It's been such a hectic past four days absorbing so many great and varied sounds that I'm completely jazzed-out - to use a current buzzword. So much so that my body is demanding that I give tonight's concert at the Saville Exchange by the Jazz-O-Maniacs a miss. My heart and head argued that I'd be crazy not to catch The Maniacs but my body won.
So instead, it is feet-up time with a cooling glass and a CD or two.
Talking CDs... Prior to last night's great concert by the Damon Brown/Steve Grossman Quintet Mr T - good buddy Adrian - played Ruth Lambert's latest CD and it is an absolute knockout with arrangements by John Warren that had just a hint of Marty Paich to them and a whole lot of John Warren. I don't know if it has been launched yet - I couldn't find mention on Jazz Action site - but it's one to grab and complement her previous "So Many Stars."
In the mean time I'm going to listen to Claire Martin and Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. "I Was a Little Too Lonely" is one of those great underexposed songs that the swinging knight does justice to.
Lance
Hi Lance
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more about Ms.Lambert's new,soon to be realesed,CD - it sounds great.Ruth has dates lined-up across the region in the coming months and I, for one,can't wait !
Russell
Lance & Russell are both absolutely right about the outstanding quality of Ruth's new CD, which I understand is due for release in the Autumn (why the delay Adrian?). One thing neither of them have mentioned is the tremendous contribution to the music of some of our younger local players such as Paul Edis and Graeme Wilson (who also contributed a couple of the arrangements). There was a time when local vocalists aiming to make a high quality album might have felt the need to turn to London for accompaniment: Ruth's new album is proof positive that the North East now has a pool of talent that matches anything other regions can boast.
ReplyDeletePaul
25.2.09
Ruth’s new CD is nearly ready for release, we are putting the final touches to it now and it should be out by the end March. I’m pleased that the Corner House preview went down well and I’ll be posting the release date on the Jazzaction site soon.
ReplyDelete