The Sunday Jazz Brunch Presents

New Female Vocal Jazz

Air Date: 4/14/2024 on 90.5 WICN 8am-12pm ET

As I mentioned earlier, we are in a wave. Last week I talked about some of the instrumental releases that have come in. Now I would like to mention a few of the vocal releases we have received. Interestingly, they are all female vocalists.

Cyrille Aimée

In previous releases, French-born vocalist Cyrille Aimée has covered songs written by popular composers.

Photo by Drew Boudreaux
In this new CD, however, we have all originals. Here she sings her own lyrics, with her own melodies and arrangements. She is accompanied by New York composer and multi-instrumentalist Jake Sherman.

"I’ve been writing forever, but this album is my real birth as a songwriter. Six years ago, I found out I was pregnant as I traveled to Costa Rica. I spent a week there, surrounded by the teeming life of the jungle, knowing I had to have an abortion when I returned home."

She continues: "I wrote the song ‘Inside and Out’ about this powerful, scary and difficult experience and recorded it with Jake back in New York, but I didn’t trust myself as a songwriter back then and so the song laid dormant for years. Then when the pandemic hit, I moved to some land I had bought in Costa Rica and - to my own amazement - I designed and built a house in the jungle all by myself. It was my creative outlet, and my inspiration. The house was my baby and I found myself writing again, gaining confidence as I built and wrote.  Back in New York I took my new songs to Jake and said ‘Let’s finish what we started!’.”

Listen to two songs from the new release, in the second and third hours of the show.

Lizz Wright

It has been twenty years since her groundbreaking CD Salt, and now Lizz Wright has released her latest project, Shadow. This represents a debut studio recording on her two-year-old independent record label, Blues and Greens Records.

I always felt the pull of gospel music in her style. This is quite understandable, as Ms. Wright started her career as music director at a church in Georgia, where her father was pastor. She skillfully blends soul, jazz, and blues throughout her material. 

About the new CD, originally planned to be named Eclipse, Ms. Wright says  “It finally came to be my turn to lose a defining love in my life, my grandmother Martha. Something about the way she loved me gave me the backbone to stand and sing in front of rooms of strangers all these years and never feel alone. She made the world seem small and warm. Watching her long transition made me think about the impression that her love has left on me and what I was going to do with it. Shadow is the result of patiently feeling and exploring grief while also celebrating the kind of love that becomes more apparent and powerful in the presence of loss and uncertainty."

Kandace Springs

I have been watching this young performer since her debut full-album release of 2016, Soul Eyes. (Note: She did release a self-titled EP in 2014.) Needless to say, she keeps getting better. Her mentor Prince said that her voice "could melt snow." 

Now we have her latest, and best, release, Run Your Race. 

Why is it her best? By my measure, her original music on this CD has more depth and complexity than before - not that her earlier releases lacked anything. We are seeing an artist mature before our eyes (and ears!). 

The album and title song are devoted to Ms. Springs' late father Kevin 'Scat' Springs, who passed away two years ago. About the new CD she says that it is '...absolutely the most personal music I've ever made, or will ever make."

Check out two songs during the second and fourth hours of Sunday's show. 

Tierney Sutton

She has fourteen releases as a leader, nine of which have been nominated for a Grammy award. Her previous CDs have paid tribute to Bill Evans, Sting, Frank Sinatra, and Joni Mitchell. 

I would say that Tierney Sutton is a serious jazz artist!

Her new CD Good People features the San Gabriel 7, who bill themselves as an L.A.-based jazz/funk band. There is no funk on this CD, however. Instead, we have what I would consider to be classic Tierney Sutton. The songs are generally mellow, and they tell stories. 

Here's the title of one song whose story is pretty clear: Where'd I Put My Keys? Ha! How did Tierney Sutton know that I ask myself that all the time?

All ten tracks on the CD are originals. That is just so impressive, as all her songs sound almost like standards right out of the gate. Check out Autumn Love during the second hour. The lyrics are poetry, and the melody is so sweet. I'll be spinning more of this CD in the next few weeks. 

Vanessa Perea

You do like the Great American Songbook, right? Of course! Those songs are so great, we just don't get tired of them. But when we hear them performed, we want them done right. And that's what we have here with vocalist Vanessa Perea's new CD This is the Moment. 

On this CD, her third as a lead or co-lead, she performs for the first time with only a trio. Ah, that's what I like, a nice piano trio playing standards with a really good vocalist. 

Ms. Perea has been a regular performer in New York city for most of the last decade, playing at clubs like Mezzrow, Dizzy's, and Smalls. Here she has gained a reputation for her scat singing.

But there is one really big reason that I just LOVE this CD, and it is because of one song. Read on!

Something Happens to Me

This song, written by Marvin Fischer and Jack Segal, appears on Vanessa Perea's new CD. This is a great swinging number that has been covered by Nat King Cole, Nancy Wilson, Jackie Ryan, Shirley Horn, and on tenor sax by Stanley Turrentine. Now we have the version by Ms. Perea, and it is really great!

I go so excited by this song that I went looking for a Real-Book type lead sheet, thinking it would be fun to play. No dice! So if you, dear Reader, happen to know of such a thing, please contact me forthwith! My transcription skills are nonexistent.

Anyway, you'll hear the song twice, in the second and fourth hours. Plus, during hour one, I'll play a version by vocalist Peter Campbell that also swings like crazy. 
 
_________________________________


Coming up in the next few weeks, I'll have some exciting Musician's Corner segments for your jazzy enjoyment!

Best,

Marty
 

HOUR ONE: Contemplative Morning

Francesco Cataldo-Amaranto 2024-10 Nothing by Chance
Paul McCandless-Morning Sun-16 Morning Sun 2017
Brian Bromberg\LaFaro 2024\Jade Visions (bonus track)
Cyrille Aimée-Move On- A Sondheim Adventure-04 Loving You 2019

Brennen Schedler Quartet-Keep Steppin' Down 2021-02 3AM Breeze
Charles Lloyd-The Water Is Wide-06 Lotus Blossom 2000
Peter Campbell-Loving You-11 Something Happens to Me 2017
Ken Peplowski\Unheard Bird 2024\Repetition

Fahir Atakoğlu-For Love 2020-08 Glow With The Flow - Duet
Eva Cassidy-Imagine-04 You've Changed 2002
Melissa Aldana\Echoes of the Inner Prophet 2024\
Edy Forey\Culture Today 2024\Nature Boy

HOUR TWO: New For You

Hendrik Meurkens-The Jazz Meurkengers 2024-03 A Lullaby for Benny
Lizz Wright\Shadow 2024\This Way
Tony Monaco\Over Over 2024\Sailboat

Vanessa Perea\This is the Moment 2024\Something Happens to Me
Cyrille Aimée\A Fleur de Peau 2024\Inside and Out
Lori Bell Quartet-Recorda  Me, Remembering Joe Henderson 2024-01 Isotope
Kandace Springs\Run Your Race 2024\My Poor Heart
Robert Edwards\Upswing 2024\Time to Shine

Jacqui Naylor-Treasures of the Heart 2024-All That We Could Be
Charles McPherson\Reverence 2024\Ode to Barry
Tierney Sutton and San Gabriel 7-Good People 2024-08 Autumn Love
Stella Bass\Look for the Silver Lining 2024\Old Devil Moon

HOUR THREE: Brazil/World

Brian Bromberg-In the Spirit of Jobim-09 Ray of Sunshine 2007
Hendrik Meurkens\Samba Jazz Oddysey with  WDR Big Band 2022
Rob Dixon Steve Allee Quintet\Standards Deluxe 2023\Mind Mirror

Hendrik Meurkens-The Jazz Meurkengers 2024-08 A Tear for Toots
Cyrille Aimée\A Fleur de Peau 2024\Historia De Amor
Lori Bell Quartet-Recorda  Me, Remembering Joe Henderson 2024-03 Out of the  Night
Ed Johnson\For Every Living Thing 2024\Out of Time

Ricardo Silveira\Solo 2021\Luiza
Rebecca Kilgore\Trio Volume  2021\That Sunday That Summer
Richard Bona-Reverence-11 Esoka (Trust Your Heart) 2001
Rosa Passos-Amorosa-10 Que  Reste-T-Il De Nos Amours 2004 feat Henri Salvador

OUR FOUR: Groove, Baby

Richard Elliot\Authentic Life 2021\Authentic Life
Tony Monaco-Over Over 2024-03 My Lil Rosie Girl
Rick Braun-Can You Feel It-01-Can You Feel It
Vanessa Perea\This is the Moment 2024\Something Happens to Me

Streetwize-Lift Me Up 2024-06 Break My Soul
Kandace Springs\Run Your Race 2024\CLoser to me
Norman Brown-It Hits Different 2024-05 Strollin' feat Tom Shuman
Remy Le Boeuf\Heartland Radio  2024\

Willie Morris\Attentive Listening 2024\Delusion of Understanding
Kim Waters-What I Like-02 That's What I Like 2018
The Gary Urwin Jazz Orchestra-Flying Colors 2024-03 Spur of the Moment
Incognito-Into You 2023-15 Back on the Beach

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