CECILE McLORIN SALVANT - Dreams & Daggers
MACK AVENUE MAC 1120
Cecile McLorin Salvant (v) Aaron Diel (p); Paul Sikivie (b); Lawrence Leathers (d) Village Vanguard NYC September 9,10 & 11 2016 & a few tracks with string quartet.
NYC December 2016.
Ms McLorin Salvant has the audience at the Vanguard in the palm of her hand throughout the live recital here. On most of this material she is supported by a hard swinging trio in front of a very appreciative audience who, at the end of the programme shout and stamp for an encore for a good three minutes. She responds with You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me, which, by this time, they most likely are. Cecile’s voice is extremely flexible, a natural soprano I would say but she frequently moves into tenor and even bass regions during this recital. Choice of material is good with a fair number of quality but not overdone standards. Ringing the changes she swings heartily through Devil May Care and then slips easily into slow, warm ballad style on Noel Coward’s Mad About The Boy.
Cecile has her own style coming along nicely although she occasionally uses phrasing techniques last heard when Sarah Vaughan was still around. She has a trick of dipping down suddenly into the bass clef on a note towards the end of her performance. Her voice is warm and pure on the ballads and she rides along easily on up tempo material when her trio are gliding her along. Pianist Diehl and the rhythm players get plenty of solo opportunities making this an integrated quartet rather than a singer with piano, bass and drum support. This was obviously a hugely successful gig at the Vanguard; you only have to listen to the applause, laughter and general sounds of approval from the audience throughout.
Interspersed in this invigorating set are a few performances recorded in the studio with a string quartet. Musically these pieces are fine but it might have been a good idea to put them at the end of the live set or even at the beginning rather than scattered around throughout. This is a two CD set and offers quality and quantity in the music heard.
Reviewed by Derek Ansell
MACK AVENUE MAC 1120
Cecile McLorin Salvant (v) Aaron Diel (p); Paul Sikivie (b); Lawrence Leathers (d) Village Vanguard NYC September 9,10 & 11 2016 & a few tracks with string quartet.
NYC December 2016.
Ms McLorin Salvant has the audience at the Vanguard in the palm of her hand throughout the live recital here. On most of this material she is supported by a hard swinging trio in front of a very appreciative audience who, at the end of the programme shout and stamp for an encore for a good three minutes. She responds with You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me, which, by this time, they most likely are. Cecile’s voice is extremely flexible, a natural soprano I would say but she frequently moves into tenor and even bass regions during this recital. Choice of material is good with a fair number of quality but not overdone standards. Ringing the changes she swings heartily through Devil May Care and then slips easily into slow, warm ballad style on Noel Coward’s Mad About The Boy.
Cecile has her own style coming along nicely although she occasionally uses phrasing techniques last heard when Sarah Vaughan was still around. She has a trick of dipping down suddenly into the bass clef on a note towards the end of her performance. Her voice is warm and pure on the ballads and she rides along easily on up tempo material when her trio are gliding her along. Pianist Diehl and the rhythm players get plenty of solo opportunities making this an integrated quartet rather than a singer with piano, bass and drum support. This was obviously a hugely successful gig at the Vanguard; you only have to listen to the applause, laughter and general sounds of approval from the audience throughout.
Interspersed in this invigorating set are a few performances recorded in the studio with a string quartet. Musically these pieces are fine but it might have been a good idea to put them at the end of the live set or even at the beginning rather than scattered around throughout. This is a two CD set and offers quality and quantity in the music heard.
Reviewed by Derek Ansell
