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Clayton Cameron
Angie Wells: Truth Be Told
by Dave Linn
Angie Wells grew up in Philadelphia, surrounded by music. Her mother sang and played gospel piano, while her father was a devoted jazz and blues fan. The music of Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Jack McDuff and B.B. King, to name a few, could be heard on any day in her childhood home. At the age of five, Count Basie came to her school and played for her kindergarten class. The music seed had been planted. Later, she sang when and ...
read moreBeverley Church Hogan: Sweet Invitation
by Richard J Salvucci
In 1984, an American writer named Harriet Doerr published a compelling novel called Stones for Ibarra (Penguin Books). The novel, partly autobiographical, was about rural Mexico. Ms. Doerr's novel was her first. It won a National Book Award. Doerr had attended university for a bit but dropped out to raise a family. She was 74 years old when the book was published. Of course, there was a small sensation, because few of us break into print in our ...
read moreBeverley Church Hogan: Sweet Invitation
by Pierre Giroux
The entertainment business only rarely offers second chances. However, that does seem to be the case for singer Beverley Church Hogan. Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, she began singing as a pre-teen, managed to have a regular gig on the radio and then, by her late teens, was singing in clubs and U.S.O. styled military shows. At 21, she relocated to Los Angeles, was offered a recording contract by Capitol Records but, for a variety of familial reasons, turned ...
read moreMark Winkler: Late Bloomin' Jazzman
by Edward Blanco
Veteran singer, platinum-selling lyricist and songwriter Mark Winkler delivers his twentieth album as leader, Late Bloomin' Jazzman, beginning with a George Gershwin standard, ending with a Gershwin tribute and, in between, presenting romantic ballads, a bit of swing and a touch of bossa. An educator at UCLA who teaches the art of songwriting, Winkler brings this remarkable talent to the fore on this album, providing his own lyrics to seven of the twelve songs which he suddenly realized talk about ...
read moreMark Winkler: Late Bloomin' Jazzman
by Richard J Salvucci
Anyone who can hold their own on a stage on in a studio with Cheryl Bentyne cannot be all bad, right? Even if one's taste runs more to Harry Connick, Jr than to Mark Murphy, it is difficult not to get seriously into Mark Winkler. Oh, he can sing, for sure, but even if he could not carry a tune, he is a lyricist for the ages. Not all ages, mind you. But for those of a certain age, sensibility, ...
read moreMark Winkler: Old Friends
by C. Michael Bailey
The appeal of singer and lyricist Mark Winkler is not that he has an outstanding vocal instrument. Rather, it is uniquely unique; easily identifiable. Winkler has what Broadway composers once called a lyricist's voice." It is a voice of a song writer that is honest and genuine and that is where Winkler gets to the listener. A serious artist, he never sounds as if he takes himself too seriously (much like Dean Martin). And, therein lies his charm. Winkler's voice ...
read moreTony Bennett: Sings Ellington Hot And Cool
by C. Michael Bailey
All Class. In the end, there was Tony Bennett. Oft quoted and making a rock-hard point, Frank Sinatra once mused that Bennett was the finest male vocalist performing. And here in arguably the Autumn of his years is Bennett, performing at a new career height. Sings Ellington Hot and Cool is the fourth in a successful series of discs focusing exclusively on contemporaries of Bennett. These releases include 1992’s Perfectly Frank Frank Sinatra, Columbia 52965); 1993’s Steppin’ Out (Fred Astaire, ...
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