For her new album, Outside The Soirée, Chicago-based vocalist Erin McDougald decided to pursue her ambitions and go big. The result is a thrilling, 80-minute program featuring contributions from two of the greatest living instrumentalists in jazz: Tom Harrell (trumpet and flugelhorn) and Dave Liebman (soprano and tenor saxophones).
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After more than a quarter-century with various vocal groups, including the fine, retro-fitted female trio String of Pearls, jazz educator and vocal therapist Holli Ross has pulled an Annie Ross and delivered her first solo album. Ross’ voice suggests a star sapphire: deep, indigo-hued and immaculately pure, yet shot through with a captivating smokiness.
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.