Kellylee Evans - Come On

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2015
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:45
Size: 79,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:05)  1. Come On
(3:17)  2. Tell Me What You Like
(3:47)  3. Right To Love
(3:29)  4. Hands Up
(3:52)  5. These Arms
(2:59)  6. Know His Worth
(3:22)  7. Alright Maybe
(3:31)  8. Find Your Heart
(3:41)  9. I Do
(3:36) 10. Unbreakable

Six albums deep and Juno Award winner Kellylee Evans is still shaking it up on Come On, her latest Decca album. The stylistic connoisseur has tackled everything from jazz to R&B and pop in such previous tasty classics fight or flight?, Nina, her Juno-winning tribute to the legendary Nina Simone and I Remember When. Praised by the Latin Jazz Network for a "gorgeous voice (that) rises to the heavens in rapturous wonder as if in consanguinity with a chorus of angels" and by the Yukon Arts Centre for "a stunning crystalline voice, both powerful and emotive," Evans now pushes her muse firmly into the soulful pop territory with Come On: a wonderfully refreshing album about love and life that comes on the heels of two nearly career-ending accidents: a freak lightning strike in her Ottawa kitchen and further effects of a concussion suffered during a fall at her home. However, Evans is nothing if not resilient: the runner-up of the 2004 Thelonious Monk Competition offers views on love and loss in an alluringly rhythmic approach that has touches of psychedelic pop, resonating soul groove and that je ne sais quoi that is strictly Kellylee and forged by her jazz discipline. From the stirring soul-stomper "Come On" which combines an effervescent Motown feel with traces of psychedelia and the funky groove-a-liciousness of "Hands Up" to the string-and-horn-spiced magnetism of "Know His Worth," the 10 songs of Come On find Kellylee at her most magically potent. Produced and co-written by Eric Legnini (Stefano Di Battista), this is post-romantic soul at its finest; a project of strong vision and great execution that signals the return of Kellylee Evans as a bold explorer and interpreter. It only gets better when you experience her live, in her element. Kellylee Evans' time is nigh, and Come On is just the catalyst to get her there. http://www.kellyleeevans.com/bio/

Come On

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Kellylee Evans - I Remember When

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:07
Size: 106,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:24)  1. My Name Is
(3:48)  2. I Remember When
(3:20)  3. Désolé
(3:45)  4. And So We Dance
(3:45)  5. If I Was Your Woman
(5:42)  6. Lose Yourself
(3:27)  7. Only You
(4:07)  8. Jungle
(4:18)  9. Ordinary People
(3:16) 10. You Got Me
(4:45) 11. Amazing
(2:25) 12. High

For Kellylee Evans fans in her native Canada (and those south of the 49th parallel willing to pay big bucks for import CDs), I Remember When is nothing new. Fifteen months after its Canadian release, the album has finally made its domestic arrival. And patience has its virtues: The U.S. version deletes two of the weaker tracks and adds three stronger originals. Though the disc follows on the heels of Evans’ album-length tribute to Nina Simone, it is closer in sound, spirit and energy to her jazz-soul gem Fight or Flight? from 2007. But scratch the “jazz.” Evans is now a full-fledged soul singer with freshly sharpened hip-hop influences. The album’s backward-glancing title seems odd. With the exception of a wrenching reading of Gladys Knight’s “If I Were Your Woman,” this is a dynamically forward-looking Evans. For additional covers, she draws on an intriguing cross-section of contemporary songwriters, offsetting a caffeinated treatment of Stromae’s “Alors on danse” and astute reading of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” with a prowling take on Kanye West’s “Amazing” and a gorgeous rendition of John Legend’s “Ordinary People.” The eight remaining tracks, all originals, range from the keen self-actualization of “My Name Is” and survivalist fire of “Jungle” to the clever romanticism of the A Tribe Called Quest-inspired list song “You Got Me.” Most impressive, though, is one of the newly added tracks, “Built to Fly,” an homage to the superheroes within us all, artfully built atop Dr. Dre’s “Big Ego’s.”~ Christopher Loudon http://jazztimes.com/articles/138259-i-remember-when-kellylee-evans

Personnel:  Kellylee Evans – vocals;  Eric Legnini - piano, keys, Wurlitzer, compositions;  Boris Pocora - saxophones, flute, bass clarinet;  Raphael Debacker – piano;  Eric Löhrer – guitar;  Sylvain Romano – bass;  Fabrice Moreau – drums;  Stephane Belmondo - bass trumpet, flugelhorn;  Stephane Edouard - percussions

I Remember When

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Kellylee Evans - Nina

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 48:40
Size: 111.4 MB
Styles: Vocal jazz
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[3:23] 1. Do What You Gotta Do
[3:59] 2. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
[2:48] 3. Ain't Got No/I Got Life
[4:27] 4. Mood Indigo
[4:21] 5. Feeling Good
[4:03] 6. Tomorrow Is My Turn
[2:30] 7. I Loves You Porgy
[2:11] 8. July Tree
[3:43] 9. Love Me Or Leave Me
[4:02] 10. Ne Me Quitte Pas
[5:19] 11. Sinnerman
[7:48] 12. Wild Is The Wind

Every once in a while an homage project comes along actually doing what it sets out to do: pay homage. That the object of the present homage is the enigmatic Nina Simone makes Canadian Kellylee Evans' Nina that much more a definitive statement of a courageous cultural career. Add to this that Evans thoughtfully does not cover Simone's "Mississippi Goddamn," and this collection is properly frames not only Simone, but also Evans, whose musical vision, already established, is a formidable one.

Evans employs a small, uncomplicated band for her spare treatment of the Simone songbook. The piano trio is replaced by a svelte guitar trio led by guitarist Marvin Sewell, whose damped round tone provides a retro-Herb Ellis tone. Evans effects a performance of the traditional "Sinnerman" that lays half-way between Simone's 1965 recording pm Pastel Blues (Philips), and Peter Tosh's reggae incarnation "Downpressor Man," from Equal Rights (CBS, 1977). Sewell plays a soupy slide guitar over Francois Moutin's burping jungle groove, propelled by Andre "Dede" Ceccarelli's snare-less drumming. Evans sings with a relaxed urgency, one not unlike Simone. But amidst it all, Evans retains her own potent identity with material that would have eaten lesser talent alive. Simone is properly honored while Evans is properly framed. ~C. Michael Bailey

Kellylee Evans: vocals; Marvin Sewell: guitars; François Moutin: bass; Andre Ceccarelli: drums.

Nina 

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Kellylee Evans - Fight or Flight?

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:19
Size: 111,3 MB
Art: Front

(3:57)  1. What About Me?
(4:02)  2. Lead Me Closer
(3:53)  3. I Don't Want You To Love Me
(3:47)  4. Hooked
(3:18)  5. Fight or Flight? (Help Me, Help You)
(5:45)  6. I Don't Think I Want to Know
(3:47)  7. Let's Call a Truce Tonight
(3:39)  8. Rapunzel
(2:53)  9. How Can You Get Along Without Me?
(3:28) 10. Enough
(4:04) 11. Who Knows
(4:42) 12. What About Me? (bonus track)

As the extraordinarily stark and emotional, crystal-clear voiced Toronto native emerges as the new standard of neo-soul/jazz in the early 2000s, much ado will be made of her greatest professional calling card  winning second place in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition. But that's just window dressing to two powerful life events which inspired Kellylee Evans to share her gifts for crisp storytelling in multiple styles with the world: the death of her mother, and nearly dying herself from an allergic reaction. Ironically, her torment is the indie music world's gain, as she proves herself on par, and even at times, surpassing contemporaries like Lizz Wright, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and even India.Arie in the realm where the sterling voice glows amidst sensual and soulful atmospheres. 

The connection isn't just hype; Carlos Henderson, who produced the first two tracks on Fight or Flight, the seductive folk/soul gem "What About Me?" and the yearning and jazzy "Lead Me Closer," has previously worked with Wright and Badu. What sets Evans apart from some of these other young greats is the grand variety of rhythms she glides over effortlessly. There's the old-school soul meets reggae and African-flavored percussion of "I Don't Want You to Love Me"; the hypnotic Brazilian vibe of the title track; the romantic accordion and "castanet"-laced Latin vibe of the witty "Rapunzel"; and the simmering blues sear of "I Don't Think I Want to Know." The fascinating thing is that Evans could easily have done a whole collection of more straightforward trio jazz dates like "How Can You Get Along Without Me?" and still have won hearts everywhere. Evans herself likes to peg her vibe as "urban jazz" but no turn of phrase can do this work of extraordinary soul and depth proper justice. ~ Jonathan Widran   http://www.allmusic.com/album/fight-or-flight-mw0001443520

Personnel: Kellylee Evans (vocals, programming); Marvin Sewell (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Carl Burnett (acoustic guitar); Rachelle Garniez (accordion); Alexander Pope Norris (trumpet); George Colligan, Jon Cowherd (keyboards); Rocky Bryant, Steve Hass (drums); Kahlil Kwame Bell (percussion).

Fight or Flight?

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