Size: 136,3 MB
Time: 58:29
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2010
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front
01. God Bless The Child (5:51)
02. Black Hole (5:56)
03. Lazy Afternoon (4:02)
04. Keeper Of Your Love Sweep Me Off My Feet (6:03)
05. Those Memories Of You (4:48)
06. My Man's Gone Now (5:19)
07. Risk (6:54)
08. The Moon Is Made Of Gold (5:31)
09. Mississippi Song (4:43)
10. A Sleepin' Bee (5:14)
11. Endless Stream Of Tears (4:01)
Heaven knows that contemporary jazz vocals could use a shot of sense-of-humor. The scene hosts a legion of earnest singers paying tribute to their idols, firebrands intent on extending the already stretched-taut realms of scat and vocalese, and soccer moms and dads fulfilling a vanity ambition—all so serious. Sense of humor is in order, but not just any sense of humor will do; it has to be a smart sense of humor, not cheeky or rude, only clever and coy, wafting sophistication and panache.
Appearing just in time is one Jacqui Sutton, late of Houston, Texas by way of Orlando, Rochester, San Francisco, Portland and New York, claiming that ..."Turning 50 and starting a garage band is not the usual vocalist's narrative. But that's what happened with me. It's not just any band, but an orchestra: what I call the Frontier Jazz Orchestra: a stylistic mash-up of jazz, bluegrass and orchestral/chamber music." That is a very promising beginning.
Sutton extends this genre mash-up into the core of her release Billie & Dolly, a tribute to singers Billie Holiday and Dolly Parton. Now, what was that about "earnest singers paying tribute to their idols?" Never mind and just go with it, the two singers make such strange musical bedfellows that their pairing has to meet the fun and smart definition. And in a creative way, what Sutton is trying to do makes perfect sense. She is trying to capture what she terms "frontier jazz"—music as it spreads West, incorporating Mississippi and Aaron Copland, Texas and Virgil Thompson, Louisiana and William Grant Still.
Sutton employs a middle-sized band, an octet, as her Frontier Orchestra, nominally lead by multi-instrumentalist/arranger Henry Darragh, who also provides piano and trombone support in addition to his arranging duties. Darragh made his own splash with his uniformly fine Tell Her For Me (Self Produced, 2010). The presence of cellist Max Dyer, guitarist/six-string banjo player Paul Douglas Chester and flautist Aralee Dorough lend the orchestra its frontier flavor. Sutton favors copious amounts of Chester's banjo, which he plays and solos like a guitar. The effect is digital sepia, old fashioned with a modern edge, which sharpens with Darragh playing the Fender Rhodes (hear the effervescent "Risk").
The most overt homages paid to the two singers are Sutton's Tombstone setting of "God Bless the Child" (sporting a Darragh-composed brass chorale) and a definitive reading of Parton's "Endless Stream of Tears" accented by some virtuoso banjo, fiddle and accordion playing. Sutton tends to all corners of her 40 acres of music. "Keeper of Your Love/Sweep Me Off My Feet" could have been an out take from the musical Oklahoma! (1943) and shows off Sutton's stage experience supported by duet partner Lyndon Hughes.
"The Moon is Made of Gold" (composed by Rickie Lee Jones' father, Richard Loris Jones) is one of the several disc high points, featuring bassist Anthony Sapp and trumpeter Dennis Dotson. Sapp's solo introduction is solid and commanding; Dodson's sounds like Louis Armstrong sparring with Darragh's Jack Teagarden trombone, explosive and inventive, except with softened edges, like Armstrong and Teagarden shared just enough cough syrup before playing. Chester fully quotes "The Sunny Side of the Street" in his banjo solo, before Sutton finishes off the torch with command.
Sutton and her orchestra come from all directions at once. "The Mississippi Song" provides more Broadway by way of El Paso. "My Man's Gone Now" is the Gershwins in the warm Gulf climes. "Those Memories of You" is Bill Monroe by way of Clifton Chenier. Sutton's "Frontier" sound achieves its full maturity in Parton's "Endless Stream of Tears." This is music that has no genre, belonging to all. It is uniquely American and could not have been created anywhere else.
The music on Billie & Dolly arrives fully formed and realized, sounding like the destination Cassandra Wilson has been evolving toward for the past 20 years: a bona fide, organic, earthy, fecund sound tempered with grace and good taste. Sutton's confidence and certainty are almost palpable in every selection from this beautiful and unusual recital. Had Bessie Smith met Bob Wills and recorded with him and the Texas Playboys one dusty late Texas autumn day, the results might have sounded a lot like Jacqui Sutton and her Frontier Orchestra. ~by C. Michael Bailey
Personnel: Jacqui Sutton: vocals; Paul Chester: six-string banjo, guitars; Henry Darragh: piano, trombone; Dennis Dotson: trumpet, flugelhorn; Randy Dunn: theremin; Max Dyer: cello; Ilya Janos: cajon, timbal, agogo, percussion; Anthony Sapp: basses; Aralee Dorough: flute; Lyndon Hughes: vocals; Alan Huff: accordion.
Appearing just in time is one Jacqui Sutton, late of Houston, Texas by way of Orlando, Rochester, San Francisco, Portland and New York, claiming that ..."Turning 50 and starting a garage band is not the usual vocalist's narrative. But that's what happened with me. It's not just any band, but an orchestra: what I call the Frontier Jazz Orchestra: a stylistic mash-up of jazz, bluegrass and orchestral/chamber music." That is a very promising beginning.
Sutton extends this genre mash-up into the core of her release Billie & Dolly, a tribute to singers Billie Holiday and Dolly Parton. Now, what was that about "earnest singers paying tribute to their idols?" Never mind and just go with it, the two singers make such strange musical bedfellows that their pairing has to meet the fun and smart definition. And in a creative way, what Sutton is trying to do makes perfect sense. She is trying to capture what she terms "frontier jazz"—music as it spreads West, incorporating Mississippi and Aaron Copland, Texas and Virgil Thompson, Louisiana and William Grant Still.
Sutton employs a middle-sized band, an octet, as her Frontier Orchestra, nominally lead by multi-instrumentalist/arranger Henry Darragh, who also provides piano and trombone support in addition to his arranging duties. Darragh made his own splash with his uniformly fine Tell Her For Me (Self Produced, 2010). The presence of cellist Max Dyer, guitarist/six-string banjo player Paul Douglas Chester and flautist Aralee Dorough lend the orchestra its frontier flavor. Sutton favors copious amounts of Chester's banjo, which he plays and solos like a guitar. The effect is digital sepia, old fashioned with a modern edge, which sharpens with Darragh playing the Fender Rhodes (hear the effervescent "Risk").
The most overt homages paid to the two singers are Sutton's Tombstone setting of "God Bless the Child" (sporting a Darragh-composed brass chorale) and a definitive reading of Parton's "Endless Stream of Tears" accented by some virtuoso banjo, fiddle and accordion playing. Sutton tends to all corners of her 40 acres of music. "Keeper of Your Love/Sweep Me Off My Feet" could have been an out take from the musical Oklahoma! (1943) and shows off Sutton's stage experience supported by duet partner Lyndon Hughes.
"The Moon is Made of Gold" (composed by Rickie Lee Jones' father, Richard Loris Jones) is one of the several disc high points, featuring bassist Anthony Sapp and trumpeter Dennis Dotson. Sapp's solo introduction is solid and commanding; Dodson's sounds like Louis Armstrong sparring with Darragh's Jack Teagarden trombone, explosive and inventive, except with softened edges, like Armstrong and Teagarden shared just enough cough syrup before playing. Chester fully quotes "The Sunny Side of the Street" in his banjo solo, before Sutton finishes off the torch with command.
Sutton and her orchestra come from all directions at once. "The Mississippi Song" provides more Broadway by way of El Paso. "My Man's Gone Now" is the Gershwins in the warm Gulf climes. "Those Memories of You" is Bill Monroe by way of Clifton Chenier. Sutton's "Frontier" sound achieves its full maturity in Parton's "Endless Stream of Tears." This is music that has no genre, belonging to all. It is uniquely American and could not have been created anywhere else.
The music on Billie & Dolly arrives fully formed and realized, sounding like the destination Cassandra Wilson has been evolving toward for the past 20 years: a bona fide, organic, earthy, fecund sound tempered with grace and good taste. Sutton's confidence and certainty are almost palpable in every selection from this beautiful and unusual recital. Had Bessie Smith met Bob Wills and recorded with him and the Texas Playboys one dusty late Texas autumn day, the results might have sounded a lot like Jacqui Sutton and her Frontier Orchestra. ~by C. Michael Bailey
Personnel: Jacqui Sutton: vocals; Paul Chester: six-string banjo, guitars; Henry Darragh: piano, trombone; Dennis Dotson: trumpet, flugelhorn; Randy Dunn: theremin; Max Dyer: cello; Ilya Janos: cajon, timbal, agogo, percussion; Anthony Sapp: basses; Aralee Dorough: flute; Lyndon Hughes: vocals; Alan Huff: accordion.
Billie & Dolly
Size: 145,2 MB
Time: 62:27
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2012
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front
01. Summertime (7:02)
02. Lady Of The Harbor (6:02)
03. Hummingbird/Blue Rondo A La Turk (4:08)
04. Jenny Rebecca (4:04)
05. Freed (5:44)
06. One And Only (5:50)
07. Nature Boy (5:04)
08. Dear Friend (5:09)
09. Where The Music Comes From (3:12)
10. Weary Angel (6:19)
11. Blue Mountain (5:21)
12. Better Than Anything (4:26)
In America's infancy, exploration and a thirst for discovery were endemic to the human spirit. Over time, no stone went unturned, the world shrunk and people, by and large, became content with what they already knew. Something as simple as a new television program or electronic gadget now quenches the thirst-for-the-unknown that was once unquenchable in the mind of mankind, but true musical spirits aren't satisfied in this manner; they never stop searching. These musical pioneers explore the cracks and crevices between styles to find something new and meaningful to say, and vocalist Jacqui Sutton belongs to this breed.
Sutton finds the old in the new, the new in the old, and the joy in blurring lines that some refuse to blur. Her debut—Billie & Dolly (Toy Blue Typewriter, 2010)—honed in on two different figures from opposite sides of the fence, honoring Dolly Parton and Billie Holiday in unique fashion. Now, with Notes From The Frontier, she's broadening her gaze and taking a panoramic look at America.
Her aptly named style—Frontier Jazz—is synthesized through the marriage of bluegrass, musical theater, classical influences, jazz and more, but isn't purely based in any one of those categories; if record stores still existed, they'd have a hell of a time trying to file this one. A rootsy take on Gershwin's "Summertime" isn't Broadway, Appalachia, soul or jazz, but a combination of all four, while "Nature Boy" is Carnegie Hall classicism, Nat "King" Cole and Argentinean tango rolled into one. "Lady Of The Harbor" cuts to the core of the American spirit, with Emma Lazarus' famed "New Colossus" lines floating above a heavenly mixture of Irish flute, keyboard, melodion, trombone, cello, bass, percussion, banjo and guitar. An odd patriotic stirring comes to the surface on "Where The Music Comes From," which is underscored by fife and drum classicism with a modern twist. All of this music speaks to Sutton's sophisticated tastes and all-seeing eye, but she ultimately sounds best when working in neo-soul-meets-folk mode ("Summertime" and "Weary Angel") or gentle, countrified environs ("Blue Mountain"). Her true spirit roams free on this material and connects to the heart and mind in myriad ways.
Notes From The Frontier is melting pot music with a heavy emphasis on the heartland, as seen through modernistic eyes. This is music taken from the branches that sprouted from the tree trunk that grew from the roots of the American people. ~by Dan Bilawsky
Personnel: Jacqui Sutton: vocals; Paul Chester: guitar, banjo; Anthony Sapp: bass; Ilya Janos: percussion; Eddie Lewis: trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet; Henry Darragh: keyboards, trombone, melodion; Lyndon Hughes: drums, vocals; Cindy Scott: vocals; Aralee Dorough: flute; Bob Chadwick: Irish flute; Max Dyer: cello.
Sutton finds the old in the new, the new in the old, and the joy in blurring lines that some refuse to blur. Her debut—Billie & Dolly (Toy Blue Typewriter, 2010)—honed in on two different figures from opposite sides of the fence, honoring Dolly Parton and Billie Holiday in unique fashion. Now, with Notes From The Frontier, she's broadening her gaze and taking a panoramic look at America.
Her aptly named style—Frontier Jazz—is synthesized through the marriage of bluegrass, musical theater, classical influences, jazz and more, but isn't purely based in any one of those categories; if record stores still existed, they'd have a hell of a time trying to file this one. A rootsy take on Gershwin's "Summertime" isn't Broadway, Appalachia, soul or jazz, but a combination of all four, while "Nature Boy" is Carnegie Hall classicism, Nat "King" Cole and Argentinean tango rolled into one. "Lady Of The Harbor" cuts to the core of the American spirit, with Emma Lazarus' famed "New Colossus" lines floating above a heavenly mixture of Irish flute, keyboard, melodion, trombone, cello, bass, percussion, banjo and guitar. An odd patriotic stirring comes to the surface on "Where The Music Comes From," which is underscored by fife and drum classicism with a modern twist. All of this music speaks to Sutton's sophisticated tastes and all-seeing eye, but she ultimately sounds best when working in neo-soul-meets-folk mode ("Summertime" and "Weary Angel") or gentle, countrified environs ("Blue Mountain"). Her true spirit roams free on this material and connects to the heart and mind in myriad ways.
Notes From The Frontier is melting pot music with a heavy emphasis on the heartland, as seen through modernistic eyes. This is music taken from the branches that sprouted from the tree trunk that grew from the roots of the American people. ~by Dan Bilawsky
Personnel: Jacqui Sutton: vocals; Paul Chester: guitar, banjo; Anthony Sapp: bass; Ilya Janos: percussion; Eddie Lewis: trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet; Henry Darragh: keyboards, trombone, melodion; Lyndon Hughes: drums, vocals; Cindy Scott: vocals; Aralee Dorough: flute; Bob Chadwick: Irish flute; Max Dyer: cello.
Notes From The Frontier