This album, somehow got sidelined owing to our designated reviewer being taken ill so, because of the short time between now and the release date which coincides with the First Lady's centenary , I've posted the press release in full stressing that I wholeheartedly concur with all that is written - Lance.
(Press release)
Williamson
and guitarist Jon Wheatley conjure the swinging chemistry of the First Lady of
Song and Joe Pass. Album due out on April 25.
“Patrice Williamson isn't a singer, she's a
one-woman jazz sampler.” — Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes
“Ms.
Williamson has a beautiful low alto voice that could be likened to a smooth
single-malt scotch..." — C. Michael Bailey, All About
Jazz.
April 25, 2017 will mark the 100th
anniversary of an event that would have a profound impact on jazz and American
song: the birth of Ella Fitzgerald. While the centennial of the First Lady of
Song will doubtlessly be celebrated in myriad forms, few will prove as
heartfelt or sincere – or as long in gestation – as Comes Love, the new album
by Boston-based jazz vocalist Patrice
Williamson. For the occasion, Williamson teamed up with guitarist and
fellow Berklee College of Music faculty member Jon Wheatley for a set that pays particular homage to Fitzgerald’s
landmark duo with guitar great Joe Pass.
Due for release on Ella’s birthday, April 25, on Williamson’s own Riverlily Records and produced by
pianist/composer Helen Sung, Comes Love features a dozen Songbook
classics originally either recorded by Fitzgerald and Pass on one of their four
studio albums or performed live by the duo during the course of their notable
collaboration. Williamson and Wheatley never resort to sheer imitation (not
that such a thing would even be possible given their two inimitable models),
but instead conjure the warm elegance and graceful swing of the originals
through the alluring chemistry of their own inviting rapport.
"I started listening to recordings of
Ella during my sophomore year in college, and I haven't stopped."
Williamson says. "Jon has a vast knowledge of all the great jazz
musicians and jazz guitarists, including Joe Pass. Our goal was to present how
Ella and Joe have inspired our own musical development."
Fitzgerald and Pass first joined forces in
1973 for Take Love Easy (from which
Williamson takes four of the tunes on Comes
Love, including her renditions of Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” and Billy
Eckstine’s “I Want To Talk About You”). They would enter the studio three more
times over the next thirteen years, releasing Fitzgerald and Pass…Again in 1976, Speak Love in 1983 and Easy
Living in 1986. A number of live performances have also been released from
that period, revealing the pair’s genuine camaraderie, incisive wit and
impeccable taste.
While Williamson can wax rhapsodic about
much of Fitzgerald’s work (and dreams of following Comes Love with a series of tributes, each exploring a different
facet of Ella’s career from small bands to orchestra), she found herself
particularly drawn to her work with Pass due to its vulnerability and purity.
"I loved the simplicity, vulnerability
and command the duo had without the assistance of bass and
drums. Some of the first recordings I heard
of Ella were with big bands. So, stripping down to one accompanist allowed the
pureness of her sound to come through clearly.
Joe provided harmony (chords) and bass.
Ella added melody and emotion.
They both had impeccable time, so together they delivered rhythm and
swing. Their performances always sounded whole and complete which is a
testament to their brilliance."
Comes Love has been lurking in the back of
Williamson’s mind for nearly 17 years, conceived at the turn of the millennium
as she realized that Ella’s centenary was fast approaching. But the seeds for
the idea were planted long before, during the singer’s childhood in Memphis. Her
earliest memory of Ella came through the iconic vocalist’s early-70s
commercials for Memorex cassette tapes (“Is it Ella or is it Memorex?”), but
she truly fell in love with Ella’s voice as her choir director father played
his cherished LPs for his music-loving daughter. “I liked the music,” she
recalls, “but I really liked how Ella
scatted because I thought it was silly. That built the foundation for this
inspirational person in my life.”
Williamson’s tastes turned more to the
popular music of the time – Prince, Madonna, Janet Jackson – as she entered
high school, but while studying classical flute at the University of Tennessee
she fell in with the jazz crowd, who she says were “much more fun” than her
classical classmates. Wanting to sing with her new jazz friends, she
rediscovered her passion for Ella and began taking lessons. “I remember telling
my teacher, ‘I want to scat like Ella,’” she recalls. “She looked at me and
said [sternly], ‘Well, girl, you’re gonna have to work.’ Ella was there when
swing and bebop were evolving, and she’s a talent that we haven’t seen again in
the jazz vocal world. I just thought, ‘Challenge accepted.’”
Encouraged by UT faculty jazz pianist Donald
Brown, Williamson headed to New England Conservatory to focus full-time on her
voice, under the guidance of award-winning RCA recording artist Dominique Eade.
She’s since become a favorite at Boston’s celebrated Regattabar, joined the
faculty at Berklee College of Music, traveled the world singing in such
far-flung locales as Seoul, South Korea; Singapore; New Delhi, India; and
Perugia, Italy; and co-founded the vocal trio E.S.P. with fellow singers Emily
Browder and Sandi Hammond. Both of Williamson’s independent recordings, My Shining Hour and Free to Dream, have received high praise from jazz critics around
the country.
When she began searching for a collaborator
to help her realize Comes Love,
Williamson quickly discovered that Wheatley was on everyone’s short list of
recommendations. One listen to his understated, lyrical playing on the album
reveals why, as does a resume that includes stints with jazz greats like Ruby
Braff, Herb Pomeroy and George Masso. Williamson ran into the guitarist (in her
telling, it’s nearly an ambush) in the copy room at Berklee, and the two forged
an almost immediate connection. “We played a little bit in his office and that’s
all it took - I was in love,” Williamson enthuses. “That first little jam
session was eye-opening because I was suddenly singing songs that I’ve been
singing for the last 20 years in a completely different way.”
Helen encouraged Patrice to choose a
personal theme for the album.
Williamson, having recently ended an incredible relationship, chose
songs with melodies and content that held a personal resonance. She found this process to be remarkably
cathartic.
Beyond the
tribute to Ella, Comes Love uses
Songbook standards to loosely trace the story of a long-term relationship
coming to an end. A narrative shared by Ella and Patrice: "I've had some wonderful love affairs and some that didn't work
out. I don't want to dwell on that and I don't want to put people down, but I
think of all the fabulous places I've been, the wonderful things that have
happened for me, the great people I've met - that ought to make a story."
- ELLA FITZGERALD
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