Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Uptown Vocal Jazz Quartet: When the Sun Goes Down

117

Uptown Vocal Jazz Quartet: When the Sun Goes Down

By

View read count
Uptown Vocal Jazz Quartet: When the Sun Goes Down
Make some room, Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices and Four Freshmen, for the innovative, completely ear catching multi voiced renderings of Washington, D. C.' s Uptown Vocal Jazz Quartet. Although not signed with a major label, working out of the Capitol has allowed this group to share various venues with some of the more popular jazz artists of our time, including Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett and Terence Blanchard. The group is made up of the well-meshed voices of Ginny Carr, Robert McBride, Lisanne Lyons and Roger Reynolds who apply their collaborative talents to an interesting and varied play list of 12 tunes drawn from many areas of jazz vocal literature. Selecting the right mix of songs is probably more critical to the success of a vocal group than individual performers. Otherwise a feeling of ennui sets in rather quickly. The group handles that problem with ease with the vocalese rendition of "Jazz Face", a creative, boppish, swinging (and they do swing) "You Don't Love Me Like You Used to ". In addition, there are novel arrangements of tunes from the pens of Chick Corea, Dizzy Gillespie and the Gershwin Brothers. Going even a step further, a big front line of horns has been added for depth for such modern sounding music as on "Secrets Held By Time". Then there's "And the Melody Still Lingers On", Chaka Khan's recast of "A Night in Tunisia" providing the platform to display the group's wordless vocalizing skills, which are considerable. Finally, the Uptown Jazz Quartet shows it can move out of the swinging groove with some enchanting ballads such as a lilting "Le Souffle Dernier d'Hiver (the Last Breath of Winter)". There are few groups extant whose voices blend together with such exciting harmonic synergy as this outfit from the Nation's Capitol. Recommended.

Visit the quartet's home page at www.uptownvocaljazzquartet .com

Track Listing

Love Walked in; You're Everything; `Deed I Do; And the Melody Still Lingers On (A Night in Tunisia); Le Souffle Dernier d'Hiver (the Last Breath of Winter); Birth of the Blues; Jazz Face; When the Sun Goes Down; Secrets Held by Time; He Beeped When He Should Have Bopped; You Don't Love Me Like You Used to; In the Gloaming

Personnel

Ginny Carr, Robert McBride, Lisanne Lyons, Roger Reynolds - Vocals; John Toomey, Doug Bickel, Dan Reynolds - Piano; Peter Revell, Tom Baldwin, Leonardo Lucini - Bass; Frank Russo - Drums/Percussion; Alejandro Lucini - Drums; Tim Leahey - Trumpet/Flugelhorn; Chris Vadala - Alto& Soprano Sax; Chip McNeill - Tenor Sax; Jay Gibble, Joe Jackson - Trombone; Pat Schrieves, Robert McBride - Percussion; Shawn Purcell, Donato Soviero - Guitar

Album information

Title: When the Sun Goes Down | Year Released: 2002 | Record Label: House Kat

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

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

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.