POLLY GIBBONS - Many Faces of Love
Resonance Records – RCD-1022 (CD & DVD Set)
Polly Gibbons (vocals) Tamir Hendelman (piano ) James Pearson and Roger Kellaway (piano guests on DVD) Anthony Wilson( guitar) Christian Howes (violin and all string parts) Kevin Axt (bass) Ray Brinker (drums)
Recorded at Rising Jazz Stars Studio, Beverly Hills, California, February 2014.
Polly Gibbons is a British singer who is apparently making waves on the other side of the Atlantic. This double disc set –one audio, the other video -represents her American debut and with a super L.A based combo at her back she states her case for international recognition. Her theme is love (what else) in its various manifestations and to illustrate it she regales us with a collection of covers drawn from the soul, blues and jazz standards repertoire which she delivers in a husky mezzo tone with a range capable of reaching falsetto heights in the prescribed soul singing manner.Think Bonnie Tyler lite. Happily she manages to avoid the cliches that can caricature this style but I could have done with fewer 'la,la, la, refrains.
Her performance is elevated by a quintet of top grade session men who support her with some really potent grooves of which the Stuff Smith like vibrato of Howe’s ‘ violin obligatos add an extra dimension of tense expressiveness. There is some pretty torrid piano from Hendleman on the C/D who also shares the stool on the DVD with James Person and Roger Kellaway, both equally impressive in a performance that reveals Ms Gibbons to be an amiable presence in front of a live audience.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Resonance Records – RCD-1022 (CD & DVD Set)
Polly Gibbons (vocals) Tamir Hendelman (piano ) James Pearson and Roger Kellaway (piano guests on DVD) Anthony Wilson( guitar) Christian Howes (violin and all string parts) Kevin Axt (bass) Ray Brinker (drums)
Recorded at Rising Jazz Stars Studio, Beverly Hills, California, February 2014.
Polly Gibbons is a British singer who is apparently making waves on the other side of the Atlantic. This double disc set –one audio, the other video -represents her American debut and with a super L.A based combo at her back she states her case for international recognition. Her theme is love (what else) in its various manifestations and to illustrate it she regales us with a collection of covers drawn from the soul, blues and jazz standards repertoire which she delivers in a husky mezzo tone with a range capable of reaching falsetto heights in the prescribed soul singing manner.Think Bonnie Tyler lite. Happily she manages to avoid the cliches that can caricature this style but I could have done with fewer 'la,la, la, refrains.
Her performance is elevated by a quintet of top grade session men who support her with some really potent grooves of which the Stuff Smith like vibrato of Howe’s ‘ violin obligatos add an extra dimension of tense expressiveness. There is some pretty torrid piano from Hendleman on the C/D who also shares the stool on the DVD with James Person and Roger Kellaway, both equally impressive in a performance that reveals Ms Gibbons to be an amiable presence in front of a live audience.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
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