Jazz Articles about Lesley Byers

About Lesley Byers

Album Review

Lesley Byers & the Jazz Cats: Twisted

by Jack Bowers
March 2, 2004

Vocalist Lesley Byers and her Jazz Cats, who drew praise from this reviewer for their earlier album, A Slick Chick , are back with more heartwarming jazz from the heartland that is anything but Twisted. There have been some changes—saxophonist Doug Angelaccio is in, guitarist Zvonimir Tot out; there’s a new bassist, Jake Vinset, and not one but two pianists, Tom Vaitsas and Chris Mahieu, sitting in (not simultaneously) for John Proulx. But the basic format remains the same, with ...

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Album Review

Lesley Byers and the Jazz Cats: A Slick Chick

by Jack Bowers
December 1, 2001

From the name of the album and group I was expecting to hear from Lesley Byers and the Jazz Cats something along the lines of Keely Smith with Louis Prima and Sam Butera's Witnesses, but Byers and her quintet of capable Windy City sidemen offer a more straight-ahead brand of Jazz that's as well-crafted as it is pleasurable. Byers is a bright, amiable singer who must be even more charming to see than merely to hear. One can readily sense ...