Lyn Stanley (vocals); John Chiodini (guitar); Mike Garson, Christian Jacob (piano); Chuck Berghofer, Michael Valerio (bass); Luis Conte, Brad Dutz (perc); Aaron Serfaty (drums, perc); Paul Kreibich (drums)
(Review by Ann Alex).
I liked this CD before I heard it! At least I enjoyed the very informative notes in the insert, which give the details of each song, the circumstances in which Julie London sang the song and the details of Lyn Stanley’s interpretation. For instance, did you know that As Time Goes By was a flop when it was written in 1931, and didn’t catch on until it was included in the film Casablanca in 1942? Or that Blue Moon was originally entitled The Bad In Every Man? I digress.
Her diction is faultless and she sings with feeling. For instance, Bye Bye Blackbird is a swinging duet with lots of space for the bass, and a sly reference to These Boots Are Made For Walking at the end. I Heard It Through The Grapevine has Latin percussion with bass noodling and a free jazz feeling from the piano. Summertime (Yes Lance!) is done twice, both very acceptable, a bluesy version with the whole band, and then as a lullaby with a rocking rhythm from piano and vocals. Sway is intimate, almost whispered, with mainly piano and guitar. I could outline each track, but it’s best to hear the songs, which include: Goody Goody; Call Me Irresponsible; How About Me; I’ve Got A Crush On You; Light My Fire; Go Slow/Nice Girls Don’t Stay For Breakfast; You The Night And The Music; Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye.
The music is available on CD and also in vinyl as a 2 disc set. See www.LynStanley.com
Ann Alex
1 comment :
Just a note to thank you so much for this review--I really enjoyed reading it and am so appreciative that you noticed the work Scott Yanow did for the liner notes to help bring the songs to life for the listener. This album's arrangements were all created by the band and they were organic even on the recording day. The lullaby of Summertime you mention was a one take one time recording whereby Mike Garson asked me to record it at the end of our band session. So, I dismissed the band and kept the engineers and Mike saundered over to the Steinway and just told me to follow his lead. And so it went. I included it because it does add such an interesting contrast to the band version and Mike's solo is over the top to me.
Thank you again, and I am sorry that I did not know about this review until today.
Lyn Stanley
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