CD Review: Miriam Ast & Victor Gutierrez feat. Stan Sulzmann - Secret Songs

Miriam Ast (vocals); Victor Gutierrez (piano); Stan Sulzmann (tenor sax, tracks3,8,9)

(Review by Ann Alex). 

A delight from the surprising first track, Gutierrez's Don’t Get Too Cocky. Jazzy piano, wordless vocals, sweet voice, I waited for the actual lyrics, which never came. Then I realised that the scat was the cockiness, the singer trying not to be too cocky, or warning someone else not to be so. Very inventive. Track two, very different, Monk’s 'Round Midnight, voice and sparse piano, then the piano flows, and the voice has a pleasant, sad nasal tone. Track 3, composed by Ms Ast, Song For Stan, featured the man himself, reflecting the singer’s tune, before it reverses to the voice commenting on the sax, and a sudden ending. Love Song, written by Ms Ast, was just that, an honest love song, with slow scat.

A further six tracks. Three originals and three standards. The originals: Divergence; Spanish Song and Ode To A Lost Love. The standards: Alone Together; Night And Day and The Song Is You. Divergence, a sad love song with an eastern feel. Night and Day played as a fastish ballad rather than swing. Spanish Song featured skilled fast sax and unexplained percussion, which could have been produced by hitting the side of the piano. For Ode To A Lost Love, the sax had a yearning tone. The Song Is You was beautifully sung in ballad style, with the piano playing freely.

Winner of the Best Vocalist award at the 2017 Bucharest International Jazz competition, Miriam Ast gained an MA from the Royal Academy and is a senior lecturer at Leeds College of Music. The German-born vocalist has performed at Pizza Express Jazz Club and various jazz festivals including London and Cambridge. 

Victor Gutierrez is Spanish and an award-winning pianist, composer, and arranger, and a graduate of Berklee College of Music and the Royal Academy. He has performed at venues and festivals worldwide. 

Stan Sulzmann, a veteran of the British jazz scene, has played with many great bands and musicians such as Gil Evans, Kenny Wheeler, Mike Gibbs - the list is endless..

Available from July 2 on Mons Records. Highly recommended.

Ann Alex