Jazz Articles about Jackie Ryan

Chatting With Jackie Ryan

by Roger Crane
April 2, 2004

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 past few years.Jackie Ryan Thank you so much, Roger. It was so fun to do... a labor of love--all the way through ...

Jackie Ryan: This Heart of Mine

by C. Michael Bailey
January 13, 2004

The thing that first struck me about this fine recording was the concrete accompaniment provided Ms. Ryan. Solid, effortless swing is what propels this veteran vocalist through This Heart of Mine.  The high quality of this swing, which I credit to crack arranging, is that much more a surprise when considering that the arrangements on this recording were very much a concerted effort.  All are uniformly fine, but I must tip my hat to pianist Jon Meyer for his astute direction ...

Jackie Ryan: This Heart of Mine

by Roger Crane
January 5, 2004

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 the ordering of the songs. And, most importantly, of course, Jackie Ryan! She is a smart, sophisticated vocalist for grown ups and this is ...

Jackie Ryan: This Heart Of Mine

by Jim Santella
October 16, 2003

Listen to Jackie Ryan's voice and consider this: how important is it to you that vocal jazz come from the heart?

Ryan’s latest release proves that nothing works better on your soul than the real thing. With three teams of top-rate West Coast sidemen and welcome appearances from several key guests, Ryan’s straight-ahead program settles in with a charm seldom seen in today’s crowded singer’s market. She’s genuine.

Slow ballads, gentle bossa novas, and ...

Jackie Ryan: Passion Flower

by Roger Crane
June 1, 2002

One listen to Jackie Ryan’s voice takes you back to the World War II era when your grandfather, or maybe your uncles, were off fighting our enemies and the big bands were the popular music of the day. Her deep honey rich contralto is the one you could be hearing as you dance at a USO-sponsored shindig in the middle 1940s, while a janitor is sweeping up the shreds of confetti. But, although Ryan’s voice and her choice of songs ...

Jackie Ryan: Passion Flower

by Dave Nathan
May 1, 2002

Coming from the San Francisco area which simply teems with good singers, comes the second CD of the very good Jackie Ryan and her first for the OpenArt label. Filled with emotional intensity falling somewhere between a not so exaggerated Betty Carter and a somewhat cooler Carmen McRae, Ryan applies her vocal virtuosity to a play list of 14 tunes, some familiar, some not, representing a wide spectrum of vocal opportunities. Running the gamut from “Moon Indigo" to a wild ...

Jackie Ryan: For Heaven's Sake

by Jack Bowers
August 1, 2001

For heaven’s sake! After reading Jim Merod’s laudatory liner notes to Jackie Ryan’s CD, I thought to myself that she’d have to be one helluva singer to live up to that kind of praise. Well, when all is said and done and the smoke has cleared, she is — at least, she’s close enough to make your average garden–variety curmudgeon sit up and take notice. It starts with the voice, unusually warm and often dusky but with remarkable range, enabling ...