vocal at its most inviting and satisfying." — Ian Muldoon, Eric Myers Jazz - Dec 2023
https://www.chrismcnulty.com/soul-journey-album
Album uploaded by Chris McNulty
