CD Review: Raquel Cepeda - I'm Confessin'

Bob Chadwick -  flutes; David Caceres - alto & tenor sax; Warren Sneed – tenor & soprano sax; Dennis Dotson  - trumpet; Paul English - piano, flugel horn, trumpet; Thomas Hulten  – trombone; Brennen Nase - guitar; Guil Fonseca - guitar; Jeffry Eckels - Bass; Dean Macomber  - drums; Jorge Orta - Cro-Cro, percussion; Tony Parana - percussion; James Metcalfe  - percussion; Marcia Sterling - violin; Oleg Sulyga  - violin; Dan Strba – viola; Shino Hayashi -  cello.

(Review by Debra).

Venezuelan  jazz singer Raquel Cepeda is now resident in Houston, on account of her day job (no doubt far better paid) , as a geologist in the Texas oil industry.  Her solo debut is of jazz standards and a number of South American   bossa  novas, sambas and boleros. 

 ‘Tonada de Luna LLena’, by compatriot Simon Diaz, is the outstanding track, with Cepeda’s  powerful, warm timbred vocal overlying  Andean flutes and percussion. Her expressiveness is similarly effective  in  the  ballad s which make up much of the rest of the album, particularly  Somios Novios and Besame Mucho.  The up tempo  numbers – What Is This Thing Called Love?, I Don’t Know Enough About You, East of The Sun -  give  the band,  led by Paul English, pianist and album producer, a chance to really swing, and the opportunity for the various  musicians to make solo contributions. However, there  is little improvisation from Cepeda, nor much variation in the phrasing or timing of her vocal delivery of the lyrics. Not surprisingly,  her fine voice is really  at home with  the Latin component of her repertoire, and that is likely to be  where her musical future, and possibly also her audience,  lies….. 

Debra.