Jazz Articles about Cheryl Bentyne

Cheryl Bentyne: The Gershwin Songbook

by Larry Taylor
January 11, 2011

Cheryl Bentyne's The Gershwin Songbook is among the best vocal albums of 2010. A member of The Manhattan Transfer since 1979, she frequently strikes out on her own to record, and has released eight albums in the past two decades. Perfecting her talent in vocalese with Manhattan Transfer, Bentyne performs jazz choruses with a pitch-perfect soprano in the tradition of Annie Ross, by way of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. In this set of 15 Gershwin classics, she ...

Lorraine Feather: Language

by Nicholas F. Mondello
June 7, 2008

Lorraine Feather Language Jazzed Media 2008

By its very title, Language, from singer and lyricist Lorraine Feather, implies that Feather and company believe that they have the musical and linguistic chops to take on such a sophisticated concept for our entertainment. So it's good to find that Feather is a heavyweight who--with a championship caliber crew in her corner--delivers a resounding KO.

To some ears, story songs--word-intense tunes--may seem overly Broadwayesque and ...

Cheryl Bentyne: The Book of Love

by C. Michael Bailey
November 23, 2006

Much like fellow West Coaster Karrin Allyson, Cheryl Bentyne has shown a certain affection for thematic recordings. Allyson released her superb Coltrane tribute, Ballads: Remembering John Coltrane, in 2001, and Bentyne answered with her own tribute to Anita O'Day, Let Me Off Uptown, in 2005. Bentyne now returns with The Book of Love, a suite of standards based on a literary motif.

The Book of Love is divided into a seven chapters covering longing, flirtation, lust, love, joy, ...

Cheryl Bentyne: Let Me Off Uptown

by Greg Thomas
November 14, 2005

Away from the multi-Grammy winning Manhattan Transfer, soprano Cheryl Bentyne has taken this opportunity to put together a fine tribute to the under-appreciated Anita O'Day. The caliber of musicianship is top-notch, with Bill Holman conducting the “Mighty Little Big Horns, a group of first-rate Los Angeles musicians, among them Pete Christlieb, a robust tenor saxophonist heard just briefly on the closer, the O'Day original “Waiter, Make Mine Blues. Trumpeter Jack Sheldon sits in on a few numbers, ...

Cheryl Bentyne on "Let Me Off Uptown"

by Woodrow Wilkins
May 7, 2005

There's no mistaking her soprano voice -- whether she's going solo or performing with what's perhaps the best jazz vocal group of all time: The Manhattan Transfer. Either way, Cheryl Bentyne has fun when she sings, and her joy is carried over to the listener. Her new album, Let Me Off Uptown, is proof. Opening with the swinging title song, a duet with trumpeter/vocalist Jack Sheldon, and continuing with the moody “Skylark, the album is Bentyne's tribute to ...

Cheryl Bentyne: Let Me Off Uptown

by C. Michael Bailey
April 19, 2005

Some listeners will be completely satisfied with transparent pop vocalists like Mariah Carey. Others can only be satisfied with densely difficult jazz vocalists, like Lisa Sokolov or Betty Carter. But, as in politics, there also exists an enormous moderate middle ground, a population which craves musical excellence but may not crave the experimental edge. Cheryl Bentyne's new recording is perfect for the latter group.

Let Me Off Uptown, Bentyne's tribute to one of the most talented and difficult ...

Cheryl Bentyne: Talk Of The Town

by Franz A. Matzner
January 4, 2004

Talk of the Town raises an interesting question for the jazz critic and consumer: how to evaluate a musical endeavor that so accurately, so skillfully, and so consciously resurrects a earlier stylistic periods that the notes seem to ring out from another era. Cheryl Bentyne’s surety of voice, the precision and skill of her accompaniment, and the professionalism of the album effectively bars criticism. While in other art forms Bentyne’s adherence to form might raise objections, within jazz where revivalism, ...