Deborah Latz - Fig Tree

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 76:39
Size: 175.5 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[6:37] 1. Blue Skies
[3:52] 2. Hi-Fly
[6:39] 3. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
[4:16] 4. É Luxo Só
[5:44] 5. I'm Having A Good Time
[4:44] 6. You Are
[5:03] 7. Fevgo
[6:07] 8. S'wonderful
[5:10] 9. Fig Tree
[5:16] 10. Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)
[2:51] 11. Embraceable You
[5:27] 12. Ill Wind
[7:30] 13. She Was
[7:17] 14. Moon River

Deborah Latz: vocals; Jon Davis: piano; John Hart: acoustic and electric guitars; Ray Parker: bass; Willard Dyson: drums, percussion; Peter Apfelbaum: tenor and soprano saxophones, flute, percussion; Abdoulaye: voice (13).

West Coast/East Coast vocalist Deborah Latz has released two well- received CDs to date: 2004's Toward Love and 2008's Lifeline (both on June Moon Productions). Coming from a stage background, Latz has no problem instilling drama into her interpretations and does so without sounding like she is trying too hard, a pitfall of many of her contemporaries. Latz has a probing and brilliant alto voice that can achieve several ends at the same time. She can readily conquer the sharp edges of progressively arranged standards like the opening "Blue Skies" while sustaining an always challenging, ultra-slow tempo as on the wholly transformed Cole Porter, "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To." Latz's approach to the standard material is fiercely unique and comparable only to the Tierney Sutton Band's recent recordings, American Road (BFM, 2011) and Desire (Telarc, 2008). "Blue Skies" is given a nervous, urban instrumental treatment, with Latz stretching the phrasing dramatically to the point where the phrasing threatens to lose momentum. But there is no loss, the power velocity is rock steady. Guitarist John Hart provides a jagged edge in his solo, as well as his obligato behind Latz. Jon Davis' piano adds a taste of the islands bolstered by Willard Dyson's deft drumming. "You'd Be So Nice..." is completely reimagined as a Shirley Horn blues slow-drag, introduced with piano and arco bass before establishing its reharmonized direction. Davis channels Gene Harris' blues sensibility in his solo. In "I'm Having A Good Time," Latz finds her Billie Holiday muse, bolstered by Hart's tasty blues guitar and Davis' two-fisted piano playing. "Embraceable You" and "Corcovado" make an interesting internal diptych, the former experimental and bracing (Latz and bassist Parker duet) and the latter sleek and smooth, as breezy as it should be, again featuring Hart's handy guitar work. The closing "Moon River" is somber and slightly dissonant and easily the slowest tempo on the record. Singing slow is one of the most challenging things for a singer to do. Latz with there with the best of them: Horn and Rebecca Parris.

Latz's original compositions are provocative. "You Are" features Peter Apfelbaum tenor saxophone sparing with Latz to a draw, giving equal attention to both voices in this unusual duet. Edgy and unsettled "You Are" only anticipates the equally challenging "She was." Latz is not a devoted genre-breaker, opting to color within the lines, just sometimes she moves those lines. ~C. Michael Bailey

Fig Tree

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Deborah Latz - Lifeline

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:33
Size: 218,5 MB
Art: Front

(6:04)  1. Les Feuilles Mortes
(3:50)  2. I Get Along Without You Very Well
(4:25)  3. Witchcraft
(2:41)  4. Tea For Two/Day In - Day Out
(5:12)  5. Make Someone Happy
(3:36)  6. Jump In
(3:13)  7. Waltz For Debby
(7:00)  8. My Favorite Things
(4:40)  9. Que Reste-t-il De Nos Amours
(5:52) 10. Don’t Explain
(4:19) 11. The Sweetest Sounds
(3:57) 12. I Didn’t Know What Time It Was
(2:55) 13. How Deep Is The Ocean
(2:41) 14. La Vie En Rose

Deborah Latz is a bold singer with a strong sense of her own musical identity. So sure-footed is she that it's hard to imagine her needing a lifeline she's more the type to throw one to the sinking. Lifeline does just that the 14 tunes pull the listener into Latz's fast-moving ship as it skims across her repertoire of standards to safety on the opposite shore. Latz kicked off the CD at New York's The Kitano on October 1, 2008, and for the most part the show and the CD paralleled each other. Latz's opener, "Les Fueilles Mortes," which features guest saxophonist Joel Frahm during the contemplative, improvised intro, shows off her effortless technique: her free vocal line is clear and perfectly centered. Her technical facility is most evident, however, when she sustains a pitch at a pianissimo for several measures as at the end of the second tune, "I Get Along Without You Very Well." Despite the softness of the sound this trick requires a vocal strength and melodic sensitivity to make it work. On both the CD and in performance Latz uses an ample amount of vocal improvisation and her ideas seem to hail from a variety of sources. In one moment she'll invoke a standard jazz lick and a minute later she'll let loose in an open-throated caterwaul; these devices turn "My Favorite Things," the tune that Latz calls the "nucleus" of the album, into something that Rodgers and Hammerstein had not imagined, perhaps. Around this revolve other tunes that surprise for their innovation or delight for their inspiration a medley of "Tea For Two" and "Day In/Day Out"; "Waltz For Debbie"; "Don't Explain and Latz's closing number, a sweetly romantic rendition of "La Vie En Rose." Behind all of Latz's innovation and inspiration lies a strong rapport with her band. She records and performs with the same group of musicians: Frahm, Daniela Schachter (piano), Bob Bowen (bass) and Elisabeth Keledjian (drums). The band is a tight and unobtrusive bunch, leaving most the spotlight for Latz, stepping into it only long enough to distinguish themselves as soloists. In short, each is a first-rate accompanist, a job that is often much harder to execute than a well-phrased solo. ~ Suzanne Lorge  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/lifeline-deborah-latz-june-moon-productions-review-by-suzanne-lorge.php

Lifeline

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Deborah Latz - Sur L'Instant

Size: 81,6 MB
Time: 35:04
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Love Theme (From 'Spartacus') (4:05)
02. Throw It Away (5:32)
03. Weep No More (4:51)
04. All The Things You Are (4:53)
05. Four (2:22)
06. Blue Monk (3:07)
07. Mr. P.C (1:39)
08. Nature Boy (4:55)
09. Over The Rainbow (3:36)

New York-based jazz singer, songwriter, arranger, and actress Deborah Latz is brimming with musical discoveries and brings a fresh sound to every performance. Displaying a wide ranging talent, Deborah can move from a deep and soulful ballad, to scatting on a bebop tune, to trading fours with a hip hop artist, all the while delighting audiences with her personal warmth and consummate musical skill.

On her fourth album, sur l’instant, vocalist Deborah Latz enjoys the company of two superb musicians, the pianist Alain Jean-Marie and the bassist Gilles Naturel. Gone are the drummers, guitarists and horn players that fleshed out the striking performances on her previous recordings. Yet by reducing the instrumentation, the focus is drawn ever more closely to the fine points of Latz’s evolving art. Set in relief against her compatriot’s sensitive and open-eared accompaniment, Latz displays the expressive depth and masterful interpretive skills that mark her as one of the most gifted singers of her generation.

The instinctive nature of the project reflects Latz’s stated goal: to produce an album that demonstrates her deeply felt affinity for swing and the elemental three B’s of jazz: Blues, Bebop and Ballads. A straightforward notion perhaps, but Latz has brought a distinct sense of personal wisdom to the game. Drawing on classics composed by, or associated with, jazz masters, nodding only occasionally to familiar American Songbook standards, Latz exhibits a rare understanding of what makes jazz vocalizing so powerful. As the album’s title asserts, the ability to pinpoint and make use of what’s happening ‘in the moment’ remains the key to her vibrant and emotive performances.

Sur L'Instant

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Deborah Latz - Toward Love

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:28
Size: 95,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:10)  1. It Had To Be You
(5:07)  2. Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered
(6:49)  3. How Insensitive
(2:21)  4. Gone With The Wind
(3:00)  5. Avril A Paris
(5:30)  6. Lover Man
(3:51)  7. I Only Have Eyes For You
(6:54)  8. Night And Day
(2:08)  9. The Thrill Is Gone
(2:32) 10. Bluesette

They say that love makes the world go around. I don't know about that, but it's made for some great songs, tunes that vocalist Deborah Latz goes after with gusto on her debut disc, Toward Love. On the classic "Loverman," where Billie Holiday sounded fragile and deeply hurt where Carmen McRae gave us a wounded, world weary mood Latz evokes a hopeful innocence, as though she believes it will happen, that loverman will show up. The vocalist demonstrates some downtempo sass on Rodgers and Hart's "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," this listener's highlight. Her voice rings with a fetching richness here, with Bob Bowen's bass caressing her syllables. And do I detect a hint of tongue in cheek? I'm not sure. The lyric is by today's perspective on romance wonderfully sappy; and Deborah Latz pulls it off with grace and straight-ahead beauty. On "Avril a Paris" Latz shows us she can sing a lyric in French with aplomb; pianist Timo Elliston works a percussive mode, nailing down the rhythm behind the mellifluous flow of language. "Night and Day" has the vocalist entering the scene with a coy hush in her voice, a softly feminine Tony Bennett-like rasp in front of Ben Sher's piquant guitar lines. A marvelous vocal effort, beginning to end. I'm bewitched. ~ Dan McClenaghan   

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=13783#.Ux0THoVZhhk

Personnel: Deborah Latz - vocal; Timo Elliston - piano; Bob Bowen -bass; Jimmy Wormworth - drums; Bob Sher - guitar

Toward Love

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Deborah Latz - Fig Tree

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 77:29
Size: 177,4 MB
Art: Front

(6:41)  1. Blue Skies
(3:55)  2. Hi-Fly
(6:43)  3. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
(4:20)  4. É Luxo Só
(5:48)  5. I'm Having A Good Time
(4:49)  6. You Are
(5:06)  7. Fevgo
(6:10)  8. S'Wonderful
(5:13)  9. Fig Tree
(2:55) 10. Embraceable You
(5:20) 11. Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)
(5:31) 12. I'll Wind
(7:34) 13. She Was
(7:19) 14. Moon River

West Coast/East Coast vocalist Deborah Latz has release two well- received CDs to date: 2004's Toward Love and 2008's Lifeline (both on June Moon Productions). Coming from a stage background, Latz has no problem instilling drama into her interpretations and does so without sounding like she is trying too hard, a pitfall of many of her contemporaries. Latz has a probing and brilliant alto voice that can achieve several ends at the same time. She can readily conquer the sharp edges of progressively arranged standards like the opening "Blue Skies" while sustaining an always challenging, ultra-slow tempo as on the wholly transformed Cole Porter, "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To." Latz's approach to the standard material is fiercely unique and comparable only to the Tierney Sutton Band's recent recordings, American Road (BFM, 2011) and Desire (Telarc, 2008).

"Blue Skies" is given a nervous, urban instrumental treatment, with Latz stretching the phrasing dramatically to the point where the phrasing threatens to lose momentum. But there is no loss, the power velocity is rock steady. Guitarist John Hart provides a jagged edge in his solo, as well as his obligato behind Latz. Jon Davis' piano adds a taste of the islands bolstered by Willard Dyson's deft drumming. "You'd Be So Nice..." is completely reimagined as a Shirley Horn blues slow-drag, introduced with piano and arco bass before establishing its reharmonized direction. Davis channels Gene Harris' blues sensibility in his solo.

In "I'm Having A Good Time," Latz finds her Billie Holiday muse, bolstered by Hart's tasty blues guitar and Davis' two-fisted piano playing. "Embraceable You" and "Corcovado" make an interesting internal diptych, the former experimental and bracing (Latz and bassist Parker duet) and the latter sleek and smooth, as breezy as it should be, again featuring Hart's handy guitar work. The closing "Moon River" is somber and slightly dissonant and easily the slowest tempo on the record. Singing slow is one of the most challenging things for a singer to do. Latz with there with the best of them: Horn and Rebecca Parris.

Latz's original compositions are provocative. "You Are" features Peter Apfelbaum tenor saxophone sparing with Latz to a draw, giving equal attention to both voices in this unusual duet. Edgy and unsettled "You Are" only anticipates the equally challenging "She was." Latz is not a devoted genre-breaker, opting to color within the lines, just sometimes she moves those lines. ~ C.Michael Bailey  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=44411#.UldTgBBsidk

Personnel: Deborah Latz: vocals; Jon Davis: piano; John Hart: acoustic and electric guitars; Ray Parker: bass; Willard Dyson: drums, percussion; Peter Apfelbaum: tenor and soprano saxophones, flute, percussion; Abdoulaye: voice (13).

Fig Tree

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