Grace Kelly (vocal, saxophones); Jason Palmer
(trumpet); Pete McCann (guitars, ukulele); Zach Brown
(bass); Mark Walker (drums); Eric Law (Cello); Jaime Woods, Chantale Sterling
(backing vocals).
(Review by Ann Alex).
No, not that
Grace Kelly, this is a 19 year old singer and sax player giving a live
performance from her ‘home’ jazz club in Boston USA, where she’s been known
since the age of 6. The songs and
instrumentals were all composed by Ms Kelly except for the two jazz standards
on the CD, The Way You Look Tonight,
and the ubiquitous Summertime, though
the latter is an instrumental, (please note Lance!) so not sung by yet another
woman singer.
I found the mixture of
styles a bit disconcerting. The first 6
tracks are mainly jazz, then there is a sudden switch to a country song, Kiss Away Your Tears, followed by a song
(Falling) introduced by reggae style
guitar, with the audience singing
along. Track 9 is back to jazz, and the
final track Summertime is funk with a
heavily rocky guitar. These tracks are
good individually but they sound a bit odd on the same CD.
Ms Kelly is a gifted sax player and she sings
sweetly in the modern style of many young singers. This is hard to describe, a sort of musical
hiccup on some of the words, which I find appealing. (The same sort of sound occurs in the
choruses of some sea shanties).
Outstanding tracks include the opener Please Don’t Box Me In, which has a relaxing easy sound which
builds to a sort of Baroque style chorale between trumpet and sax, then a
climax from the whole band. Eggshells is lyrically interesting with
its repeated mantra of ‘I’m tired of dancing over eggshells’. Ready, Set, Stay is an amusing song
about spending the day at home with your boyfriend instead of going to work,
and the track includes a pleasing 1920’style cello solo. This disc won’t qualify as my CD of the year,
but it is nevertheless pleasant listening.
The CD is released by Pazz Productions LLC
Ann Alex
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