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Mark Murphy: The Latin Porter
by Mathew Bahl
During the course of this live album, Mark Murphy observes that “everything old is becoming new again. Even me, folks." Certainly, the 68-year-old singer shows no signs of slowing down. He recently won the 2000 Downbeat Magazine Reader's Poll as Male Vocalist of the Year, and he finished second in the voting for the Hall of ...
Nnenna Freelon: Soulcall
by Mathew Bahl
Nnenna Freelon’s high profile self-titled recording debut on Columbia Records in 1992 prematurely vaulted the young singer onto the national jazz stage. Unfortunately, Ms. Freelon was still in the process of developing her style and a major record label like Columbia proved to be a less than ideal environment for a singer with growing pains. It ...
Etta Jones: Easy Living
by Mathew Bahl
Easy Living, Etta Jones’ wonderful new CD, is a celebration of a reunion and a partnership. The partnership is, of course, Ms. Jones’ longstanding collaboration with Houston Person. Mr. Person has played on and/or produced nearly all of Ms. Jones’ recordings since 1976. The reunion is with pianist Richard Wyands who in 1960 played for Ms. ...
Irene Kral: Kral Space
by Mathew Bahl
Perhaps the great lost jazz singer of her generation, Irene Kral’s career was cruelly cut short by her untimely death from breast cancer on August 15, 1978 at age 46. The younger sister of Roy Kral of Jackie & Roy fame, Irene Kral started her career in the 1950s. She sang on the road with various ...
Kendra Shank: Reflections
by Mathew Bahl
Although many vocalists pay only lip service to the ideas of “using the voice as an instrument” and the singer “working as part of the group,” on her third CD, Kendra Shank delivers spectacularly on both fronts. Ms. Shank had already set herself apart as a singer who was deeply committed to jazz but unwilling to ...
Sheila Jordan: From the Heart
by Mathew Bahl
From the Heart is a compilation CD that draws from three out-of-print albums Sheila Jordan recorded for the now defunct Muse label: Old Time Feeling (1982), Lost and Found (1989), and Heart Strings (1993). While these records deserve to reissued in their entirety, by culling tracks from each album, 32 Jazz has created a perfect single ...
Dianne Reeves: In the Moment
by Mathew Bahl
Dianne Reeves is one of the most charismatic and exciting live performers in modern jazz. In the Moment, recorded over two nights in front of an invited audience on a Los Angeles sound stage, is an effort to capture on disc the kind of magic that Ms. Reeves generates in her club and concert appearances. It ...
Patricia Barber: Nightclub
by Mathew Bahl
The harping of rigid purists or self-proclaimed visionaries aside, the enduring strength of jazz has always been its ability to accommodate both tradition and innovation. Patricia Barber has done plenty of experimenting on albums like Café Blue, Modern Cool and Companion. Her smartly crafted originals and reinventions of rock tunes like “Light My Fire” and “The ...
Sunny Sumter: Sunny
by Mathew Bahl
Sunny Sumter is a young Washington D.C. based singer who graduated from the jazz department at Howard University. Ms. Sumter is a gifted and well-trained singer. Her voice has a beautiful, vibratoless tone. She exhibits solid intonation, good articulation and clear diction. She also seems to understand the limits of her own voice, and, for the ...
Helen Merrill: Jelena Ana Milcetic aka Helen Merrill
by Mathew Bahl
There has never been a jazz vocal record quite like Jelena Ana Milcetic a.k.a. Helen Merrill. It is obvious from the very first track as the Lado Folk Dance and Music Ensemble of Croatia intone a movement from the liturgical cantata “Telo Kristusevo" against the backdrop of Terry Clarke's thundering drums. It is a prayer sung ...
