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Michelle Conte: Lucky Me!

By C. Michael Bailey
February 18, 2003
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West coast vocalist Michelle Conte employs a crack East coast team for her debut recording. Originally conceived as a family-only event, Brother Mark Elf dared Conte to do it right if she was going to do it at all. The result of this dare is Lucky Me!. Conte has a tight refined voice and likes to sing her songs straight. No vocal fireworks for Conte, only pure vocal talent. Conte chooses a repertoire straight down the middle for her debut, heavy on the standards all delivered in a conservative manner.

I tend to favor recordings like Lucky Me! because they illustrate how the American Songbook was envisioned to sound by the composers who contributed to it. I would recommend this disc to all listeners before I would recommend the more exploratory jazz vocalists. Michelle Conte sings in a way that would be pleasing to even the fussiest listener, and her band is without compare. Mark Elf is well known to these pages with many well-received recordings to his credit. His comrades ditto. Just place this disc under the laser, queue up "Until the Right Thing Comes Along" and revel in all that is great about American Music.

Visit Jen Bay Jazz .

Track Listing

I Thought About You; Lush Life; Makin

Personnel

Michelle Conte

Michelle Conte, vocals; Walt Weiskopf, tenor, soprano sax, flute; Mark Elf, guitar; Allen Farnham, piano; Neal Minor, bass; John Wikan, drums.

Album information

Title: Lucky Me! | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Jen Bay Records

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