Here are a couple releases by women that are making a go of it with jazz standards.
Ellen LaFurn teams up with a hip team of Vic Cenicola/g, Rave Tesar/p, Ron Naspo/b and Patrick Cuttitta/dr for a Baker’s Dozen of the American Songbook.She’s got an inherent feel for rhythm in delivery, and her voice has a bit of fun rounding off the “Rs” and using a semi-nasal phrasing on tunes like “I Remember You” and a latin take of “Teach Me Tonight.” The band itself is a cooker, with Cenicola laying out some nice riffs for LaFurn on”Cherokee” and the whole rhythm section sizzling on all 8 cylinders on a scintillating “So Nice.”
Vocalist Julie Lyon has a voice that recalls Blossom Dearie, and also benefits from an air tight band, similar in makeup with Tom Cabrera/dr, Jack DeSalvo/g and Bobby Brennan/b but with the added attraction of trumpeter/clarinetist Mat LaVelle, who adds some nice horn sounds on the cheerful “Strollin’” and alto clarinet on the glistening “Dindi.” The band has a gentle stride going one step at a time on “Every Time We Say Goodbye” and while her voice sounds a bit distant on “Bye Bye Blackbird” and during the loosey goosey “Born to Be Blue,” the symbiosis of the band carries her over the River Jordan into the Promised Land.
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