Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Nica Carrington: Times Like These

1

Nica Carrington: Times Like These

By

View read count
Nica Carrington: Times Like These
Intrepid may be the best word to use to describe the singer Nica Carrington's self-produced debut album. Not many months before recording it, Nica, who had been taking voice lessons, came across the highly regarded Los Angeles based pianist, arranger, and jazz voice instructor John Proulx, who thought that she showed such promise that he was willing to produce her first release. Wanting to do everything to provide the framework for success, Proulx brought along two esteemed and seasoned jazz musicians, bassist Chuck Berghofer and drummer Joe LaBarbera, who had between them worked with such leading musicians as Stan Getz, Shelly Manne, Art Pepper and Bill Evans.

As Carrington explains in the accompanying press notes to the album, she chose the songs from the Great American Songbook because as a youngster she listened to her father's vast record collection which included jazz singers who recorded these timeless standards. The session opens with the Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer classic "Skylark" and from her opening phrases it is evident that Carrington has an ear catching voice. The following track is a little known and rarely heard number penned by pianist Mal Waldron and singer Billie Holiday entitled "Left Alone." While it is a melancholy ballad, it has a beauty all its own which Carrington readily captures.

Nica emanates confidence and has a first-rate voice which carries a pleasantly earthy warmth.

Track Listing

Skylark; Left Alone; When Sunny Gets Blue; Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye; We’ll Be Together Again; The Summer Knows; You Don’t Know What Love Is; Angel Eyes; The Shadow of Your Smile; Here’s to Life.

Personnel

Album information

Title: Times Like These | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Self Produced

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.