Hilary Gardner & Ehud Asherie - The Late Set

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:20
Size: 85,0 MB
Art: Front

(4:12)  1. Shadow Waltz
(4:58)  2. Sweet And Slow
(5:18)  3. A Ship Without A Sail
(4:04)  4. After You’ve Gone
(3:46)  5. I Never Has Seen Snow
(3:34)  6. I Used To Be Color Blind
(3:05)  7. Everything I’ve Got
(3:29)  8. Make Someone Happy
(3:52)  9. Seems Like Old Times

If you're looking for the definition of a class act, look no more. This is most certainly it. With The Late Set, kindred spirits Hilary Gardner and Ehud Asherie make us simultaneously pine for an era long gone and appreciate what's right in front of us. If you've followed either one of these artists, their simpatico sensibilities should come as no shock. Gardner delivered one of the most meaningful paeans to New York in recent memory with The Great City (Anzic Records, 2014), graced a Broadway stage to lend her voice to Twyla Tharp's Frank Sinatra-focused Come Fly With Me, continues to share the vocal spotlight with fellow charmer John Dokes in the George Gee Swing Orchestra, and matches wits with gal pals Melissa Stylianou and Amy Cervini in Duchess, a Boswell Sisters-inspired trio that's made its mark in the past few years. Asherie, having delved into days gone by with tenor saxophonist Harry Allen, multi-reedist Ken Peplowski's quartet, and all by his lonesome, has carved out his place as one of the finest pianistic purveyors of aged gems operating today. Both of these artists, while walking different paths, always stand out as old souls and valuable exponents of what the Great American Songbook can offer and teach us. That fact is magnified when they join forces. If you've been lucky enough to see this pair live, the magic needs no explanation. 

They put across a winning blend of casual expression and sophisticated artistry that's self-evident. Everything they create comes out as fine art without the slightest hint of artifice. This recording, presenting nine vintage numbers shaped with nuance and care, emphasizes that point and captures the spirit of their live shows. Most of the selections presented here are deep catalog chestnuts from our finest composers and songwriting teams, widely acknowledged or not. Al Dubin and Harry Warren make it onto the scorecard first with "Shadow Waltz," an album opener that gently glides along while referencing how old songs take on new meaning in love's hands, and "Sweet And Slow," a piece that musically mirrors its advice to get off the fast track and appreciate the simple pleasures of time spent with another. The former proves to be a perfect scene-setter for this pair while the latter remains as relevant today as it was eight decades ago. Those who prefer to take comfort in the familiar will likely connect with "After You've Gone," penned by Henry Creamer and Turner Layton; "Make Someone Happy," delivered unto us from Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jule Styne; and "Everything I've Got," written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. But the majority of this material doesn't play toward popularity. Instead, Gardner and Asherie usually take the roads less traveled, covering those songs that we don't necessarily encounter very often. In many cases, it's those numbers that possess the stronger draw and deeper connective strengths. The depressive threads sewn into Rodgers and Hart rarity "A Ship Without A Sail," for example, can't help but appeal to the soul through sympathy. This is the kind of album that can both connect to modern times and hold high appeal as a throwback statement. ~ Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-late-set-hilary-gardner-anzic-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel: Hilary Gardner: vocals; Ehud Asherie: piano.

The Late Set

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Hilary Gardner - On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2024
Time: 47:11
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 109,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:52) 1. Along the Navajo Trail
(3:20) 2. Cow Cow Boogie
(4:08) 3. Call of the Canyon
(3:55) 4. Under Fiesta Stars
(3:30) 5. Silver on the Sage
(3:27) 6. Jingle Jangle Jingle (I Got Spurs)
(5:42) 7. A Cowboy Serenade (While I'm Smokin' My Last Cigarette)
(3:40) 8. Song of the Sierras
(3:41) 9. Along the Santa Fe Trail
(4:14) 10. Lights of Old Santa Fe
(3:27) 11. I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)
(4:08) 12. Twilight on the Trail

It might be hard for the young'uns to believe, but there was a time when movie houses and television screens were filled with westerns. Tales of cowpokes and their trusty horses, outlaws, dogies and tumblin' tumbleweeds were so popular that various sub-genres of westerns flourished as brand extensions. One of these featured the singing cowboy trope, and elevated such figures as Roy Rogers, Tex Ritter and most notably, Gene Autry, to stardom.

The songs they sang were western-ish, not really country, and relied heavily on stock imagery. You do not hear these songs much anymore. In truth, many have not aged well while others seem so distant from contemporary culture that heard again, they can deliver the shock of the new.

Enter Alaska-born vocalist Hilary Gardner, who clearly loves this material and has chosen a program of 12 cowboy songs for her passion project On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines.

The first thing to note is that Gardner presents this material absolutely straight. There is not a hint of condescension or winking postmodernist irony here. Strip away the fringed-vest and sequined costuming and what you have is a program of pop tunes from the 1930s and '40s, many of them with a conventional AABA structure, written by New York or Hollywood composers (Johnny Mercer, Frank Loesser and even Benny Carter are among the tenderfoots represented).

Gardner sings with a lovely, clear tone and a welcome absence of twang. The way her sustained notes ascend into dreamy reverie can recall another daughter of the West, Linda Ronstadt, as well as countless pop vocalists of yesteryear. Jo Stafford comes to mind. She is immensely aided by the sensitive and genre-appropriate work of her band, especially guitarist Justin Poindexter whose clean-toned, baritonal sound immediately establishes the aural mise-en-scène. Noah Garabedian puts some giddy-up into the rhythm from the bass chair and drummer Aaron Thurston has mastered the now-arcane skill of moving a shuffle forward on brushes. Sasha Papernik adds atmospheric accordion on two cuts.

But Gardner is the singing cowgirl star of the session, investing these sometimes corny songs with a care and dignity that would not be out of place in Ella Fitzgerald's landmark Songbooks series.

Like that material, this is largely a collection of love songs, though the sincerest emotion here is often reserved not for a sweetheart back home, but for the Western landscape. These odes to purple mountains and starry skies and a lot of sunsets serve as a reminder that at the time this music was written, the West was as exotic to most of the North American population as Tahiti or Paris.

You do not have to remember the Saturday double features of cheaply produced oaters to relish Hilary Gardner's carefully curated and affectionately performed love letter to the Old and not-so-wild West. Saddle up and enjoy the ride.By John Chacona https://www.allaboutjazz.com/on-the-trail-with-the-lonesome-pines-hilary-gardner-anzic-records

On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines

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Duchess - Live at Jazz Standard

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:46
Size: 129,1 MB
Art: Front

(0:46) 1. Introductions
(4:15) 2. (We) Love Being Here with You
(0:33) 3. Dialogue
(3:21) 4. Swing Brother Swing
(1:13) 5. Dialogue
(3:48) 6. Heebie Jeebies
(4:11) 7. Band Introductions
(2:35) 8. It’s a Man
(3:10) 9. Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen
(3:45) 10. On the Sunny Side of the Street
(0:22) 11. Dialogue
(2:52) 12. Joseph, Joseph
(0:42) 13. Dialogue
(3:31) 14. Three Little Sisters
(0:24) 15. Dialogue
(3:53) 16. A Little Jive is Good for You
(6:04) 17. Creole Love Call
(1:18) 18. Dialogue
(3:57) 19. Chattanooga Choo Choo
(0:51) 20. Dialogue
(4:02) 21. Everybody Loves My Baby

There are a fair number of vocal groups blending harmoniously and swinging through the jazz set today, but none are as charmingly sassy as DUCHESS. With two studio albums already under a collective belt actually three, if you include an under-the-radar Christmas set it only made sense for vocalists Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou to finally show the greater listening community what Duchess does on the stage. Joining up with its regular rhythm section pianist Michael Cabe, guitarist Jesse Lewis, bassist Matt Aronoff and drummer Jared Schonig DUCHESS delivers a collection that's equally concerned with gaiety and focus. As on the trio's 2015 eponymous debut and the follow-up, Laughing At Life (Anzic, 2016) the music is tight and the performances are compact. But three or four minutes is all this crew really needs to sell a song, so there's no need to belabor the point(s). "Heebie Jeebies," for example, doles out tight, caffeinated lines, bluesy aplomb and some primo piano work from Cabe in short order. And "It's A Man," poking due fun at the not-so-fair sex while also beautifully hamming up the relationship dynamic, gets its wonderfully cheeky point across in the blink of an eye.

While Cervini, Gardner and Stylianou continue to nod to forebearers of the format notably their primary influence, The Boswell Sisters, and, to a somewhat lesser extent, The Andrews Sisters this program leaves little doubt as to their ability to stand on their own six feet. In tackling material from earlier dates, adding to their recorded catalog with familiar fare like "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" and "Chattanooga Choo Choo," and dusting off lesser-known delights such as "Joseph, Joseph" and the appropriately-adopted "Three Little Sisters" (complete with horn kazoo adornments), DUCHESS stands in no group's shadow. These whip-smart women see to it that all of the musical details in chief arranger Oded Lev-Ari's charts are on point, and they also seriously deliver with some marvelous banter. Some tend to sanitize live recordings with the removal of repartee, but this crew does no such thing. Instead, with asides giving background on a song's journey, opportunities to witness some gal-palling around, and even a playful turn of the gender tables offering some good-natured male objectification, DUCHESS adds volumes to the album and outlines the full experience of a live show. Those of us who missed out on these gigs at New York's Jazz Standard in May of 2019 clearly should have been there. It's doubtful that there was as much positive energy going on anywhere else in those moments.~ Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/live-at-jazz-standard-duchess-anzic-records

Personnel: Duchess: band/orchestra; Amy Cervini: voice / vocals; Hilary Gardner: voice / vocals; Melissa Stylianou: voice / vocals; Michael Cabe: piano; Jesse Lewis: guitar; Matt Aronoff: bass; Jared Schonig: drums.

Live at Jazz Standard

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Duchess - Laughing At Life

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:26
Size: 128,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:11)  1. Swing Brother Swing
(3:49)  2. On the Sunny Side of the Street
(6:08)  3. Laughing at Life
(3:14)  4. Everybody Loves My Baby
(4:27)  5. Stars Fell on Alabama
(3:43)  6. Give Him the Ooh La La
(3:07)  7. Where Would You Be Without Me
(5:59)  8. Creole Love Call
(3:30)  9. Hallelujah I Love Her (Him) So
(5:02) 10. Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye
(3:07) 11. Strip Polka
(4:57) 12. Here’s to the Losers
(2:58) 13. We’ll Meet Again
(2:07) 14. Dawn (Bonus Track)

Jollity seems to be at a premium these days, so thank God for DUCHESS. This fizzy vocal trio is the antidote to all things grim, bringing joy to the masses one smile and song at a time. Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner, and Melissa Stylianou three of the most captivating vocalists around today clearly appreciate great music laced with good humor. With their trio debut DUCHESS (Anzic Records, 2015) they delved into a brand of Boswell Sisters-inspired music that you just don't hear much in the here and now. That overwhelmingly positive presentation smart and sassy in conception, polished and pert in execution put DUCHESS in a different category from all of the other vocal jazz groups out there in the mix. Oded Lev-Ari laid the groundwork with his arrangements, tapping into an appealing retro sound; the stylishly swinging trio of pianist Michael Cabe, bassist Paul Sikivie, and drummer Matt Wilson brightened the picture around and beneath the vocalists; guitarist Jesse Lewis and saxophonist Jeff Lederer added their inimitable instrumental voices to a number of tracks; and the three frontwomen put merriment front and center in their music. That turned out to be a formula for success, so DUCHESS saw no need to rock the boat here. 

While there are tweaks to the cast on this sophomore date Jared Schonig picks up where Wilson left off on drums, bassist Matt Aronoff takes the baton from Sikivie, clarinetist Anat Cohen and trombonist-vocalist Wycliffe Gordon join in as special guests on two songs apiece everything basically works off of the same template used for the group's debut. The result? More high times, womanly wit, tight harmonies, unadulterated swing, and welcome surprises. Laughing At Life starts in a pure jazz vein that's heightened by Lederer's horn ("Swing Brother Swing") and ends with a breezy tone that's established through Lewis' guitar work ("We'll Meet Again," "Dawn"). A bevy of musical gems rest between those points. Some, more or less, stay on the straight and narrow ("On The Sunny Side Of The Street"); many, however, do not. The ladies of DUCHESS let their hair down from time to time, capitalizing on bawdy themes with a nudge and a wink (Johnny Mercer's "Strip Polka") and impressing with rapid fire lyrics and turn-on-a-dime movements ("Everybody Loves My Baby"). And when they're not riding high over a cooking band or engaging in musical high jinks, they melt the heart ("Stars Fell On Alabama"). Simply put, this is a class act. DUCHESS' blend of the silly and sophisticated adds up to one satisfying musical sum. ~ Dan Bilawsky https://www.allaboutjazz.com/laughing-at-life-duchess-anzic-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php

Personnel: Amy Cervini: vocals; Hilary Gardner: vocals; Melissa Stylianou: vocals; Michael Cabe: piano; Matt Aronoff: bass; Jared Schonig: drums; Jesse Lewis: guitar (1, 3, 6, 7, 9-11, 13, 14); Jeff Lederer: (1, 3, 11, 12); Anat Cohen: clarinet (4, 13); Wycliffe Gordon: trombone (5, 8), vocals (5, 8).

Laughing At Life

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Duchess - Duchess

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:27
Size: 112,3 MB
Art: Front

(4:19)  1. Love Being Here With You
(3:00)  2. There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth the Salt of My Tears
(4:12)  3. Que Sera, Sera
(3:42)  4. My Brooklyn Love Song (Feat. Hilary Gardner)
(2:51)  5. A Doodlin' Song (Feat. Amy Cervini)
(3:47)  6. A Little Jive Is Good for You
(5:46)  7. P.S. I Love You
(3:09)  8. Hummin' To Myself (Feat. Melissa Stylianou)
(2:50)  9. It's a Man
(3:21) 10. I'll Be Seeing You
(3:11) 11. Lollipop
(4:51) 12. Blah, Blah, Blah
(3:22) 13. Heebie Jeebies

Sure-footed swing, sweet-toned harmony and ever insouciant charm are embodied in the new Jazz vocal trio Duchess, featuring notable New York singers Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou. The group's debut album - DUCHESS, channels the 1930's inspiration of the virtuosic Boswell Sisters into a wonderfully entertaining and contemporary package. Duchess pairs the vocal trio with an ace New York band: pianist Michael Cabe, bassist Paul Sikivie and drummer Matt Wilson, plus saxophonist Jeff Lederer and guitarist Jessie Lewis. The songs of Duchess range from the Peggy Lee number "I Love Being Here with You" and Johnny Mercer's "P.S. I Love You" to new twists on "Que Sera, Sera" and the indelible standard "I'll Be Seeing You." There's a playful Gershwin rarity with "Blah, Blah, Blah" and a direct Boswell Sisters homage with their arrangement of "Heebie Jeebies." And there are solo spots for each of the Duchess ladies with "My Brooklyn Love Song" (Gardner), "A Doodlin' Song" (Cervini) and "Humming to Myself" (Stylianou). a blend of the vintage and the fresh, Duchess is a fizzing cocktail of an album. ~ Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Duchess-DUCHESS/dp/B00RXPTU7O

Vocalists Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou

Duchess

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Hilary Gardner, Michelle Walker & Whitney James - You've Got A Friend: A Tribute To Joshua Wolff

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:12
Size: 107,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:20)  1. You've Got A Friend (Michelle Walker)
(5:17)  2. Estate (Hilary Gardner)
(4:16)  3. September In The Rain (Michelle Walker)
(2:47)  4. Autumn Serenade (Whitney James)
(4:25)  5. 'Tis Autumn (Hilary Gardner)
(4:41)  6. Snowbound (Whitney James)
(4:15)  7. Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year (Michelle Walker)
(5:24)  8. You Must Believe In Spring (Whitney James)
(5:27)  9. Everything Must Change (Michelle Walker)
(5:15) 10. In My Life - So Far Away (Michelle Walker)

Vocalists Michelle Walker, Whitney James, and Hilary Gardner met for the first time at the hospital bedside of their dear friend and collaborator, jazz pianist Joshua Wolff, in May 2013. Joshua had just been diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer, and he tragically passed away just one week later at 39 years old. Joshua left behind a loving community of musicians and friends determined to keep his memory alive. To that end, Michelle, Whitney, and Hilary recently joined forces to record a full-length album of songs centered on themes of love, loss, friendship and faith. Inspired by Carole King’s famous refrain, the songs encompass all four seasons: “winter, spring, summer or fall/all you’ve got to do is call/and I’ll be there…You’ve Got a Friend.” The CD is a poignant and heartfelt celebration of Joshua’s musical life and legacy. Proceeds from the album will benefit the Joshua Wolff Memorial Music Education fund, providing free music education and scholarships to children in Moore and Cumberland counties, North Carolina. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/michellewalker

You've Got A Friend: A Tribute To Joshua Wolff

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Hilary Gardner - The Great City

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:49
Size: 92,1 MB
Scans:

(3:17)  1. No One After You
(3:34)  2. Brooklyn Bridge
(3:35)  3. The Great City
(4:52)  4. Autumn In New York
(4:06)  5. Drunk On The Moon
(2:29)  6. Sweetheart (Waitress In A Donut Shop)
(4:18)  7. You Came A Long Way From St. Louis
(3:28)  8. This Little Town Is Paris
(3:23)  9. Chelsea Morning
(3:24) 10. (Ah, The Apple Trees) When The World Was Young
(3:18) 11. Manhattan Avenue

New York City has its fair share of sobriquets "The City That Never Sleeps," "The Big Apple," and "Gotham" are just a few that spring to mind. It's a place of joy and frustration, triumph and tragedy, hope and despair, and all that exists between the extremes. It's a microcosm of the world we know, existing not as a great city, but as the great city. Just ask vocalist Hilary Gardner, an Alaskan- turned-New Yorker who's been soaking up New York City's aura and contributing to its cultural landscape since 2003. Plenty of musicians, in New York or any other locale across the globe, try to build careers around or atop recordings, but Gardner went the other way. She spent her first New York decade carving her place into the city's artistic fabric, working her way into the heart of live audiences at clubs, performing/collaborating with symphony orchestras, and taking Broadway by storm via her singing in Twyla Tharp's Frank Sinatra extravaganza Come Fly Away. Now, after firmly planting her flag in "The City So Nice, They Named Twice," Gardner delivers her leader debut a better-than-great offering called The Great City. 

To many, this record may seem like a throwback date. It's a classy collection of songs that speak, saunter, and/or swing with old world charm, but it's not a look into the distant past or an overly romanticized vision of New York life. It's a collection of stories that form a big(ger) picture about the city. There's an after after hours perspective ("Drunk On The Moon"), a touch of sadness mixed into a season of beauty ("Autumn In New York"), references to "Ol' Blue Eyes" ("Brooklyn Bridge"), and more. Through it all, Gardner proves to be poised, world-wise, and witty in her experience-shaded delivery. Crafting a program of music that successfully puts Leonard Cohen next to Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, Tom Waits beside Vernon Duke, and Nellie McKay after Johnny Mercer is no easy feat, but Gardner makes it seem like a breeze. She ties all of the music together beautifully and she works with a simpatico crew that's able to bring her vision(s) to life. Pianist Ehud Asherie upholds and extends his reputation as an old soul living in modern times, guitarist Randy Napoleon serves as Gardner's most trusted guide, saxophonist Jason W. Marshall and trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt capture the essence of the past without coming off as affected, and the rest of the crew provides superb backing. The Great City may be a paean to New York on the surface, but it's something more: it's recorded evidence indicating that Hilary Garder is a superb singer deserving greater recognition. ~ Dan Bilawsky  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-great-city-hilary-gardner-anzic-records-review-by-dan-bilawsky.php#.VFjetMmHmtg
 

Personnel: Hilary Gardner: vocals; Tatum Greenblatt: trumpet; Jason Marshall: tenor saxophone; Ehud Asherie: piano; Jon Cowherd: Hammond C-3 organ; Randy Napoleon: guitar; Elias Bailey: acoustic bass; Jerome Jennings: drums.

The Great City

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