CD Review: Ana Velinova: The Thief

Ana Velinova (vocals); Misha Platigorsky (keys, melodica); Neil Swainson (bass); Willard Dyson (drums, percussion); Gordon Clements (reeds); Joby Baker (bass on 1 track); Various (brass, clarinet, backing vocals).

(Review by Ann Alex).

Ana Velinova hails from Bulgaria and has worked and performed in major USA and Canadian cities.  She has a Master’s degree in Jazz and Contemporary-Classical Voice Performance and has taught singing.  This is a fine album, her third, of very varied material performed in a jazz style, 5 tracks written by the singer and other tracks by writers not familiar (to me at any rate), such as Eric Dozier.  I’ve reviewed many such CD’s for BSH, showing that there’s no shortage of singing talent around – bring it on I say - even if some of these women singers will never be internationally known. (Ed: Bulgaria, major Canadian and USA cities?)

The variety of material comes from the originality of the self-composed songs, eg ‘Why should I sleep when I often get visits, from magical creatures that dance on my eyelids’. These particular words are accompanied by clever melodica playing, giving a touch of magic.  There are love songs; a song which is a tribute to someone called Elis Regina; Mystic In My Soul which is a version of Gypsy In My Soul; a Bulgarian Folk song Nani Mi Damiancho, which is true to the original yet with jazz elements; Cool, which manages to be just that, very sophisticated; and the title song which concludes the album, all about stealing parts of nature, eg ‘I stole a secret from a shell, sleeping gently on a rock.’  All sung in a beautifully flexible voice, sweet for love songs but edgier for the more jazz-like numbers, and with the occasional burst of wordless singing which is not quite scat.  The band is well up to the job and they get opportunities to solo, notably on Cool and a drum solo on Mystic In My Soul. This is a band which also knows when to hold back, as in I Want You, a song of longing, with discreetly sparse accompaniment with only the keys being expansive.

‘The Thief’ was issued on the Ward Street Music Records label on September 16. 

See www.anavelinova.com  

Ann Alex.