Almost a year ago in June 2019 vocalist, recording artist and educator Lisa Rich has released her third album “Highwire”. Similar to the last album I presented, this recording was slumbering for 32 years before it was released. The reason behind this long period were health problems, which made it impossible for Lisa Rich to perform and so she became a full time vocal teacher.

In recent times, thanks to regular exercise and working with a physical therapist, Lisa Rich’s health has improved quite a bit. The desire to sing returned. She explains: “At first I didn’t think that my voice would come back but it is returning. Of course I’m older now but I think that I have something strong to offer. I’m putting out the ‘Highwire’ record because the music is too good not to be released. Now it’s my goal to put myself out there.”

The album was recorded with a top-notch rhythm section, she sings five Chick Corea songs (Lisa Rich met Chick Corea in the 1980s and received some original songs, most of which had never been recorded vocally) plus originals by Ralph Towner, Duke Ellington, Ornette Coleman and Loonis McGlohon along with the standard, “We’ll Be Together Again.”

The complete line-up is:
Lisa Rich – vocals
Marc Copland – piano
Drew Gress – acoustic bass
Michael Smith – drums
David Kane – piano (track 3 & 6)

The album starts with Chick Corea’s “Highwire The Aerialist”. Lisa Rich presents the complex melody very relaxed supported by a superb rhythm section with a extremely pushing Drew Gress on bass.

“Contessa” another composition by Chick Corea comes next. This jazz waltz was never recorded by Chick Corea. The complex harmonic structure and the melody with big jumps and difficult intervals is mastered perfectly. We also hear an outstanding piano solo by Marc Copland.

“Celeste/Prelude To a Kiss” is the next tune. “Celeste” is by Ralph Towner and I presented a version from Florian Ross some weeks ago, so here it comes again as the opener for this medley where the melody just navigates seamlessly to the Duke Ellington standard “Prelude To a Kiss”. This tune is a beautiful duet between David Kane on piano and Lisa Rich on vocals.

The album continues with “Bud Powell” by Chick Corea. The version we here is possibly the only vocal version of this happy melody. A nice straight jazz tune in Bebop style. Again mastered perfectly and a real pleasure to listen. One of my favorites on the album.  Another superb piano solo by Marc Copland tops this tune off.

The next song is “Stardancer”, the second jazz waltz by Chick Corea. This much more pushing jazz waltz received its recording debut here.

“Lonely Woman” by Ornette Coleman is an atmospheric ballad which shows a complete different Lisa Rich holding very long notes without any vibrato, extremely clear and precise.  The second duet on this album with David Kane on piano and another highlight for me.

The band returns with another lovely ballad called “Songbird” by Loonis McGlohon. Sung and played impeccably.

The albums picks up speed with “The Jinn” by Chick Corea. Quite fancy and presented very entertainingly.

The standard “We’ll Be Together Again” by Carl T. Fischer and Frankie Laine comes next. Lisa Rich focuses in this ballad on a perfect articulation of each word. Again, the most impressive element of her voice is to hold long notes perfectly without any vibrato.

The album finishes with “The Silence of a Candle” by Ralph Towner. Another ballad openly played in duet with piano. A great melody sung very sensitively.

This album presents music of timeless beauty and style. Lisa Rich is an incredible singer with a stunning voice. I like the versatility of her singing from Bebop to ballads from straight to open and from funny to soulful. A selection of songs that have great melodies but are not so well known, a fantastic band and the two outstanding piano player make this album a real gem. Please listen to it.

If you would like to get some more information on Lisa Rich, please look at her website:
https://www.lisarich.com/

And finally the complete album on Spotify:

Sinne Eeg – We’ve Just Begun

https://sinnemusic.com/

Danish jazz vocalist Sinne Eeg has released a new album together with the Danish Radio Big Band where she sings standards and original compositions with her as composer and/or lyricist. Excellent  arrangements, a hard swinging big band and a fabulous Sinne Eeg are the ingredients for an outstanding big band album.

RJ and the Assignment – Hybrid Harmony

http://rjandtheassignment.com/

RJ (Reginald Johnson) is a pianist from Las Vegas. Together with his band “The Assignment” he produced a great album that combines R&B and Jazz elements in a way which I haven’t heard since Al Jarreau or Chaka Khan in the ’80s. This album was my company for some weeks in the CD player in my car.

John Di Martino – Passion Flower

https://johndimartino.com/

John Di Martino is a composer, arranger, jazz pianist, producer and educator, based in New York City. His album “Passion Flower” features the music of Billy Strayhorn. He and his all-star quartet with tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, bassist Boris Kozlov, and drummer Lewis Nash swing their way through 14 of Strayhorn’s most significant compositions. Timeless jazz music played straight and very tastefully.

Clairdee – A Love Letter To Lena

https://clairdee.com/

Clairdee is a Jazz singer from San Francisco and she turned her long-time admiration for singer, actress, and civil rights activist Lena Horne into a beautiful album, that captivates with a relaxed and grooving band, great background vocals and an elegant and soulful Clairdee.

Finally a complete playlist with all songs from the four albums

Danish Jazz singer and songwriter Mette Juul released her new EP ‘New York – Copenhagen’ on March 6, 2020. This release is a follow-up on her album ‘Change’ from September 2019, which received and still receives many good reviews internationally and revealed new sides of herself through intimate solo, duo and trio sessions.

‘New York – Copenhagen’ continues with this setup and presents five songs where she is either accompanied by double bass and guitar or guitar only.

The EP was recorded partly in Juul’s own home in Copenhagen and partly in New York and Sweden and the musicians are also either from New York or Scandinavia. The three duets on this recording are all with Mike Moreno from New York and the two trios are with Lars Danielsson (DK/SE) on bass and Per Møllehøj (DK) or Ulf Wakenius (SE) on guitar.

Mette Juul tried to capture the difference between the vibrant energy of New York and the Nordic simplicity and warmth. So let’s listen carefully to these five songs.

The album starts with ‘Some Other Time’ by Leonard Bernstein, a duet between Mette Juul and Mike Moreno, who is responsible for the songs for the category ‘New York’.  This duet is very open in time and transparent in sound. Both musicians have a lot of space and they never get in each other’s way. Mike Moreno’s guitar playing is full of creative ideas and Mette’s voice is clear and precise with just a little vibrato.

‘Skylark’ comes next, again with Mike Moreno on guitar. This song has more drive and impresses with a solo by Mette and Mike in unison and the perfect intonation by Mette Juul over the clustered chords by Mike Moreno.

‘For Jan’ is the next song and we change to Copenhagen with Ulf Wakenius on guitar and Lars Danielsson on double bass. The different spirit of this song comes from the 3/4 time and the dialog between bass and vocals with the guitar adding some soft chord arpeggios.

The album continues with another trio, this time with Per Møllehøj on guitar and again Lars Danielsson on bass.  The song they play is a rather sad version of ‘You Must Believe in Spring’. This sadness comes mainly from Mette Juul’s interpretation. The unspectacular but straight playing of guitar and bass supports this mood perfectly. Really my highlight on the album.

The last song on this EP is called ‘The Peacocks (A Timeless Place) Part 2′ a song which is also found on the album ‘Change’. Mette gets perfect support from Mike Moreno for the difficult melody with whacky intervals. A little fade-out closes the album and leaves us with doubts and hope at the same time, this ambiguity is the major characteristic of this album, not only for the Copenhagen part but also for the songs that refer to New York.

Not the easy listening but the deep musical sense and the perfect balance between voice and guitar makes this album outstanding and unique.

More information about Mette Juul including concert dates (I see that she will play with pianist Søren Bebe) and some interesting videos can be found on her website:
http://www.mette-juul.com/

And here is the complete album on Spotify:

Vocalist Judy Wexler has released her fifth album “Crowded Heart” on May 31st and it hit #1 in Jazz on iTunes and Amazon in its first week. The press release said that the album is featuring outstanding songs by current-day jazz composers. So I had an interesting baseline when I started to listen to the album. The first impression of the album was extremely positive, Judy has a clear and precise voice and is able to transmit complex lyrics in an easy and natural way to the listener. The arrangement on the album are all excellent, played by great musicians and here and there are nice surprises for the listener.

All songs have been chosen by Judy Wexler and she took her time to find the combination of great melodies and lyrics with a compelling story. The Great American Songbook has a lot of songs with beautiful melodies but sometimes the lyrics are a little bit silly and more like a vehicle for the melody than a story to tell. Judy’s approach is definitely different and more challenging but I can imagine also more rewarding. In addition she looked for timeless modern jazz compositions written by contemporary songwriters.

The album was produced by Alan Pasqua and Judy Wexler, all arrangements are from Alan Pasqua, who plays the piano on all songs.

The other musicians on the album are:

• Larry Koonse – guitar
• Josh Johnson – alto sax
• Bob Sheppard – alto flute
• Darek Oles – bass
• Steve Hass  – drums
• Aaron Serfaty  – percussion
• Stefanie Fife  – cello

The album starts with “Circus Life” by Luciana Souza, Larry Klein and David Batteau, a lively samba about the stresses and general insanity of modern life. A nice surprise comes at the end of the tune where Alan Pasqua decided to add a fun whistling improvisation.

The second song “Parisian Heartbreak” is my personal favorite on the album. No surprise since the song was composed by Richard Galliano who used to play with my favorite guitar player Sylvain Luc. I found an instrumental version of this song called “Spleen” with Richard Galliano and Sylvain Luc. Judy’s version keeps the melancholic mood of this musette-tune and Alan Pasqua adds an incredible solo on the melodica.

“Crowded Heart” the title song of the album comes next. It was composed by Judy’s good friend Sinne Eeg, a Danish vocalist and songwriter with an international following. Eeg’s compatriot Mads Mathias wrote the lyrics about the end of an affair with a married man.  This song was one of the first songs she selected for this album. Convincing Steve Hass on drums is responsible for the open but pushing groove.

“Painted on Canvas” was the only tune where I knew the original version. Gregory Porter released it on his 2012 album “Be Good”. Gregory Porter’s version stays in an open mood and I always was hoping that it picks up the 6/8 meter, which it never does. Judy Wexler’s version is much more straight here with a rather heavy funky groove. Josh Johnson on alto sax plays an outstanding solo.

The next song “Stars” was composed by pianist Fred Hersch, whose original instrumental version is called “Endless Stars.” The lyrics are from British vocalist and lyricist Norma Winstone. The melody has challenging intervals which are mastered with assurance.

“The Last Goodbye” is a sad song about a lost love with excellent lyrics by British vocalist Georgia Mancio, who has become a valued online friend to Judy Wexler through their exchange about music. Bob Sheppard on alto-flute is responsible for the unique and distinct sound of this song.

The album continues with “Take My Breath Away” by American songwriter and jazz vocalist René Marie, who started her career as Jazz singer with 41 years. A clever piano riff dominates this song and Larry Koonse plays a fine solo on his acoustic guitar.

“I Took Your Hand” by Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi is the next song. The original instrumental version was titled “Fellini’s Waltz”. The version of Judy Wexler comes with a pushing groove and a great alto sax solo. The melody is also quite complex with interval jumps that are all managed with ease.

“It’s Only Smoke” by Larry Goldings and lyrics by Cliff Goldmacher is the song where I have the feeling that Judy Wexler enjoys to have complex lyrics that ask for an intellectual mind to interpret them. This song is real brain food and I like it very much.

The album ends with “And We Will Fly” by Alan Pasqua with lyrics by Kurt Elling and Phillip Galdston. It originally appeared as an instrumental called “Highway 14″ on Pasqua’s 2005 CD, “My New Old Friend”. This love song has a beautiful intro by Larry Koonse and modulates nicely between major and minor in an easy Latin-style.

Judy Wexler still does release concerts for this album and you can check on her website when and where she will perform:
http://judywexler.com/

Judy did some crowd-funding for this album and produced a nice video which I would like to share with you:

Thanks to the information from Judy I was able to compile a nice playlist with the version from the album and the original version of each song. I hope you enjoy this comparison.

Inge Brandenburg was “the German jazz singer” of the 1960s.  Despite of her incredible talent she was not able to succeed commercially as a Jazz musician. This year would be her 90th birthday but it is also the 20th anniversary of her death.

German film-maker and producer Marc Boettcher released a portrait of Inge Brandenburg in 2011 called “Sing! Inge, Sing!”. The Berlin based label unisono-records edited and remixed 18 unpublished songs out of the material for this film and released them with this album “I Love Jazz” for this anniversary.

Born 1929 in Leipzig, and grown up in difficult circumstances in Nazi-Germany, Inge Brandenburg was used to stand on her own feet. During the German economic miracle, she was suddenly celebrated as the best European jazz singer, compared by Time magazine with Billie Holiday. But the German audience ignored the talent of the outstanding jazz singer and the record industry tried to reduce her (unsuccessfully) to „Schlager“-music. The story of her life became a sad story: after being ignored by record labels she became an alcoholic, she lived from social welfare and she died alone and almost forgotten in 1999 in Munich. The film and now this album are a great reminiscence of Inge Brandenburg and the Jazz orchestras of the radio stations in the 1960s in Germany.

The 18 songs of the album are a colorful mix of Jazz standards, musical and pop songs,  sung in German or English, recorded live or in the studio with combos and jazz orchestras and contain illustrious names of the German jazz scene like Paul Kuhn & SFB Big Band, The Klaus Doldinger Quartet, WDR jazz orchestra with Dusko Gojkovich and Erwin Lehn & the SDR big band.

The songs have been carefully revised and remastered by Patrick Römer from unisono-records and they show not only the amazing voice of Inge Brandenburg but also the vitality of the scene in the 1960s in Germany with all those great jazz orchestras and their incredible arrangers.

The album starts with “A Taste of Honey”, recorded in 1970 with Erwin Lehn & SDR big band, straight and easy played and sung.

We hear the same band in the next song “Like A Straw”, a composition by Wolfgang Dauner and lyrics by Inge Brandenburg. A quite challenging melody with big interval jumps that are mastered perfectly.

“Cry Me A River” comes next, again with Erwin Lehn and his orchestra, recorded in 1963. The remarkable arrangement was done by Joki Freund and Inge shows that she is able to interpret this well known song in her own and unique way.

The next song “Zeig Mir Was Liebe Ist (Show Me What Love Is)” is a composition by trombonist Peter Herbolzheimer with lyrics from Inge Brandenburg. This is a pop song from the 1970s, very entertaining with a mad trumpet solo. The lyrics are in typical “Schlager” style, but I like this song a lot, nice harmonies and a great band.

“Summertime” comes next. This song was recorded in 1963 with the Klaus Doldinger Quartet. After a free first verse the band plays the song just easy swinging in an unusual 3/4 meter.

“Was Weisst Du von Liebe (You Don’t Know What Love Is)”, one of my favorite ballads, was recorded in 1964 again with Erwin Lehn and his orchestra and impresses with the sound of that era, sweet saxophones and dampened trumpets.

“Moritat von Mackie Messer (Mack The Knife)” is the next song.  The Berlin-based RIAS orchestra plays this classic nice and easy swinging and I enjoy to hear a version with the original German lyrics by Bertolt Brecht.

“Stella by Starlight” from 1959 with the WDR big band (with Dusko Gojkovich on trumpet) is definitely my highlight on the album. Inge Brandenburg always wanted to sing jazz and this song is for me the proof that she really understood this music as good as the great jazz singers from the US and it’s really a shame that she never could make a career with her talent.

“What’s the Matter Daddy” live recorded in 1964 with the Klaus Doldinger Quartet shows the bluesy side of Inge’s singing. Highlight of the song is the last verse where she and Klaus Doldinger on sax have their duet-duel and really push it to a grand finale.

The album continues with the jazz standard “But Not For Me”.  A very clean and transparent recording with pianist Klaus Koenig and his trio. The song was live recorded in 1965 in Zurich for the Swiss radio series “Jazz Live”.

“Zähle nicht immer die Stunden (Do Not Always Count The Hours)” by Heinrich Riethmüller (he became famous by writing the German lyrics of Disney’s The Jungle Book) is the next song. This ballad was recorded in 1961 with the NDR big band and impresses with an outstanding arrangement and Inge’s soft but accurate singing.

“Makin’ Whoopee” sung in German with an excellent translation of the lyrics by Paul Kuhn and Inge’s humorous interpretation keep the spirit of this funny song.

“St. Louis Blues” again with Klaus Koenig and his trio is very jazzy and bluesy and right in line with Inge Brandenburg’s favorite kind of music. Great pleasure in this jam-style song.

“Hello Little Boy” is a rock’n’roll tune recorded in 1961.  Inge is singing and growling and she and the band have a lot of fun in this up-tempo song that is full of energy.

The next song is the classic Jazz standard “On The Sunny Side of the Street” with the SFB orchestra. A great arrangement by Jerry van Royen and Inge shows her ability to sing in a low pitch. Patrick Römer from unisono records told me that he found out that his father Rolf Römer (sax) plays with the SFB orchestra on this recording. Nice surprise.

“Round Midnight” with the Michael-Naura-Quartet from 1963 comes next.  Inge’s voice alone carries us through the song, not much of background is needed and the band plays very discreet and reserved.

The song “Das Riesenrad (The Ferris Wheel)” brings us back to the recording session from 1970 with the SDR big band which we could hear in “Like A Straw” – another composition by Wolfgang Dauner with lyrics from Inge. A nicely swinging medium fast song with a challenging arpeggio-like melody.

The last tune on the album is the title song “I Love Jazz”. This dixie-style tune was recorded in 1961 with the NDR big band, that plays here more like a marching band then as a swing orchestra. A funny closing song for this album and another perfect example of the versatility of Inge Brandenburg singing.

The 18 songs on this album are a great reminiscence of Inge Brandenburg and an entertaining and impressive compilation of an almost forgotten incredible Jazz singer from Germany. The bands and the arrangers are the best you could find at this period and so this album is also a great retrospective of German big band music.

Also, special thanks to Marc Boettcher and Patrick Römer for collecting, analyzing and selecting the material and for polishing it in a way that the spirit of this era and the sound expectation of today blend well with each other.

This album is a perfect combination of vocal jazz and big band music and if you enjoy this you will not be disappointed.  For all non German-speaking readers it is a great opportunity to discover that it is possible to swing and groove in German.

This is the English press info PDF file with all the details about the album: I Love Jazz – Press Info

Here is the (German) trailer of the movie “Sing! Inge, Sing!”:

I added the press info PDF for the movie (in English) which contains a great biography: Movie – Press Info

And finally a playlist on Spotify: