Leata Galloway - The Naked Truth

Styles: Vocal
Year: 1988
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:30
Size: 102,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:01)  1. With Every Beat Of My Heart
(5:23)  2. Fascination
(5:27)  3. Shades Of Blue
(4:39)  4. Heartache (Don't Discriminate)
(3:40)  5. Cry Me A River
(6:21)  6. One Of These Nights
(5:50)  7. You'll Never Get To Heaven
(3:27)  8. I'm Scared Of You
(5:40)  9. The Naked Truth

Exploring territory quite foreign to that on her early-'80s debut set, Leata Galloway proves herself an assured song stylist on The Naked Truth. The opening power pop-soul, mid-tempo number, "With Every Beat of My Heart" released as a single is a glorious cross between the raw grit of Tina Turner and the lushness of Nancy Wilson. Gliding with serene melody and lyrics true to life, "Heartache (Don't Discriminate)" is another peak moment. Occasionally, Nick Martinelli's production is a bit too glossy; for the most part, however, the sound here is thoroughly relaxing and durably arranged. This is one of the most impressive early efforts to blend contemporary R&B and jazz into the format that gradually blossomed into R&B-driven smooth jazz. Galloway's inspired, passionate performances throughout insure that the songs don't fall victim to the banality sometimes associated with that subgenre. The cohesive listening experience that results makes one wonder why this gem of an album didn't get nearly the commercial clout it deserved. ~ Justin Kantor http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-naked-truth-mw0000195817

Personnel : Leata Galloway – Vocals;  Toots Thielemans – Harmonica;  Wilton Felder - Sax Tenor;  Ron Kerber - Saxophone, Horn;  Jeffrey Lego, Richard Kerber, Robert Hagglund, Douglas Dupre, Marcus Johnson, Steve Wise, Dennis Wasko, Gary McKeen, Robert McAllister – Horn;  Linda Lawley, Angel Rogers, Armand Pocoroba, Carolyn Mitchell Vocals (Background);  James K. Lloyd, Preston Glass, Curtis Dowd, Jr., Dennis Richardson – Keyboards;  Donald Robinson - Flute, Keyboards, Piano, Keyboards;  Randy Bowland – Guitar;  Randy Cantor - Synthesizer, Keyboards, Strings;  Doug Grigsby – Bass Guitar;  Daryl Burgee, Jim Salamone – Drums;  Mayra Casales, Pablo Batista - Percussion

The Naked Truth

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Leata Galloway - Sophisticated Lady

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 1990
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:54
Size: 108,6 MB
Art: Front

(5:17)  1. Sophisticated Lady
(3:02)  2. I'm Beginning To See The Light
(5:19)  3. I Got It Bad
(3:58)  4. I'll Remember April - Smile
(4:16)  5. In A Sentimental Mood
(3:55)  6. The Man I Love - Lover Man
(4:24)  7. The Lady Is A Tramp
(4:14)  8. Star Dust
(5:37)  9. I Remember You
(6:48) 10. Mist In The Dawn

Leata Galloway a powerfully persuasive singer that musical tastemakers proudly proclaim “a natural.” The Brooklyn-born beauty has wrapped the full spectrum of her chops around every style of music under the sun and around the globe - in topflight musical theatre productions, scintillating headliner concert engagements and mood-drenched movie scores. However, she has always been, first and foremost, a Jazz Singer.  With well over three octaves at her command, Galloway has extraordinary switches of range, mood and idiom.

Across her illustrious career, Leata Galloway has appeared in the musical “Sophisticated Ladies,” followed by her own Japanese import jazz CD Sophisticated Lady (recorded with the trio of pianist Mark Gray, drummer Billy Hart and bassist Tom Barney). That earned her a nomination in Japan’s Swing Journal for Best Female Vocalist.  She also recorded a Big Band album in Germany titled Live from The Hamburg Jazz Gala with The Peter Herbolzheimer All Stars, an international 18-piece aggregation that featured saxophonist Don Menza, trumpeter Chuck Findley, bassist Niels-Henning Osted Pedersen and drummer Grady Tate.  She toured for a year singing behind the legendary pop traditionalist Peggy Lee and later embarked upon a 17 country EuropeanTour with Austrian contemporary keyboard wizard Joe Zawinul’s pan-cultural ensemble The Zawinul Syndicate.

Leata Galloway has come a long way from Harlem where she and an older sister grew up in a volitale environment. “"I could sing ‘Stormy Monday Blues’ and mean it by the time I was 8",” she quips!  Music became Leata’'s salvation, beginning with the Nancy Wilson albums she'’d sneak into her room from her father’s collection to get lost in.

Those gratis lessons paid off big time when Leata went from being a junior in a high school production of the musical theatre classic “Carousel” to the inaugural cast of therevolutionary rock opera “Hair” on Broadway. She stayed for two-and-a-half years and was immortalized on the now-classic RCA Records original cast album. Taken under the wing of one of the show’s composers, Galt McDermott, Leata was the only original cast member featured in the film adaptation over a decade later (singing “Electric Blues”) as well as sing two songs on-screen for the Black screen gem “Cotton Comes to Harlem.”  Many more stage productions followed, from “Don’'t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” on Broadway to “Golden Boy” off Broadway. A chance role in a small German film led to Leata recording her debut LP, Leata, for Ariola Records – a pop production.

Back in New York, Leata developed her Jazz nightclub act, which brought her to the attention of Dr. George Butler at Columbia Records who signed her after seeing her at Green Street.  However, Leata usurped by the R&B department where a Quiet Storm LP, The Naked Truth, was produced by Nick Martinelli (Phyllis Hyman and Regina Belle) and Preston Glass (Whitney Houston), highlighted by a sensational rendering of “Cry Me a River” (arranged by James Lloyd of Pieces of a Dream). Leata also moonlighted on albums by vibraphonist Mike Mainieri (Love Play) and sax man Tom Scott (Desire).  http://www.leatagalloway.com/#!bio

Sophisticated Lady

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Leata Galloway - Tenderly

Styles: Jazz Vocals
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:44
Size: 100,8 MB
Art: Front

(3:55)  1. Moondance/Fever
(5:01)  2. All Blues
(3:14)  3. Mood's Mood For Love
(4:25)  4. Desafinado
(3:49)  5. I Want To Be Loved
(2:09)  6. When A Woman Loves A Man
(4:03)  7. Tenderly
(4:31)  8. Ahmad's Blues
(3:57)  9. Stella By Starlight
(4:42) 10. I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life
(3:53) 11. Yeah Yeah

Leata Galloway is the kind of powerfully persuasive singer that tastemakers in music proudly proclaim “a natural.” The Brooklyn-born beauty has wrapped the full spectrum of her vocal chops around every style of music under the sun and around the globe - in top flight musical theatre productions, scintillating headliner concert engagements and mood-drenched movie scores. However, she has always been, first and foremost, a Jazz Singer. An engagement at the Gardenia Cabaret in West Hollywood so moved renowned Jazz critic Leonard Feather that he waxed poetic in a Sunday Los Angeles Times review, “With well over three octaves at her command, Galloway is given to unpredictable switches of range, mood and idiom. Her act offers a chance to observe, in unrestricted splendor, every facet of this dynamic artist. She is…beyond category.” Across her illustrious career, Ms. Galloway appeared in the Duke Ellington-inspired musical “Sophisticated Ladies,” followed by her own Japanese import jazz CD Sophisticated Lady (recorded with the trio of pianist Mark Gray, drummer Billy Hart and bassist Tom Barney). That earned her a nomination in Japan’s Swing Journal for Best Female Vocalist. Sitting in for the great Betty Carter, Leata sang three songs on the album Live from The Hamburg Jazz Gala with Germany’s The Peter Herbolzheimer All-Stars, an international 18-piece aggregation that featured saxophonist Don Menza, trumpeter Chuck Findley, bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and drummer Grady Tate. From a year-long tour in the late `70s singing behind the legendary pop traditionalist Peggy Lee to embarking upon a 17 country European Tour in the `90s with Austrian contemporary keyboard wizard Joe Zawinul’s pan-cultural ensemble The Zawinul Syndicate, Leata’s journey proves her vocal gifts clearly have no bounds. Those gifts are the focus of Leata Galloway’s fourth and latest CD, Tenderly, an 11-song one-from-the-heart in which she interprets some of her all-time favorite songs with instrumentation that spans from solely piano accompaniment to a rhythm quartet with three horns. Co-producing the affair herself along with esteemed bassist Larry Ball, Leata revisits timeless chestnuts such as “Moody’s Mood For Love” (a tour de force for which she sings in its fabled alto AND tenor registers, riffing on the already improvised melody  a must hear), Antonio Carlos Jobim’s samba classic “Desafinado,” a rendition of Miles Davis’ “All Blues,” and a cool breeze thru the ever-hip “Ahmad’s Blues.”  “What I love most are songs that tell a story and that have melodies that linger in your memory,” Leata states. 

This is beautifully apparent in her takes on picturesque standards such as “Stella by Starlight,” an especially breathtaking “I Want to Be Loved,” the more modern gem “Moondance” and, naturally, the title track “Tenderly.” Leata also gets down to the swing of things on the finger-snappin’ blues “Yeah-Yeah” and the horn-spiked “When a Woman Loves a Man” which she learned as the understudy for the Billie Holiday role in the one-woman play “Lady Day at the Emerson Bar and Grill.” Leata reprised her portrayal of Holiday in the 5-hour CBS mini-series “Sinatra.” Accompanying Leata on Tenderly are pianist Frank Zatolli, guitarist Phil Upchurch, drummer Kenny Elliott, saxophonist Ron Brown, trumpeter Nolan Shaheed and trombonist Dwayne Benjamin. “I’d been away from music for awhile,” Leata laments, “but it’s what makes my heart beat. So I took my time and brought some of my favorite songs and musician friends together to do an album. I believe it’s some of my best work.”

Bio ...http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/leatagalloway12

Tenderly

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