Liane Carroll - Seaside

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2015
Time: 42:15
File: MP3 @ 128K/s
Size: 42,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:01) 1. Seaside
(2:24) 2. Almost Like Being In Love
(4:03) 3. Bring Me Sunshine
(4:50) 4. Nobody's Fault But Mine
(5:03) 5. Get Me Through December
(5:05) 6. Mercy Now
(3:15) 7. Wild Is The Wind
(4:19) 8. I Cover the Waterfront
(5:35) 9. My Ship
(3:34) 10. For Those In Peril On The Sea

Hooking up for a third time with producer and musician James McMillan, Liane Carroll brings the entire spectrum of her artistry to bear on this 10-track love letter to her hometown of Hastings. For anyone who had the pleasure of hearing her perform the Joe Stilgoe-penned title track earlier this year at the Old Vic, Evan Jolly's widescreen, brass-rich arrangement on the album takes the song to completely new levels of gorgeousness.

Following a towering scat on ‘Almost Like Being In Love’, Carroll's slow, heartbreakingly lovely version of ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ cannot fail to bring a lump to the throat. ‘I Cover The Waterfront’ and ‘My Ship’, with its surprising gear change ushering in yet another breathtaking scat solo, offer balm for the soul following the melancholic slow burn of ‘Get Me Through December’, ‘Mercy Now’ and ‘Wild Is The Wind’, before the hymnal calm of ‘For Those In Peril On The Sea’ brings this exceptional album to a close. In Liane Carroll, the art of the song has one of its greatest exponents.https://www.jazzwise.com/review/liane-carroll-seaside

Personnel: Liane Carroll – vocals, piano; Steve Pearce – acoustic bass; Ian Thomas – drums; James McMillan – flugelhorn, keyboards, percussion, bass, tenor horn, vibraphone; Evan Jolly – trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn; brass band and brass arrangements; Andy Wood – euphonium, trombone; Julian Siegel – tenor saxophone; Rob Leake – baritone and tenor saxophones; Mark Edwards – piano; Malcolm Edmonstone – piano; brass arrangements; Mark Jaimes – acoustic and electric guitars, Rob Luft – guitar

Seaside

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Liane Carroll - Liane At Christmas

Size: 105 MB
Time: 18:21
File: FLAC
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Vocals, Xmas
Art: Front

01. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (2:43)
02. Silent Night (3:19)
03. In The Bleak Midwinter (4:24)
04. I Believe In Father Christmas (2:46)
05. Some Children See Him (5:07)

We rarely do EPs and we try to avoid Christmas ones in whatever format. However, when it's a Christmas EP by Liane Carroll we do tend to bend the rules a little.
Liane at Christmas is worth bending the rules for as it's as delightful a post-Yuletide coaster as you're likely to receive on Christmas Eve.
Come January 1, maybe even sooner on Boxing Day, it and all the lesser Christmas albums will be forgotten. Sad but true.
And it is sad because this is such a miniature gem that it deserves an all year-round shelf life.
Liane is in fine voice with, not surprisingly, a hint of Aretha or Mahalia hear and there. ~Lance

Liane At Christmas

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Liane Carroll - Up and Down

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:51
Size: 128,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:02)  1. Buy and Sell
(3:01)  2. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life
(4:29)  3. Moanin'
(3:29)  4. Take Me Home
(6:11)  5. What Now My Love
(6:46)  6. Turn Out the Stars
(3:58)  7. Some Children See Him
(2:45)  8. Witchcraft
(5:33)  9. My Funny Valentine
(4:54) 10. Old Devil Moon / Killer Joe
(7:56) 11. Make Someone Happy
(2:41) 12. I Can Let Go Now

Liane Carroll is a much-admired British singer and pianist, winner of accolades including Musician Of The Year at the 2008 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. She has worked with musicians as varied as Sir Paul McCartney and Charlie Haden, while on this album her invited guests include tenor saxophonists Kirk Whalum and Julian Siegel, and Kenny Wheeler on flugelhorn. She already has a strong body of work to her name, but Up And Down might just be her finest album to date. Carroll's voice is superb bluesy, smooth, ballsy, cheeky, romantic, heartbreaking, and never less than honest. This combination makes Carroll eminently capable of performances of tremendous emotional intensity when the songs are upbeat and positive this results in moments of intense joy, when the songs are sad this intensity can be hard to bear. Aided by producer and horn player James McMillan and a roll-call of top British jazz musicians, Carroll draws out the full impact of these songs in some unexpected ways. The most surprising is her approach to "What Now My Love?" The opening Carroll singing over Mark Edwards' gospel-style organ with Whalum adding brief tenor phrases is in keeping with the song's usual sentiment, but everything moves up a few notches with the entry of Mark Hodgson's rock solid bass beat. As Whalum and Edwards add some funky and fiery riffs it's no longer a torch song, a cry of pain from a spurned lover. Now it seems from Carroll's bluesy but almost triumphant tone that she's engineered her lover's departure all along. "What now my love? A nice gin and tonic and a sit down I think. And good riddance."

"Buy and Sell" opens with the sounds of children at play, features electric guitar with an Ernie Isley vibe courtesy of Mark Jaimes and an electric piano solo from Edwards, and adds a vocal chorus courtesy of Carroll's multi-tracked voice. The result gives a fittingly late-60s feel to this beautiful Laura Nyro song. Wheeler guests on Bill Evans' "Turn Out The Stars," adding a starkly emotive solo to Carroll's poignant vocal. Carroll's singing on Tom Waits' "Take Me Home" and Rodgers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine" are two of her finest vocals. The emotional engagement of both performances is staggering. On Waits' ballad Carroll, playing some delicate and graceful piano phrases, makes a heartfelt plea to her lover that would melt all but the hardest of hearts. On "My Funny Valentine," Carroll, Edwards on piano and McMillan on flugelhorn give one of the album's most powerful performances: superbly stark and raw, it reaches into the song's heart to draw out the full poignancy of the words. Up And Down is beautiful. The song choices and arrangements are inspired, and the musicians are uniformly superb. Carroll is a singer of superb style, capable of projecting every nuance and subtlety of a lyric. What more is there to say? This is one of the finest vocal jazz albums to appear for many a moon. ~ Bruce Lindsay https://www.allaboutjazz.com/up-and-down-liane-carroll-quietmoney-recordings-review-by-bruce-lindsay.php

Personnel: Liane Carroll: vocals, piano (1, 2, 4, 8, 12); James McMillan: trumpet (1), flugelhorn (1, 2, 7, 9), celesta (2); Mark Bassey: trombone (2, 4, 7); Rob Leake: flute (2); Mark Edwards: piano (3, 6, 9, 10), Hammond organ (3, 5), electric piano (1); Simon Purcell: piano (11); Mark Jaimes: guitar (1, 12); Roger Carey: bass (4, 6, 8, 10); Mark Hodgson: bass (2, 3, 5); Steve Pearce: bass (1); Mark Fletcher: drums; Julian Siegel; tenor saxophone (11); Kirk Whalum: tenor saxophone (3, 5); Kenny Wheeler: flugelhorn (6).

Up and Down

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Liane Carroll - The Right To Love

Styles: Vocal And Piano Jazz
Year: 2017
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:37
Size: 107,9 MB
Art: Front

(5:37)  1. Skylark
(5:34)  2. The Right To Love
(3:21)  3. It's A Fine Line
(3:43)  4. If You Go Away
(7:43)  5. You Don't Know What Love Is
(4:22)  6. Goin' Back
(5:17)  7. Lately
(3:51)  8. Georgia
(3:03)  9. In The Neighbourhood
(4:02) 10. I Get Along Without You Very Well

Liane Carroll’s talents, as singer, pianist and all-round musical force of nature, seemed to defy all efforts to capture them successfully on record. Until, that is, she began working with producer James McMillan. This, their fourth album together, displays a characteristic mixture of deceptive simplicity and emotional depth. Following the loose theme of attitudes to love, Carroll calls on songs by, among others, Stevie Wonder, Tom Waits, Jacques Brel and Hoagy Carmichael, whose I Get Along Without You Very Well provides the most touching moment. The arrangements and playing, notably Mark Jaimes (guitar) and Kirk Whalum (tenor sax), are superb. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/23/liane-carroll-right-to-love-review-jazz

Personnel:  Liane Carroll (piano, vocals);  Mark Edwards (piano);  Malcolm Edmonstone (piano);  Mark Jaimes (guitars);  Kirk Whalum (saxophone); Loz Garratt (bass);  Roger Carey (bass);  Ralph Salmins (drums);  Russell Field (drums);  James McMillan (trumpet).

The Right To Love

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Liane Carroll - Slow Down

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:42
Size: 148,9 MB
Art: Front

(6:10)  1. Memphis In June
(4:38)  2. All The Way
(3:22)  3. Lazy Susan
(3:51)  4. You Can't Slow My Heart Down
(4:50)  5. Let Me Be What You Be To Me
(5:34)  6. Catch The Wind
(4:28)  7. In My Solitude
(5:28)  8. Willow Weep For Me
(3:54)  9. The World Stopped Turning
(4:21) 10. All Of Me
(5:31) 11. One Fine Day
(5:02) 12. If I Loved You
(3:18) 13. Lazy Afternoon
(4:08) 14. Take It With Me

Liane Carroll's third CD for Splash Point Records is an album of exquisite ballads, returning to the "stripped down" format of solo piano and voice. It is an album of intimate and personal songs - all of which have great meaning to her. The performances are heartfelt and truthful; she is wearing her heart on her sleeve here. Already being hailed as her most perfect album yet, the performances defy anyone to listen without being overwhelmed by the beauty, honesty and emotion of the music. Recorded "live" in the studio, it is Liane at her most powerful, giving her own intense treatment to a range of composers' tunes.

Following hot on the heels of her Best UK Female Singer accolade from Ronnie Scott's, Slow Down was recorded in just a few studio hours, and it confirms that Liane Carroll is all things to all ballads.
With just her piano and her voice (and a little help from fellow singer Ian Shaw on one track) Liane conjures up an amazing range of expression to match her huge vocal range. The standards "Memphis In June" and "All Of Me" are given a bluesy makeover and sound astonishingly fresh and celebratory, while Donovan's "Catch The Wind" is in turn heart-rending and life-loving.

On Slow Down Liane sings her way through the whole spectrum from jazz diva to fragile victim. Van Heusen and Cahn's "All The Way" and Duke Ellington's "In My Solitude" are remade as torch songs, with vulnerability oozing out of every verse, while "Lazy Afternoon" perfectly captures her molasses low tones and silken high ones -her sparse electric piano accompaniment creating a brooding, hypnotic tension.

Liane dedicates the tender "If I Loved You", from the film Carousel, to her grandmother who sang it with her when Liane was a child. Ian Shaw helps out on piano here, and Liane's almost-whispered, lump-in-throat intro develops into a thumping soul ballad. A natural storyteller, Liane gives Tom Waits' ''Take It With Me'' a dose of Kirsty MacColl-like understated passion, personality and dry humour.

Slow Down doesnt just tug at your heart strings, it rips them out by the roots (then apologises with a sheepish grin).~Kathryn Shackleton – Editorial Reviews  

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slow-Down-Liane-Carroll/dp/B000VEA2QC

Slow Down

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Liane Carroll - Ballads

Styles: Jazz Vocals
Year: 2013
File: MP3@256K/s
Time: 47:55
Size: 87,9 MB
Art: Front

(3:28)  1. Here's to life
(5:24)  2. Goodbye
(3:07)  3. Only the lonely
(6:27)  4. Mad about the boy
(4:38)  5. You've changed
(5:01)  6. Pretending to care
(4:49)  7. Calgary Bay
(3:43)  8. My one and only love
(4:11)  9. Will you still love me tomorrow
(3:41) 10. The two lonely people
(3:22) 11. Raining in my heart

Ballads is a great title for an album full of slow tempo, beautifully arranged, songs of love and romance. So it's a perfect choice as the title for British singer Liane Carroll's album. Except that it falls way short of communicating just what an achievement this album is.

Carroll's previous album, Up And Down (Quiet Money, 2011), was a superb combination of upbeat, up-tempo numbers and emotionally intense takes on songs including "My Funny Valentine" and Tom Waits' "Take It With Me." Ballads is firmly in the latter territory. James McMillan's production is once again exemplary. It's rare to hear vocals recorded with such clarity, where every aspect of the singer's voice is open to scrutiny. It's fraught with danger: what if the singer's voice is revealed as lacking, as falling short, as weak? Daft questions in this case; the exposure simply enhances Carroll's impact.

There's so much to enjoy on Ballads: old school standards like "Only The Lonely," pop classics (Gerry Goffin and Carole King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's "It's Raining In My Heart") and lesser-known gems such as Sophie Bancroft's "Calgary Bay." There's variety, too, in Carroll's musical accompaniments. On "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" there's just Mark Jaimes' guitar and Kirk Whalum's tenor saxophone. On "Only The Lonely" she's joined by a big band, while on "Goodbye," "You've Changed" and "Calgary Bay" the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra provide the accompaniment the arrangements for all four of these numbers coming courtesy of Grammy nominated Chris Walden.

Todd Rundgren's "Pretending To Care" is a tour-de-force but it's Noel Coward's "Mad About The Boy" that shines most brightly among these jewels. It's a song with a seemingly endless ability for re-invention. Coward's performance is marvellously high camp (Marianne Faithfull's version runs it a close second); Dinah Washington can be defiant or matter-of-fact; Julie London is sultry and confident she'll make her move when she's good and ready and the boy won't stand a chance.

Carroll's performance of "Mad About The Boy" with only Gwilym Simcock's piano for company is heartbreaking. She sings as though she's aware of the futility of her desire but unwilling, or unable, to leave it behind. It shows the greatness of Coward's little ditty, the many emotions that the song can reveal and the majesty of Carroll's voice. It's just one highlight of many on this exquisite album: Ballads is a classic-in-waiting.~Bruce Lindsay  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=44432#.Ui394T-wVw8

Personnel: Liane Carroll: vocals, piano (11); James McMillan: trumpet, vibes (1), keyboard (11); Mark Edwards, piano (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8), celeste (1); Gwilym Simcock: piano (4); Mark Jaimes: guitar (1, 3, 9); Steve Pearce: bass (1); Roger Carey: bass (2, 5, 8); Mark Hodgson: bass (3); Chris Hill: bass (7, 11); Mark Fletcher: drums (2, 5, 8, 11); Ralph Salmins: drums (3); Kirk Whalum: tenor saxophone (9); Simon Gardner: trumpet (3); Noel Langley: trumpet (3); Andy Gathercole: trumpet (3); Andy Baxter: trumpet (3); Pete Beachill: trombone (3); Chris Dean: trombone (3); Pete North: trombone (3); Richard Whigley: trombone (3); Sammy Maine: saxophone (3); Patrick Clahar: saxophone (3); Julian Seigel: saxophone (3); Ben Castle: saxophone (3); Jamie Talbot: saxophone (3); City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (2, 5, 7).

Ballads

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