Susan Getz, who arrived on the West Coast jazz scene last year with a sold-out debut at the Empire Plushroom, has gathered an ensemble of some of the Bay Area's finest instrumentalists including pianist Leonard Thompson, bassist David Ewell, drummer Jemal Ramirez and trumpeter Joel Ryan, for her first CD, Jazz Boxx. No less a jazz expert than famed producer Teo Macero said upon listening to Jazz Boxx, “It's nice to hear a new voice. Susan Getz is on the right path, with a charming sound and a different style. The concept, to be sure, is hers alone."
It's no surprise that the vocalists she says have influenced her most-Chet Baker, Peggy Lee, Astrud Gilberto, and Carlos Jobim-are all paragons of understatement and smoldering emotion. From the first note she sings, it's clear that Susan has been listening to the greats, but there's no doubt that her sound is her own. She brings fresh perspectives to timing and harmonies that allow her to illuminate surprising corners of long familiar favorites and a deft lyrical touch that lends her lovely originals a quiet empathy.
As jazz critic George Carroll writes in his recent review of Jazz Boxx, “Aaaah Yes...Jazz vocalist, Susan Getz comes at you right where it counts...Her vocal delivery hits you in the solar plexus area of your musical sensibilities..."
Susan also gives her sidemen plenty of room for creativity, encouraging counter-rhythms and inventive harmonies that add a creative depth and tension to these recordings. Listen in particular to Thompson's haunting solo on the Robert Palmer song “Honeymoon," Ramirez' yearning brush work in his solo statement opening the classic ballad “That's All," and Ewell's beautiful bass solo, framed by an evocative bass-piano dialogue in that same number. And listen also to way Susan finds the true heart of Lennon and McCartney's “The Long and Winding Road," stripping down the pathos of the original to reveal a vulnerable and moving plea for lost love.
Susan will sing material from her new CD in the Bay Area throughout the summer. Performance information is available at www.susangetz.com. Jazz Boxx is currently available on the web at Amazon and www.cdbaby.com/getz and at Bay Area local record stores including Amoeba Records and DBA Brown.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
