vocal

Outside the Soirée Erin McDougald

Erin McDougald: Outside the Soiree

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Erin McDougald is a big-voiced Chicago-based singer who calls herself the “Flapper Girl” after the “flappers” of the 1920s,’ looking back on them as emancipated, fearless women. That identity carries into her singing which comes across with a confidence and flair you rarely hear among younger jazz vocalists today. With her voice carrying a low, sultriness mixed with jazzy flexibility, she does not overtly sound like any of the great singers of the past but she has a versatility and freedom that, at various times, can recall Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald or Chris Connor.

Most of the songs on her CD are familiar standards but the arrangements, most of which McDougald worked on, rework them and give them new life.

Read the full review at All About Jazz

Precious Moments

Laura Perlman: “Precious Moments“ (2016) CD Review

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Life certainly takes us on some unexpected journeys. Laura Perlman had to suffer through some giant health scares before really focusing on her lifelong passion for jazz. The results of that focus are the tracks on Precious Moments, a wonderful CD on which Laura sings some beloved standards. Joining Laura Perlman on this release are some incredibly accomplished jazz musicians, including Bill Cunliffe on piano, Mark Sherman on vibraphone (Sherman also produced the album and did most of the arrangements), Chris Colangelo on bass and Joe La Barbera on drums.

Read the full review here.

AllAboutJazz: Holli Ross: You’ll See (Review)

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An ensemble performer for two decades, and co-founder of the String Of Pearls vocal group, jazz vocalist and educator Holli Ross offers her first solo album on the thirteen-track You’ll See. Presenting unique interpretations of songs from Duke Ellington, Peggy Lee and Laura Nyro to new material from Brazilian trumpet icon Claudio Roditi and bassist Rufus Reid—both of whom grace this recording—Ross affirms the label from the late jazz critic Stuart Troup, who once dubbed her “the voice of experience.” A wonderful lyricist who can make the words come a live with her vocal expressions, Ross is also an experienced writer, having penned the lyrics to many jazz instrumental compositions—as she does here.

Read the full article here.

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