
(Review
by Ann Alex).
You could read this review, or you could
go to the website, www.suemccreeth.com and play the video
of the Sat Nam, and you’ll get a good
idea of what this superb singer and her various musicians are all about. Dave
Gelly of the Observer writes ...’ She sings with warmth and intimacy, and
commands a wonderful flexibility (in) her vocal tone’... I couldn’t have explained it better.
Ms McCreeth is a singer, songwriter and
multi instrumentalist who has led ensembles down South since 2000 and this is
her sixth album, which is an anthology of her songwriting work so far, together
with 4 new songs. She studied improvisation and also composition via the
Berklee College of Music.
The CD gives us mostly love songs of
various moods, beginning with Sat Nam, wordless
vocals with a folky eastern feel, followed by She Want Him, in which the singer almost becomes one of the
instruments in the band. Other notable tracks are the rocky Nut Tree (guitar and keys with a regular
drum beat and electronic effects); The
Air Is Blue (atmospheric, cool, blue, guitar sound); Mother
Sister
Father Brothers My Man Child & His Mama (a new song which is a message to
her relatives
‘With
my new love
I
finally knew love
With
my own sweet man child’.
The longest track at 9.28 minutes is Only Here, a love song which is
atmospheric rather than narrative, with constant repetition of ‘You and I’.
Most of the songs are with the standard
trio of piano, bass and drums, with most solos taken by the piano, and it goes
without saying that the musicians are skilled. If you like to hear brass with
singers, this CD won’t supply that as Martin Shaw only appears on 2 of the
tracks. The singer is out on tour this year but the nearest gig to us is Edinburgh
on June 18.
The CD was launched on May 29 at the Pizza
Express Jazz Club, London, and was released on June 2 by Discovery
Records.
Ann
Alex
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