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Paul Marinaro: Mood Ellington
by Pierre Giroux
Paul Marinaro's Mood Ellington is an ambitious, carefully crafted double CD that regards Duke Ellington's vocal repertoire not as a fixed monument but as a living collection of work capable of endless renewal. Instead of relying on a single arranging perspective, Marinaro commissioned thirteen renowned composers, allowing Ellington's songs to be explored through multiple aesthetic lenses while remaining anchored in a consistent emotional core. Like his concept for the album's arrangers, Marinaro sought supporting musicians who would express their own ...
Continue ReadingPaul Marinaro: Not Quite Yet
by Pierre Giroux
Singer Paul Marinaro issued his acclaimed debut album Without A Song (122 Myrtle Records) in 2013. Seven years after the release of his follow-up, “One Night In Chicago" (122 Myrtle Records), and with almost a decade of performing from coast to coast at top-end clubs, including New York's Birdland, he has released Not Quite Yet, which is devoted to exploring timeless themes, such as life, love and the search for lasting connections. Accompanying Marinaro are longtime band members guitarist Mike ...
Continue ReadingPaul Marinaro: Not Quite Yet
by Richard J Salvucci
The cover of the album is vaguely noir, with the urban greenish cast of tungsten film. A sole figure leans slightly against a building, downcast, staring into his soul, and waiting out a lit cigarette when it was still hip to smoke. The guy is Frank Sinatra and the album was In The Wee Small Hours. The year is 1955. It is difficult to believe that Chicago-based vocalist Paul Marinaro has even been born, but clearly, Sinatra will make an ...
Continue ReadingTracye Eileen: You Hit The Spot
by Richard J Salvucci
The death of the Great American Songbook as a vehicle for aspiring singers is sometimes announced. Someone should tell the singers. Because this season alone has seen a crop of good recordings, most of them reviewed in AAJ, and very favorably so in the main. Tracye Eileen, a Chicago vocalist with roots in the jazz community, continues the stream to good effect. While the recording is rather brief at 29 minutes, and the live section suggests an after-the-fact ...
Continue ReadingTracye Eileen: You Hit the Spot
by Jack Bowers
You Hit the Spot is either the third or fourth album by sultry-voiced, Chicago-based vocalist Tracye Eileen. It was recorded in two sessions: one with a trio (and audience), the other with a sextet. She gets a good head start thanks to a splendid choice of material— eight blue-chip tunes, all from the Great American Songbook. Eileen fares reasonably well with each of them, spreading a bluesy blanket over what are essentially straight-ahead renditions. She has excellent ...
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