Jazz Articles

Fay Victor Ensemble: The Freesong Suite

by John Kelman
November 21, 2009

It's a tough time to be a singer. With an excessive plethora of vocalists mining the Great American Songbook ad nauseum, or trying their hands at songwriting with less than distinctive results, it's harder than ever to be heard. Even once-innovative singers like Cassandra Wilson--now a Grammy Award-winning “star"--have deserted experimentation, resting instead on their not inconsiderable laurels in pursuit of consistent record sales, but losing the edge that got them where they are in the first place. ...

Fay Victor: The Freesong Suite

by Wilbur MacKenzie
October 13, 2009

Vocalist Fay Victor first appeared in the New York scene in the early '90s but soon moved to the Netherlands, returning in 2003. Victor's years abroad proved to be quite influential on her work, with a slightly Dutch aesthetic informing a quirky blend of absurdism, poetic lyricism and blues-influenced jazz styling. On The Freesong Suite, rather than presenting each tune on its own, the works are collaged together amidst an ongoing collective improvisation. Room 1407 starts things ...

Fay Victor: Lazy Old Sun

by William Grim
April 12, 2005

This is a very interesting CD from the American (former ex-pat) singer Fay Victor--her last recording made in Europe before returning to the United States last year. Her repertoire is very eclectic, ranging from standards to original tunes to covers of less-than-satisfactory 1960s-era rock tunes and one offering from the songbook of the highly overrated Randy Newman.

Indeed, it is a testament to Victor's musicianship that she is able to transform such egregiously bad material like the title ...