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Suzanne Pittson: Emerge Dancing
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Emerge Dancing is a fascinatingly intriguing album from New York vocalist (and pianist/composer) Suzanne Pittson and her husband, pianist Jeff Pittson. Primarily a duo album, the pair is joined on a trio of tracks by their son, violist Evan Pittson. Team Pittson has delivered a buffet of jazz, pop, rare-find and well-known standard fare that emerges as 24k performance and production gold. The frequently-recorded John Lennon and Paul McCartney gem “Blackbird" opens this session with the duo ...
Continue ReadingSuzanne Pittson: Out of the Hub: The Music of Freddie Hubbard
by Wilbert Sostre
The vocalese and scatting tradition is alive and well in singer Suzanne Pittson. With Out of the Hub: The Music of Freddie Hubbard, Pittson continues to establish herself as one of the best singers on today's jazz scene. Out of the Hub includes tunes written by or associated with trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard, with Pittson writing or co-writing five lyrics, which Hubbard approved just three months before his passing in 2008. To honor Hubbard, Pittson recruited ...
Continue ReadingWally Schnalle: The Suit
by Stephen Latessa
"The Suit," drummer Wally Schnalle writes in the liner notes to his new album of the same name, “is simply a metaphor for a myriad of musical constraints such as: idiom, genre, common practice, expectations, bag, style, and convention. Each of these, and more, I find can impose severe limitations on creativity. And so the straight jacket (Suit) image. Seeking to avoid such restraints, Schnalle casts the net far and wide both compositionally and instrumentally on The Suit. Historic jazz ...
Continue ReadingSuzanne Pittson: Blues And The Abstract Truth
by AAJ Staff
Billy Eckstine once said to an aspiring vocalist “Use your natural chops, never affect an accent that is not your own" and to her credit there is not one iota of affectation in Suzanne Pittson's vocal style. She sings with clarity and never loses the essence of the song with useless histrionics. Pittson's instrument is her voice. No Saxophones, Brasses, Strings or Percussion can duplicate the human voice, it is an entity unto itself capable of twists, turns and innuendo ...
Continue ReadingWally Schnalle: That Place
by Joel Roberts
Drummer Wally Schnalle leads an impressive West Coast ensemble on an album of what could be called “post post-bop." More precisely, it's modern, exploratory jazz that still, generally, retains melody and recognizable form.Schnalle's 11 original compositions here range from hard funk to almost-free jazz. A few of the tunes put me in mind of the sorely missed Don Pullen/George Adams Quartet, thanks to soaring saxophone work from Charles McNeal and soulful, percussive piano from Jeff Pittson.All ...
Continue ReadingJeff Pittson: Go Where It's Dangerous
by Joel Roberts
A lot of jazz fans turn right off at the mere mention of electronic effects. So let's get this out of the way: While Jeff Pittson uses a full array of computers, samplers and other electronics to augment his music, this is essentially a piano album. And a pretty good one at that.Pittson's (acoustic) piano is almost always in the foreground on the 10 selections here -- nine originals, plus a tender reading of Nino Rota's “Godfather" theme. ...
Continue ReadingSuzanne Pittson: Resolution: A Remembrance Of John Coltrane
by Jim Santella
Scat singing and original lyrics mark Suzanne Pittson’s second release, which is centered on John Coltrane’s landmark A Love Supreme album. With a piano trio and tenor saxophonist, altering her voice at times as if it were a trumpet, Pittson sings of life and love, the deep feelings we have buried inside, and how the music can help us find our way. From Northern California, the singer holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from San Francisco State University, where ...
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