Nicki Parrott - Dear Blossom

Styles: Vocal Jazz,Swing
Year: 2017
Time: 58:02
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 135,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:36) 1. I Wish You Love
(3:30) 2. Everything I've Got Belongs To You
(3:52) 3. I Walk A Little Faster
(4:21) 4. Peel Me A Grape
(4:13) 5. Inside A Silent Tear
(4:14) 6. Devil And The Depp Blue Sea
(4:36) 7. Dear Blossom
(2:52) 8. I'm Hip
(4:08) 9. Tout Doucement
(4:26) 10. Try Your Wings
(4:18) 11. Surrey With A Fringe On Top
(3:47) 12. Rhode Island Is Famous For You
(3:46) 13. It Amazes Me
(5:16) 14. It Might As Well Be Spring

Few, if any, contemporary jazz singers can match the recording prolificacy of Nicki Parrott: close to 30 albums (many for Japan’s Venus label) in less than 15 years, including tributes to mentor Les Paul, Doris Day, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, the Carpenters and, just released overseas, Burt Bacharach. Here the indefatigable Australian salutes Blossom Dearie, a task more difficult than it may seem.

Anyone who’s heard even a single Dearie track knows the unforgettable voice: that sweet, childlike mew. But underlying that seemingly innocent purr, and essential to the definition of her genius, was a slyness that could reveal itself as playful, coy, smirking or sardonic.

Parrott, also a skilled bassist, has a fuller, richer and more sanguine sound than Dearie, but she ably echoes her fetchingly girlish side. That’s all that’s needed for such winsome selections as “I Wish You Love” and “Inside a Silent Tear,” and dreamier fare like “It Amazes Me” and “I Walk a Little Faster.” Others, though consistently charming (particularly “Peel Me a Grape,” Parrott alone with cornetist Warren Vaché), fall short- missing that vital substrata.

“Rhode Island Is Famous for You,” for example, bounces brightly but without the flippantly comic edge. Ditto the absent cynicism on “Everything I’ve Got Belongs to You.” And, modernizing the lyrics to “I’m Hip,” Parrott undermines the Dave Frishberg/Bob Dorough tune’s intent: to reveal how intrinsically un-hip the narrator is Parrott includes one original, the paean “Dear Blossom” winningly tender, yet again failing to capture Dearie’s full essence.https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/nicki-parrott-dear-blossom/

Dear Blossom

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Judith Owen - Mopping Up Karma

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2009
Time: 53:56
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 123,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:24) 1. Creatures Of Habit
(3:49) 2. Let's Hear It For Love
(3:22) 3. Ruby Red Lips
(4:35) 4. I Promise You
(3:41) 5. Get Into It
(4:20) 6. Message From Heaven
(4:12) 7. Shine
(4:00) 8. Inside You
(3:16) 9. She's Alright
(5:43) 10. Who's That Girl
(3:49) 11. Extraordinary
(4:37) 12. Mother Mercy
(5:02) 13. The Wide Road

The American music industry may not understand the Welsh-born singer Judith Owen, but at least Richard Thompson appreciates her remarkable voice and decidedly non-easy listening approach to songwriting. These songs were originally recorded for the Capitol label in the late 1990s, after Owen had moved to California. But the album was never released, forcing her to buy back the recordings, which now (after suitable reworking) are released on her own label, just in time for her extensive tour with Thompson on his 1,000 Years of Popular Music project.

She may be married to actor Harry Shearer, responsible for several of the voices on The Simpsons, but this is most certainly not a comedy album. Her vocal style is intimate, acrobatic and theatrical and the songs are pleasantly tuneful or slinky, with occasional jazz influences and backing dominated by her own confident keyboard work. But what's special about Owen is the bravery of her lyrics, from edgy stories of vanity and unfaithfulness to tales of love and brutality, and lines such as: "I don't want to be worshipped and kissed I just want to hurt you." And that's before she embarks on pained and personal songs about her mother. Owen is an intriguing chanteuse who must be a delight to the psychoanalysts of LA. By Robin Denselow https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jan/09/judith-owen-mopping-up-karma

Mopping Up Karma

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