CD Review: Tiffany Austin - Nothing But Soul

Tiffany Austin (vcl); Howard Wiley (ten/vcl); Glen Pearson (pno); Ron Belcher (bs); Sly Randolph (dms).

(Review by Lance.)

There are some tunes that make you cringe upon hearing. Not that there's anything wrong with the songs. Summertime is one of the greatest songs ever written but my well documented aversion to the song is not directed at George Gershwin but at the thousands of wannabees  who wouldn't dream of stepping on stage without the feeling that, if  Cry Me a River doesn't get them, then Summertime will!

Familiarity, contempt etc.

Stardust (like the pale moon) is another that no longer excites me, as with Summertime, the definitive versions have been set in stone, or rather vinyl. 

Or so I thought!

Enter Tiffany Austin.

On this, her debut album, she has given a completely new take to Hoagy's classic song. Even the verse is given a new, rhythmic, lease of life. And this is but track one! What follows are more Carmichael gems. Songs either composed by the great man or associated with him. I'm not quite sure how Johnny Cash's I Walk The Line fits in (seemingly Hoagy  cut a 45rpm in '56), but they are all belters with a band that rocks and rolls and swings like the proverbial! Wiley in particular blows up a storm.

This is a difficult disc to review - I mean how can you type when you're dancing around the room?!

Ah, Georgia on my Mind cools things and allows me to to jump down from the ceiling and get back to the keyboard.

Baltimore Oriole; I Get Along Without You Very Well; I May Be Wrong (sung by Hoagy but not one of his comps); Skylark; Sing me a Swing Song are some of the others.

Tiffany Austin is the most exciting singer I've heard since first hearing Cecile McLorin Salvant  at Mike Durham's Classic Jazz Party/Festival although, up here in Newcastle, Alice Grace isn't far behind.

There may be better vocal discs this year but there won't be many and certainly not a better first timer!
YouTube.
Released October 16. Con Alma Music CAM 001.
Lance