Bonnie Jensen - Lucky So & So

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:56
Size: 126,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:00)  1. All Of You
(4:28)  2. Garota De Ipanema
(4:25)  3. I'm Just A Lucky So & So
(4:54)  4. The Man I Love
(5:23)  5. Reality
(4:46)  6. Teach Me Tonight
(5:22)  7. A Foggy Day
(3:28)  8. No More Blues/Chega De Saudade
(4:24)  9. Waltz For Debby
(4:22) 10. Embraceable You
(5:43) 11. The Best Thing In Your Life
(3:35) 12. Time After Time

The La Brava label continues to bring many of Australia's finest jazz musicians to compact disc. Not missing a beat in this ambitious undertaking, the label has released a session that displays the vocal renderings of Bonnie Jensen. Maintaining the high standards set by the label with its previous releases, Jensen delivers a scintillating, expressive 55 minutes of music. Possessing a voice with excellent range, she distributes emotions tailored to the message she wants each song to convey to the listener, whether the tune be an original or standard -- the mark of a good jazz singer. Thus, "Waltz for Debby" is tender and a bit wistful. "Teach Me Tonight" imparts a sense of urgency as she staggers space between words and lines to make this oft-recorded song come across somewhat differently than one usually hears it. Her own "Reality" is more contemporary music and comes wrapped in a Brazilian beat. Jensen also recognizes the importance of imaginative arrangements to make sure that the proper combination of instrumentation is used to help her meet her performing objectives. On "No More Blues," Steve Brien's acoustic guitar is her sole accompaniment. Thus the album is peppered with astute use of fluttering flute, soprano sax that manages not to be whiny and off-pitch, and most of all, Michael Bartolomei's piano. His efforts are inventive and inspired, and consequently, he is rewarded with generous solo time. 

Even though Jensen's choice of songs is somewhat orthodox standards, originals, and contemporary pop material, pretty much standard fare these days -- she displays a vocal instrument power and clarity combined with a sense of intimacy that makes the session work. Recommended. ~ Dave Nathan http://www.allmusic.com/album/lucky-so-so-mw0000495138

Lucky So & So

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Bonnie J. Jensen - The Sapphire Tree

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 68:03
Size: 156,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:43)  1. The Sapphire Tree
(7:08)  2. I Still Haven't Found What I'm looking For
(7:23)  3. Colombus
(5:17)  4. A Night In Tunisia
(7:22)  5. Aeroblue
(4:47)  6. Night and Day
(5:38)  7. Little Wing
(6:23)  8. Neon Soliloquy
(6:13)  9. Ain't No Use
(5:50) 10. Angel Eyes
(5:13) 11. Lead The Way

With this, her third CD for La Brava, Bonnie J Jensen has moved up several artistic and creative notches. The Sapphire Tree is a highly mature and at the same time entertaining piece of work, a superb balance of the familiar and the new.......As a vocalist, she is blessed with astonishing accuracy and a deep feeling for her lyric.... (Steve Robertson, PBS Radio, Melbourne)

A vocal and instrumental tour de force. (South China Morning Post, April 2007)

"... she draws on many influences, sounding sometimes reminiscent of Renee Geyer, at others traces of Peggy Lee or Sarah Vaughan emerge…” (The Australian Weekend Review review February 2007)

Bonnie J Jensen’s third album “The Sapphire Tree” follows the last recording “Blue Joy” on her continuing journey towards a more personal style resulting in a certain glowing warmth of sound and musical integrity. The collaboration with the core musicians of the ARIA (Australia's equivalent of the Grammys) winning jazz group Wanderlust, brings an element of contemporary and European jazz flavour to the sound. This compliments Bonnie’s soulful interpretations well and subtly enhances her unique approaches to her diverse selection of songs, including three new engaging originals including the title song.

Listeners familiar with her past work will appreciate Bonnie’s signature treatments of classic songs, both jazz standards and pop classics.

Here they have reworked U2’s “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” by changing the meter and adding a haunting horn arrangement. Her rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing”, like many of the tracks on this album, displays the wide emotional range of her voice.

Bonnie is s a respected and versatile singer, songwriter and pianist. Born in New Zealand but based in Sydney, Australia for many years, she has also performed repeatedly in Europe, Japan and Hong Kong.
She released her debut album “Lucky So & So” in August 2001. This album quickly reached No.3 in the Australian Independent Jazz Charts. It was surpassed by her second release “Blue Joy” in 2004 that featured luminaries Don Rader (trumpet), Jeremy Sawkins (guitar) and Jonathan Zwartz (bass). “Blue Joy” rose to No. 8 in Japan’s (vocal) Jazz charts for the month of June 2004. Both albums now sell in 6 countries and receive a lot of local airplay in Australia. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jensen3

Personnel: Bonnie J Jensen –Vocals, Piano (Tracks 1, 5, 7, 3);  Alister Spence –Fender Rhodes, Organ, Piano (Tracks 2, 4, 9, 11);  Craig Walters – Tenor and Soprano Saxophone;  Fabian Hevia – Drums, Percussion;  Jeremy Sawkins – Guitars;  John Napier – Cello;  Jonathan Zwartz – Bass;  Miroslav Bukovsky – Trumpet, Flugelhorn

The Sapphire Tree

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Bonnie J. Jensen - Shimmer

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:27
Size: 130,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:33)  1. Spend a Little Time with Me
(4:14)  2. Here Comes the Rain Again
(4:44)  3. Bluesette
(5:24)  4. Without a Word
(4:36)  5. Sweetest Somebody I Know
(6:00)  6. Higher Ground
(4:26)  7. Everybody's Cryin' Mercy
(5:03)  8. If You Love Somebody
(3:10)  9. Come Take my Hand
(5:11) 10. My Romance
(4:23) 11. Stolen Moments
(4:38) 12. First Love's Call

Born in New Zealand but based in Sydney, Australia for over 20 years, Bonnie has played a variety of international stages, fulfilling engagements at Stockholm’s legendary jazz club Stampen, Singapore’s Southbridge jazz club, Kuala Lumpur’s Alexis Club and Barcelona’s Bel Luna jazz club. Locally, she has performed at The Basement, at numerous interstate corporate and bespoke events as well as major Jazz Festivals, most recently the 2012 Thredbo Jazz Festival and the 2011 Manly Jazz Festival, where she appeared with her all-star Quintet line-up.

Late 2009, she teamed up with exceptional talents Graham Jesse, Matt McMahon, Phil Stack, James Muller, Nicolas McBride and recorded her 4th album S H I M M E R. The result of this collaboration is a colourful palette of sounds, featuring 3 new diverse original compositions.

Bonnie adds, “I was very inspired while writing and working on these songs, knowing that Graham, Matt, James and the other exceptional players would be adding their midas touch. Graham co-arranged most of the tracks with me and also wrote beautiful string arrangements for 2 of them. Plus, the legendary James Morrison graced us with a guest appearance on one track”.

“SHIMMER” is the most personal and intimate of Bonnie's 4 releases to date. Her trademarks are all there, the smoky timbre of her voice, the pitch perfect accuracy, the lovely way she controls her lower register. And as with her other albums, her songs are blessed with superb backups… it has the contemporary feel that was just hinted at in her excellent earlier CDs. This is a logical next step for an artist who clearly has a vision for her craft and knows where she is going.” ~ Steve Robertson, On Air, PBS FM 2010   http://www.bonniejjensen.com/biography.php

Shimmer

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