AMBER WEEKES - The Gathering
Amber Inn Productions - amberweekes4jazz@gmail.com
Amber Weekes (v); & various combinations including Tony Capodonico (p); Adam Cohen (b); Fritz Wise (d); Doug MacDonald (elg) String section.
No location or dates listed.
A Christmas jazz album? Well They are not usually very thick on the ground but this one fits the bill rather well. Apart from My Romance and two others these are all songs about or closely associated with Christmas. Amber has a robust and yet warmly intimate voice, and she sings as though she is enjoying herself, always a plus. The Christmas Waltz has her singing brightly and the track benefits from a jazz solo by guitarist Andrew Carney. Strings and horns add to the festive flavour. You maybe wouldn’t think it but I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus works as a swinging jazz performance with the singer hamming it up and the rhythm section driving hard. My Romance is sung straight with backing by piano and strings and is the least festive track, as you might expect. Winter Wonderland is another straight ahead with Amber in good voice and just Rickey Woodard and the rhythm section behind her. Woodard’s contributions here and elsewhere re-enforce the jazz content with some solid improvised choruses on tenor sax. Silent Night is performed in fairly straight- ahead fashion complete with strings and background vocals.
Let It Snow is another track to please the jazz enthusiasts with trumpet and guitar contributions and the rhythm section ticking over neatly. Last up is The Gathering, a song written for the occasion by Mark Cargill and Gregory Cook with lyrics supplied by Amber. It features her singing and using a sort of amplified whisper, a jazz style violin solo from Cargill and background vocalists to produce a home- made Christmas song. This is really a Christmas album for the whole family which might not please hard- core jazz enthusiasts but families, with at least one jazzer should enjoy it. And it should please almost everybody.
Reviewed by Derek Ansell
Amber Inn Productions - amberweekes4jazz@gmail.com
Amber Weekes (v); & various combinations including Tony Capodonico (p); Adam Cohen (b); Fritz Wise (d); Doug MacDonald (elg) String section.
No location or dates listed.
A Christmas jazz album? Well They are not usually very thick on the ground but this one fits the bill rather well. Apart from My Romance and two others these are all songs about or closely associated with Christmas. Amber has a robust and yet warmly intimate voice, and she sings as though she is enjoying herself, always a plus. The Christmas Waltz has her singing brightly and the track benefits from a jazz solo by guitarist Andrew Carney. Strings and horns add to the festive flavour. You maybe wouldn’t think it but I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus works as a swinging jazz performance with the singer hamming it up and the rhythm section driving hard. My Romance is sung straight with backing by piano and strings and is the least festive track, as you might expect. Winter Wonderland is another straight ahead with Amber in good voice and just Rickey Woodard and the rhythm section behind her. Woodard’s contributions here and elsewhere re-enforce the jazz content with some solid improvised choruses on tenor sax. Silent Night is performed in fairly straight- ahead fashion complete with strings and background vocals.
Let It Snow is another track to please the jazz enthusiasts with trumpet and guitar contributions and the rhythm section ticking over neatly. Last up is The Gathering, a song written for the occasion by Mark Cargill and Gregory Cook with lyrics supplied by Amber. It features her singing and using a sort of amplified whisper, a jazz style violin solo from Cargill and background vocalists to produce a home- made Christmas song. This is really a Christmas album for the whole family which might not please hard- core jazz enthusiasts but families, with at least one jazzer should enjoy it. And it should please almost everybody.
Reviewed by Derek Ansell
