By Dean Poling
This solid bluegrass band combines traditional mountain music with the spirit of gospel for a righteous, rollicking musical experience. Nothin’ Fancy is Mike Andes, lead singer, mandolin; Mitchell Davis, banjo; Gary Farris, tenor voice, guitar; Chris Sexton, fiddle; Tony Shorter, upright bass. Don’t let this band’s name fool you. Nothin’ Fancy isn’t extravagant but it is some grand listening.
By Dean Poling
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Brian Woodruff is that rare combination, a term one does not hear often: a drummer/composer. The title of this expressive album comes from a chess match several years ago. Woodruff was playing a friend. Woodruff was winning until the endgame. Then the friend beat him. This happened a few times, causing the friend to finally say to Woodruff, “You did everything you needed to do, and then you tarried.” Thus, “The Tarrier.” That said, as a composer and drummer, Woodruff is right on time with his delivery in this excellent, jazzy album. “The Tarrier” also features Lisa Parrott on sax; Jacob Varmus, trumpet and cornet; Alan Ferber, trombone; Nate Radley, guitar; Matt Clohesy, bass.
By Dean Poling
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Collin Raye is a country singer who’s been kicking around for quite some time. He rose to fame in 1991 with “Love Me” and continued assaulting the country charts with hits like “Little Rock,” “In This Life,” “Not That Different,” “A Soldier’s Prayer,” “The Eleventh Commandment.” In all, Raye earned 15 No. 1 country hits and 24 Top 10 songs. With “Never Going Back,” Raye puts an edge of rock in his country. The 12 hits on “Never Going Back” are more the country rock of The Eagles than the country of Hank Williams. It’s a good fit for Collin Raye. Country rock suits his voice while the format allows him to still sing story songs and present slices of American life, with a little bit of rock and a little bit of country.
By Dean Poling
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Two new CDs featuring strong female jazz vocalists are due for release June 1. Fans of torch songs with a jazzy, soulful register should look for either or both of these albums.
On “New York Rendezvous,” vocalist Irene Atman has a voice comparable to Barbra Streisand’s. On this album she provides her interpretations of songs such as “Taking a Chance on Love,” “Alfie,” and “Time After Time.” “From Tony Bennett to Frank Sinatra, Doris Day to Peggy Lee, Irene practiced the breathing, the phrasing, the dynamics of all the greats, singing along with them from her bedroom and performing encore after encore until her family finally insisted that she call it a night,” notes Two for the Show Media. From these early childhood performances, she continued studying the various singing styles while incorporating her own signature style to her voice. She also found influence in horn sections while performing. “I began to emulate the sounds of the horns, their dynamics, their control,” Atman says. “I thought if a horn player can do this with a piece of metal, I could do this with my voice. But subtlety is what jazz is all about.” All of these dynamics in Irene Atman’s voice come into play with “New York Rendezvous.”
On “Purple Butterfly,” it is apparent that English is not the first language for Sicilian vocalist/pianist Daniela Schachter. Doesn’t matter though: She speaks the language of jazz from both her vocals and her keyboards. The accent adds a certain breathy sensuality to both her singing and her scat work. “Purple Butterfly” spotlights Schachter’s voice and piano but with strong reflection on her supporting musicians, especially trumpet and flugelhorn player Alex Sipiagin. This album feels like a discovered cabaret of torch songs on a cold night: An oasis for a melancholy soul.
By Dean Poling
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Steven Pasquale
Yep, this singer is the same guy who plays fireman Sean Garrity on FX TV’s “Rescue Me.” Here, he sings a dozen jazz tunes. “It’s always been a dream of mine to make an old-fashioned jazz record,” Steven Pasquale says through Miller Wright & Associates. “When we went on hiatus due to the writers strike, I was afforded the time to finally sit down and do what I had always talked about doing.” You never know what you’re going to get when a star crosses over from one medium or art form to another. Pasquale has the chops to cross this street. “Somethin’ Like Love” is somethin’ like good.