Cindy Scott - Major To Minor

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2002
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:14
Size: 113,3 MB
Art: Front

(2:56)  1. It's Don't Mean a Thing
(5:54)  2. What'll I Do
(2:48)  3. Mean To Me
(5:06)  4. Get Out Of Town
(4:58)  5. Ev'ry Time To Say Goodbye
(6:11)  6. Nature Boy
(3:19)  7. Deed I Do
(2:41)  8. It's De-Lovely
(3:48)  9. I Just Found Out About Love
(3:22) 10. On a Slow Boat To China
(5:06) 11. It Might As Well Be Spring
(2:59) 12. Imagination

Houston-based vocalist Cindy Scott strikes gold her first time out. Major to Minor is an exceptional debut album, a happy collaboration between an exciting new singer and a cadre of superior jazz artists. This CD is somewhat of a culmination of material that Scott developed with pianist/arranger Gary Norian and other musicians at a steady gig they had at Cïzanne, a noted Houston jazz club. The function of sidemen, as I see it, is to stimulate, inspire, excite, push, drive, goad and coax their colleagues. And, boy, this band stimulates and pushes Scott. Their efforts, however, do not detract from nor intrude upon her vocals but, rather, enhance and embrace her performance. Norian stated, "We like to keep the integrity of the melody but (play) with some different harmonies and time signatures. They succeed. Each arrangement is fresh, challenging, and most entertaining. Not many budding jazz vocalists could hope to have their first recording date backed by such talented musicians. 

The programming is eclectic, ranging from Cole Porter (three tunes) to Ellington, Berlin and McHugh. Thankfully there are no originals, which in many cases can be uninspired. Things start off hot with some dazzling virtuosic scatting by Scott, working in unison with Woody Witt's tenor sax on the Ellington composition "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing. Scott next lends her sunny timbre to the well-known ballad "What'll I Do, thankfully including the beautiful verse. Trumpeter Dennis Dotson takes a splendid chorus on this Irving Berlin evergreen (some of you may recall Dotson from the Woody Herman band). If I were to pick a favorite tune from this disc, it might be "Get Out of Town. Although Cole Porter wrote this tune in 4/4 time, Scott performs it in 6/8, which adds freshness to a well-worn standard. It starts out with voice and drums and gradually builds until Dotson enters on trumpet. "Nature Boy may not be the best composition, but Scott's version adds luster to a rather uninspired melody. This "Nature Boy is not just a "strange, enchanted boy he is a funky cat. The song builds in intensity and includes some tour de force drumming by Chuck Payne.

Cindy Scott plays with time beautifully on this number. Most singers perform the lesser-known Jimmy McHugh song "I Just Found Out About Love as a jump tune, but Scott and the band decided to record it as a slow waltz. It works splendidly at this tempo and time signature. On "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye, Scott shows that she can also break your heart with a slow ballad. Her easy, patient way with this Cole Porter classic is downright ecstatic. Kudos also to pianist Norian's lovely counter melody on this cut. Although this is Cindy Scott's first recording, it will certainly not be her last. For she is not only an exceptional new jazz-oriented singer, she is accessible to a wide spectrum of listeners. You don't need a degree in music to understand her singing; all you need is ears. The disc will appeal to fans who appreciate impeccable intonation, an immaculate sense of timing, and emotional interpretations of song lyrics. Scott is a musical artist who delivers fables and stories and vignettes of life and love. But the young lady can also swing you into bad health.  Highly recommended. ~ Roger Crane   http://www.allaboutjazz.com/major-to-minor-cindy-scott-catahoula-records-review-by-roger-crane.php#.U5HvGCioqdk

Personnel: Cindy Scott - Vocals; Gary Norian - Piano; Thomas Helton - Bass; Chuck Payne - Drums; Woody Witt - Tenor Sax; Dennis Dotson - Trumpet.

Major To Minor

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Cindy Scott - Let The Devil Take Tomorrow

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 61:28
Size: 140.7 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[4:17] 1. You've Really Got A Hold On Me
[5:12] 2. If
[3:57] 3. Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps
[6:04] 4. You Don't Know What Love Is
[4:49] 5. The Boy Can Play
[5:52] 6. I Can't Help It
[4:43] 7. Let This Love Last
[4:52] 8. Obsession
[5:28] 9. Kiss Of Fire
[5:16] 10. Start Again
[4:30] 11. Beatriz
[6:23] 12. I'll Be Seeing You

Vocalist Cindy Scott is a rare breed of artist—comfortably covering a variety of music, undaunted by genre barriers and walls that scare lesser singers into pursuing a singular line of musical thought. The dozen songs that Scott presents on Let The Devil Take Tomorrow make up a rich smorgasbord of sounds, moving from Brazil to the Bayou and covering everybody from Smokey Robinson to Hank Williams. ~Dan Bilawsky

Cindy Scott: vocals; Brian Seeger: guitars, pedal steel; Vadim Neselovskyi: piano, melodica; Tommy Sciple: bass; Geoff Clapp: drums; Ed Petersen: saxophone; Brian Coogan: organ; James Shipp: percussion.

Let The Devil Take Tomorrow

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Cindy Scott - Historia

Size: 128,6 MB

Time: 55:25

File: MP3 @ 320K/s

Released: 2014

Styles: Jazz: Vocals

Art: Front

01. Shaw 'nuff (4:20)

02. There Is No Greater Love (5:29)

03. What's Comin' Atcha (3:57)

04. Historia De Un Amor (7:37)

05. It's Gonna Be Okay (4:21)

06. Turnaround (Feat. Karrin Allyson) (3:40)

07. Look For The Silver Lining (3:15)

08. Laura Lee (5:14)

09. Shenandoah (4:02)

10. I Concentrate On You (5:45)

11. Silence Of The Stars (O Silencio Das Estrelas) (4:29)

12. Some Of That Sunshine (Feat. Karrin Allyson) (3:10)

Stating the obvious right off, vocalist Cindy Scott is from New Orleans. This fact thoroughly and three-dimensionally informs the twelve selections on Historia, Scott's follow-up to Let The Devil Take Tomorrow (Catahoula Records, 2009), without making a burden of it. In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, the aural aroma of the Crescent City appears like an essence, that hyperdistillation that leaves neither finger nor footprint but exists as an indelible mark on the music readily recognised. This mark is made audible immediately in Scott's arrangement (with her lyrics) of the Gillespie/Parker shot- over-the-bow, "Shaw 'Nuff." Looking at that title makes it all too easy to expect an Eddie Jefferson or even Bob Dorough sliced bebop.

What curls from the speakers is something else altogether. A French- Quarter- Sunday-Afternoon march is established by drummer Jamison Ross and perpetuated by pianist Randy Porter channelling Professor Longhair. Guitarist Brian Seeger reaches down deep into the blues and shows where Bo Diddley came from. Scott sings of taking chances to learn, stretching beyond one's conception into that next creative place. Scott makes breezy "No Greater Love," pulling the piece from the dusty silver service of standards. She blow the soot off the classic, polishing it to a high and complex Creole sheen. Porter plays a eutection of impressionistic stride and Antoine Domino- left hand magic against Ross' shimmering cymbals and Scotts wordless song.

On the nominal title cut, "Historia de un Amor," Scott waxes darkly over an earth-pulse played by bassist Dan Loomis. Seeger seasons the piece with electric guitar cries in the extended introduction and then when Scott gets her Spanish on, leading up to Seeger's craggy and urgent solo, overdriven and cutting. Scott picks up and completes this urgent ache, completing the piece as a humid Caribbean tone poem. Scott penned the English lyrics. The original "It's Gonna Be Okay" ia a cross-over dream, a song of certain hope that would be as at home in the modern country realm as it is here, full of Louisiana and sunshine.

"Look at the Silver Lining" and "Shenandoah" are so completely transformed they become a celebration of all that jazz is in its absolute exegesis. In both songs, Scott winds up and throws a wicked curve ball. The former is taken up-tempo and is perhaps the most "jazzy" of all of the selections. The latter is made even more pastoral than the original by its slower tempo amid bass harmonics and Scott's rich flute playing. Scott duets with Karrin Allyson on "Some of that Sunshine" providing an upbeat and inclusive end to a very fine recording indeed.~Review by C. Michael Bailey

Personnel: Cindy Scott: vocals; Randy Porter: piano; Dan Loomis: bass; Jamison Ross: drums; Brian Seeger: guitar (1, 4, 5); Shannon Powell: percussion; Evan Christopher: clarinet (11); Karrin Allyson: vocals (12).

Historia

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