CLARE TEAL ACCOMPANIED BY THE HALLÉ ORCHESTRA - Twelve O'Clock Tales
MUD Records CDMUDC14
Clare Teal (vocals); accompanied by The Hallé Orchestra; Stehen Bell (conductor) with Mike Lovatt (trumpet); Iain Dixon, Rob Buckland, Carl Raven, Jim Muirhead, Valerie Stark (saxophones); Gordon Campbell (trombone); Jason Rebello (piano); Mitch Dalton (guitar); Jeremy Brown (bass); Matt Skelton (drums)
Arrangements by Guy Barker, Grant Windsor & Jason Rebello
Recorded 23rd & 24th February, 2016
It takes no little courage to record an album of songs from the Great American songbook, and to record them with a full orchestra many will consider foolhardy. There will be some for whom the mere notion of doing so will immediately conjure up the recordings of past greats and the incomparable recordings by Ella Fitzgerald for Norman Granz's Verve imprint, and perhaps even raise the question why bother recording them again?
The answer quite simply lies in this recording. Clare Teal has done what perhaps she should not have even contemplated, enlisting the services of Manchester's famed Hallé Orchestra, some of the country's top arrangers, and some well loved songs and produced an album that is quite brilliant from start to finish. It is no secret that Clare is one of the UK's finest vocalists, but here she has upped the bar and proved that she is truly world class, able to hold her own in any company and has stamped her personality all over this music; and I defy anyone to listen to Twelve O'Clock Tales without a smile on their face from beginning to end.
Tackling some big songs, Teal opens with a stunning uptempo (and foot tapping) run through 'It Might As Well Be Spring' that leaves the listener almost breathless in its wake, and setting a high standard from the outset. If she is nothing but consistent, Clare maintains this incredible level of performance throughout the set. She takes on two massive songs in Billy Strayhorn's 'Lush Life'and 'Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most' by Frans Landesman and Tommy Wolf and makes them so compelling that you are left hanging on to every syllable.
The bulk of the arranging credits go to Guy Barker, arranging ten out of the fourteen titles, and shows just how much of an individual approach he has to writing for large scale orchestra. His arrangement for 'Secret Love' brings out new depths in the song, and his orchestration of Kern and Hammerstein's 'The Folks Who Live On The Hill' makes this timeless classic shine in a new light.
Not content with confounding expectations with such a high quality album, Teal throws us a cheeky curve ball by having the gall to include a couple of original compositions in the mix. Such a gamble may well have unbalanced the album as a whole, but such is the calibre of theses songs that are more than a welcome addition, with 'Whole (It Isn't Like Me) as good as anything else offer.
In taking some of these classic songs and recording them in this context both Teal and the arrangers have stuck their necks out, but the result is an album that is impeccably recorded and ultimately rewarding and recommended without reservation.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
MUD Records CDMUDC14
Clare Teal (vocals); accompanied by The Hallé Orchestra; Stehen Bell (conductor) with Mike Lovatt (trumpet); Iain Dixon, Rob Buckland, Carl Raven, Jim Muirhead, Valerie Stark (saxophones); Gordon Campbell (trombone); Jason Rebello (piano); Mitch Dalton (guitar); Jeremy Brown (bass); Matt Skelton (drums)
Arrangements by Guy Barker, Grant Windsor & Jason Rebello
Recorded 23rd & 24th February, 2016
It takes no little courage to record an album of songs from the Great American songbook, and to record them with a full orchestra many will consider foolhardy. There will be some for whom the mere notion of doing so will immediately conjure up the recordings of past greats and the incomparable recordings by Ella Fitzgerald for Norman Granz's Verve imprint, and perhaps even raise the question why bother recording them again?
The answer quite simply lies in this recording. Clare Teal has done what perhaps she should not have even contemplated, enlisting the services of Manchester's famed Hallé Orchestra, some of the country's top arrangers, and some well loved songs and produced an album that is quite brilliant from start to finish. It is no secret that Clare is one of the UK's finest vocalists, but here she has upped the bar and proved that she is truly world class, able to hold her own in any company and has stamped her personality all over this music; and I defy anyone to listen to Twelve O'Clock Tales without a smile on their face from beginning to end.
Tackling some big songs, Teal opens with a stunning uptempo (and foot tapping) run through 'It Might As Well Be Spring' that leaves the listener almost breathless in its wake, and setting a high standard from the outset. If she is nothing but consistent, Clare maintains this incredible level of performance throughout the set. She takes on two massive songs in Billy Strayhorn's 'Lush Life'and 'Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most' by Frans Landesman and Tommy Wolf and makes them so compelling that you are left hanging on to every syllable.
The bulk of the arranging credits go to Guy Barker, arranging ten out of the fourteen titles, and shows just how much of an individual approach he has to writing for large scale orchestra. His arrangement for 'Secret Love' brings out new depths in the song, and his orchestration of Kern and Hammerstein's 'The Folks Who Live On The Hill' makes this timeless classic shine in a new light.
Not content with confounding expectations with such a high quality album, Teal throws us a cheeky curve ball by having the gall to include a couple of original compositions in the mix. Such a gamble may well have unbalanced the album as a whole, but such is the calibre of theses songs that are more than a welcome addition, with 'Whole (It Isn't Like Me) as good as anything else offer.
In taking some of these classic songs and recording them in this context both Teal and the arrangers have stuck their necks out, but the result is an album that is impeccably recorded and ultimately rewarding and recommended without reservation.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
