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Marty Elkins: 'Tis Autumn
by C. Michael Bailey
There exists a group of jazz musicians dedicated to pre-bebop jazz who have traditionally populated the catalogs of the Nagel-Heyer and Arbors record labels. These musicians include Herb Pomeroy, Max Kaminsky, Randy Sandke, Harry Allen, and Dave McKenna. Central to this group is vocalist Marty Elkins who, while in college, discovered the recordings of Ella Fitzgerald, Ellis Larkins, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday's Lady in Satin (Columbia, 1959), falling in love with the period and its repertoire. Elkins moved from ...
read moreMarty Elkins & Mike Richmond: 'Tis Autumn
by Dan Bilawsky
Vocals, bass and Golden Age jazz standards. That's all that's here and it's all that's needed. Working their way through ten classics penned between 1926 and 1947, vocalist Marty Elkins and bassist Mike Richmond get right to the heart of jazz history. Their music has an easy draw to it, but there's absolutely no drama behind that magnetism--no too-clever-by-half rewrites, outside antics or fancying of futurism in interpretation(s). Grounded with a sense of respect for the material, this duo delights ...
read moreMarty Elkins: Fat Daddy
by Dan Bilawsky
The jazz world is full of singers who deserve a higher profile than they have, and Marty Elkins is most certainly one of them. This trad-jazz true believer and pliantly phrasing charmer has a way with words and an appreciation for the finer things in sound and song. Some might call her an aural antiquarian, but there's nary a speck of dust on the material she chooses to sing. Accompanied by a crack band equally at home with chestnuts of ...
read moreMarty Elkins: Fuse Blues
by C. Michael Bailey
Whitebread in a Good Way. Marty Elkins swings her ass off. In a gentle sort of way, I might add. She has got a Betty Carter delivery that is just inside of the ballpark of the boldness of Carter. Elkins is very exact, taking some chances vocally, but only those she is confident of claiming. This is no mean criticism, Marty Elkins is Anita O'Day without the hyperkinetic scat. There is nothing to not enjoy (double negatives and all).
Gosh, ...
read moreMarty Elkins: Fuse Blues
by Dave Nathan
Once a waitress at one of the altars of jazz, New York City's Village Vanguard, Marty Elkins has tossed the apron away and stepped onto the performing stage. Some may complain that this maiden album isn't very adventurous because, with a couple of exceptions, it sticks with oft heard standards. There should be such complaint. One measure of the worth of a vocalist is how she/he works with classic material as they try to put their special brand on it. ...
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