Anna Wilson - Yule Swing!

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:51
Size: 94,4 MB
Art: Front

(4:06)  1. Yule Swing
(3:01)  2. Christmas Is Coming to Town
(4:23)  3. Through Their Eyes
(3:49)  4. Holiday Lovin'
(3:31)  5. Light Me Up
(4:35)  6. Wish
(3:25)  7. One Day
(2:36)  8. Mrs. Claus
(4:34)  9. A House, a Home
(6:48) 10. Resolutions

If Christmas is a time for giving, vocalist Anna Wilson scores a two-base hit with Yule Swing. Not only does she offer listeners the gift of holiday music, but she also contributes to a charitable cause: Habitat for Humanity. Like many vocalists, this Pennsylvania product grew up with the Great American Songbook standards, including works by Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland. However, rather than adopting them as her own, which many artists before her have done, Wilson has preferred to write her own music, with the goal of creating new jazz songs for younger listeners as well as offering something different for older fans who have heard the same classics over and over. In addition to her musical career, Wilson has been an avid supporter of Habitat for Humanity, making appearances on the organization's behalf and allowing it to use her song, "A House, A Home," in public service announcements on radio and television. The title song sets the stage. With a swinging horn section, Wilson rings in the holiday season. "Forget caroling / Everybody dance and sing," she sings. The double entendre is evident in the joyful sound. "Yule Swing" or "you'll swing," either way, it's a perfect stocking stuffer. "Through Their Eyes" is a tribute to children. This easygoing track, with muted trumpets softly in the background and elegant piano by Jeff Franzel, features Wilson's rich alto voice. With lyrics like, "And be young at heart for just a while," it's a call for adults to use the wonder of children to help overcome their troubles and enjoy life. Bassist Sean O'Bryan Smith sets a cool-jazz rhythm on "Light Me Up," a delightful duet with guest vocalist Chuck Wicks. Wilson enjoys some Janis Siegel-like inflections. The song includes a bluesy guitar solo. "One Day" quiets things down. Wilson reminds one of Doris Day as she sings about the gratitude of family during that special day. The background arrangement is minimal. Then, she kicks it into high gear again with "Mrs. Claus," a sassy, playful nod to the woman behind Santa. Rick Braun makes a guest appearance, playing muted trumpet on "A House, A Home." While Yule Swing is 10 all-new songs, the melodies and rhythms revisit a bygone era. Wilson and her co-writers capture the spirit of old-school swing. Some instrumental solos and the big horn section certainly add to the pleasure, but it's Wilson's voice that makes this collection a gift that will last. Everybody loves Christmas, and most artists have it in them to record Christmas music at some point in their careers. However, it is the rare singer who trims the tree with all-new material. Wilson does, and it's a beauty. ~ Woodrow Wilkins https://www.allaboutjazz.com/yule-swing-anna-wilson-transfer-records-review-by-woodrow-wilkins.php?width=1920

Personnel: Anna Wilson: vocals; Sean O'Bryan Smith: bass; Paul Gordon: Hammond B-3; Wayne Killius: drums; Mike Noble: guitar; Monty Powell: guitar; Justin Levinson: percussion; Jeff Franzel: piano; Max Abrams: saxophone; Roy Agee: trombone; Steve Patrick: trumpet (1-8, 10); Rick Braun: trumpet (9); Chuck Wicks: vocals (5); Sam Roberts: child's voice; Hayley Roberts: child's voice.

Yule Swing!

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Anna Wilson - The Long Way

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2003
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:58
Size: 107,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:55)  1. The Bus Ride
(4:16)  2. Its Got Me
(5:19)  3. Come On
(5:04)  4. Broken
(3:27)  5. Crave
(5:33)  6. Finally
(4:20)  7. NYC Subway Rider
(4:43)  8. Always The Same
(4:35)  9. I'm Not Defeated
(5:42) 10. The Long Way

If there were an industry award for perserverance, singer-songwriter Anna WIlson would take the prize.  Het debut album, due August 5, is appropriately titled "The Long Way".  It took six years and four record labels to get Wilson's introspective artistry to the public.  Wilson managed to land deals with Capitol, Interscope, and Island/Def Jam, but each time found herself in the wake of label mergers and record company politics. "I knew it was going to be hard.  I just didn't know it was going to be this hard," says Wilson, whose music has drawn comparisons to Norah joens and Stevie Nicks.  "The thing that kept me going was knowing inside that this is all I ever really wanted to do.  I was determined to do it until I actually got the music out in the marketplace." Wilson got that opportunity when Mike Curb signed her to Curb Records' pop division.  Her first single, "The Bus Ride," goes to Triple A radio on on June 23.  The song was also featured in the Gwyneth Paltrow movie "A View From The Top". Wilson grew up near Philadelphia, but moved to Music City 10 years ago.  "I moved to Nashville to immerse myself in the songwriting community," she says.  "I wanted to learn the craft and was just trying to find my artistic place and voice through songwriting.  That's what drew me to Nashville, and I started finding that voice after being here a couple years. Nashville is an incredible community and a very musical place.  I am proud to be a part of it."  By Debra Evans Price (Special Report)

This debut CD by Anna Wilson offers ten original songs written or co-written by the artist.  A former Island/Def Jam recording artist, Wilson is currently a staff writer at Curb Music Group in Nashville and will release her debut CD on her own independent label, Transfer Records, this fall.  Her unique voice reminds me of the torch singers of the Forties with a contemporary lilt to it.  I like it.  Mike Curb would do well to take a good listen to this album himself.  Anna Wilson has what it takes to both as a writer and an artist to capture the musical minds of America. By Brad Fischer Nashville Music Guide http://annawilson.com/tag/the-long-way/

The Long Way

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Anna Wilson - Just for You

Styles: Vocal 
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:58
Size: 104,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:44)  1. Take Good Care of My Heart
(2:48)  2. Near You
(2:32)  3. Dark Moon
(2:40)  4. Blue Forever
(4:19)  5. Keeper of Your Flame
(2:40)  6. My Happiness
(2:32)  7. It's a Lovely World
(2:42)  8. Our Love Is Gone
(3:36)  9. Storms Never Last
(3:33) 10. I See Him Everywhere
(3:04) 11. I'll Get Over You
(3:17) 12. Upside of Down
(2:17) 13. Sunshine of My World
(3:02) 14. If He Just Helps Me Get Over You
(2:05) 15. Down in Dallas

Every so often, a new talent emerges with undeniable passion and universal appeal. Born in 1986 into a musical West Auckland family, Anna grew up surrounded by country music. She often cites her grandfather as a formative influence on her own musical development. From an early age, Anna began entering (and winning ) local talent contests’ and as a teenager became a member of the West Auckland Country Music Club where, influenced by the likes of Shania Twain and Leann Rimes, Anna soon established herself with her own unique singing style. As a student at Lynfield College, Anna studied drama as well as singing. After leaving school, several acting opportunities started coming Anna’s way, including a leading role in the movie Kids World and smaller roles on local television dramas such as Shortland Street. With striking good looks and star-quality presence Anna proved herself equally at ease, whether in front of the camera or entertaining a live audience. On her debut album “Just For You”, Anna Wilson retraces her roots to country music she grew up with, as well as embracing some new songs written especially for her. Anna is a featured guest artist at the ‘Night Of The Proms’ series of concerts with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra in June, and also at the Country Entertainers Awards ceremony at the Founders Theatre in Hamilton during August. https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/just-for-you-cd/1542797

Just for You

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Anna Wilson & Friends - Countrypolitan Duets

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:12
Size: 96.6 MB
Styles: Contemporary country, Vocal jazz
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[4:49] 1. You Don't Know Me (With Matt Giraud)
[2:28] 2. Walkin' After Midnight (With Lady Antebellum)
[3:39] 3. Just For What I Am (With Connie Smith)
[5:33] 4. You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me (With Rascal Flatts, Ray Price)
[3:34] 5. Night Life (With Larry Carlton)
[3:47] 6. Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues (With Keith Urban)
[2:48] 7. You Can Depend On Me (With Rick Braun)
[3:45] 8. Cherokee Maiden (With Billy Dean)
[4:28] 9. Welcome To My World (With Matt Dusk)
[3:20] 10. I Will Never Know (With Lloyd Green)
[3:57] 11. For The Good Times (With Kenny Rogers)

As top country songwriters, Anna Wilson and her husband, Monty Powell, carry considerable water in Nashville, and that allows them to indulge as a side project Wilson's career as a jazz singer, with Powell as her producer, on their own Transfer Records label. It also gives them access to some of the country artists they've written for, such as Lady Antebellum and Keith Urban, who are among her duet partners on this album, devoted to jazz arrangements of country standards. Others, such as veterans Connie Smith, Ray Price, Billy Dean, and Kenny Rogers, doubtless were only too happy to join in, along with noted jazz and country instrumentalists Larry Carlton, Rick Braun, and Lloyd Green. Wilson has a warm, bouncy voice well suited to these swing arrangements of, for instance, Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" (with the members of Lady Antebellum providing jazzy backgrounds). With Smith and Price, Wilson joins in on remakes of their old hits "Just for What I Am" and "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me" (the latter with Rascal Flatts joining in on background vocals). It would be easy to envision the duet with Urban on Danny O'Keefe's "Goodtime Charlie's Got the Blues" actually becoming a country hit, which the song never quite has done previously, despite several minor country chart placings. On the whole, however, the album is a pleasant throwback to earlier styles of pop, country, and jazz. ~William Ruhlmann

Countrypolitan Duets

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Anna Wilson - Jazzbird/Songbird

Size: 100,9 MB
Time: 43:31
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Little Jazzbird (4:31)
02. Champagne (3:22)
03. Show Me Love (3:51)
04. On A Summer's Day (4:32)
05. The Shadow Of Your Smile (4:31)
06. Inconsolably Blue (5:19)
07. Polaroid (4:32)
08. How Do You Measure A Life (4:20)
09. While The Music's Still In Me (4:38)
10. Songbird (3:49)

Among the many recent jazz-vocalist recordings I've heard, jazz singer/songwriter Anna Wilson's new album stands out for its mingling of classic jazz sensibility with skillful songwriting. Its title, Jazzbird/Songbird, in addition to naming the Gershwin and Fleetwood Mac songs that bookend the 10-song set, accurately reflects Wilson's musical identity on this disk and the nature of her art.

In a velvety, breathy voice both girlish and sophisticated, Wilson lives the songs, standards and originals alike, more like a cabaret singer than a cooler-than-thou jazz cat. The way she slides up to the second syllable of the word "champagne" in the song by that title, one of the six originals on the disc, is a small thing of beauty. "On a Summer's Day," another original, is a little bit Billy Joel and a little bit Marvin Hamlisch (the melody echoes the latter's "What I Did For Love" in jazzier style). And Wilson's understated take on the standard "The Shadow of Your Smile" demonstrates her way of putting her own interpretive stamp on a good melody without bending it all out of shape.

The original, vintage-style ballad "Inconsolably Blue," a gem of accessible pop-jazz songwriting, forms the centerpiece of the album. "While the Music's Still In Me," Wilson's declaration of the preeminence of music in her life, sounds like sophisticated 1970s pop in a jazz setting. It leads into a slim, airy, tasteful version of one of that era's loveliest songs, Christine McVie's "Songbird" from Fleetwood Mac's legendary Rumours album. Wilson sings the hit fairly straight, proving, as if this needed further proof, that a great song remains a great song in any era.

Jazzbird/Songbird

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Anna Wilson - Time Changes Everything

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 65:11
Size: 149.3 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[3:50] 1. That's What Lovers Do
[3:05] 2. Back In The Day
[4:41] 3. Time Changes Everything
[5:03] 4. Fedora
[3:19] 5. Sad Matters
[3:41] 6. One Little Reason
[4:06] 7. Minestrone Soup
[4:39] 8. For Just A Day
[4:35] 9. Sentimental Sundays
[4:10] 10. Savin' My Love
[4:14] 11. In Disguise
[4:15] 12. Gonna Dance
[3:33] 13. Wedding Bell Blues
[3:57] 14. When I Do
[3:43] 15. Drink It Up
[4:14] 16. A House, A Home

Time Changes Everything brings Wilson’s contemporary voice and message to a timeless jazz project. This critically-acclaimed studio album, with two new bonus tracks, brings classic melodies, lyrics and arrangements, reminiscent of the golden age of the Great American Songbook into the modern era with original jazz and big band music that sets standards all their own. It features 14 original songs, including the bossa nova wine inspired single “Drink It Up,” that showcase her dexterity as both a singer and songwriter. She delivers a sonically masterful collection of modern-day life and love-lessons that pull from diverse influences, ranging from Cole
orter to Laura Nyro.

Time Changes Everything

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