Jazz Articles

Silvia Bennett: Sonrie

by Edward Blanco
November 18, 2011

A specialist in interpreting music from The Great American Songbook, Grammy-nominated vocalist Silvia Bennett once again delivers an album of classic standards from the past with one major twist: she sings the lyrics in Spanish. Sonrie (Smile) is a Spanish-language follow-up to Smile (Out of Sight Music, 2010), presenting a largely different repertoire that also reprises the Charles Chaplin title song, Johnny Mandel's “The Shadow of Your Smile" ("La Sombra de Tu Amor") and Burt F. Bacharach's “The Look of ...

Sylvia Bennett: Songs From the Heart

by Michael P. Gladstone
July 12, 2008

The best comment that one could make regarding Sylvia Bennett's Songs From The Heart is that the singer's presentation of a dozen pretty well-worn tunes from The Great American Songbook is pretty good. Her bright and well-enunciated versions of such time-respected fare as Rodgers and Hart's “My Funny Valentine," Gershwin's “Someone to Watch Over Me" and Razaf/Waller's “Ain't Misbehavin'" are almost enough to reawaken interest in these veteran love songs. Only on “I Still Love You," a ballad contributed by ...

Lionel Hampton: There Will Never Be Another You

by Jim Santella
October 12, 2006

Recorded in 1989 and featuring vocalist Sylvia Bennett, this studio performance captures Lionel Hampton in action with a big band, tearin' up those swingin' vibes. Hampton's 1989 band arrangements are outstanding. They pull everyone together, lifting each section up to its assigned role in support of the vibraphonist's featured spot. He carries each selection with vigor. Reeds and brass pack plenty of power, while the rhythm section swings. The use of electric bass and congas lend a contemporary charm to ...

Lionel Hampton: There Will Never Be Another You Featuring Sylvia Bennett

by Michael P. Gladstone
September 15, 2006

How many living female singers can say that they sang with the Lionel Hampton Big Band? Sylvia Bennett auditioned for Hampton in the early 1980s and was immediately signed as the band's singer. She then toured Florida and performed with the Hampton Orchestra at the second Reagan inaugural as well as the same event for George Bush. Hampton recorded Sentimental Journey in 1985 with Bennett as vocalist, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1987. A second album, There ...

Lionel Hampton: There Will Never Be Another You

by Jack Bowers
July 30, 2006

Legendary vibraphonist Lionel Hampton auditioned Italian-born vocalist Sylvia Bennett in the early '80s, hired her on the spot to sing with his band, and subsequently recorded two albums with her. The first, Sentimental Journey, received a Grammy Award nomination, but the second, recorded in 1989 when Hamp was a frisky eighty years old, sat neglected for reasons unknown ever since and is only now being heard for the first time. And it's high time, too.

To state the case as ...