Showing posts with label Maria Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maria Williams. Show all posts

Monday, January 1, 2018

Maria Williams - Hybrid

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:51
Size: 120,8 MB
Art: Front

(4:54)  1. La Negra Tiene Tumbao
(3:38)  2. No Me Queda Mas
(3:29)  3. Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars
(3:27)  4. Mais Que Nada
(4:29)  5. Somos Novios
(3:12)  6. Berimbau
(3:18)  7. Color Of Rain
(4:33)  8. I'll Close My Eyes
(2:49)  9. Everything's Kind Of Good
(5:39) 10. I Learned That From You
(4:57) 11. Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys
(3:48) 12. Set Her Free
(3:31) 13. Corcovado

Maria Williams has been on the scene as a band leader and lead vocalist over 20 years and it shows. Her performance is stellar, she could literally do any style, her voice is present, emotive and heartfelt. She can conjure the spell of music and so can her band. "Hybrid" is what the title suggests - a walk through Maria and her band's varied repertoire. There are several styles covered on the CD jazz, latin, pop, some country. I personally find Maria and her band to be at their best in the latin (bossa nova, Samba, etc.) and jazz genres. The performance of these songs is really moving - the grooves are perfect and the vocals are soaring. Songs that really stand out are "No Me Queda Mas" (#2), "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars" (#3), "Mais Que Nada" (#4), "Color of Rain" (#7), and the bonus track "Corvocado" which is a duet with Alan Lett. Overall the CD is impressive but I felt that I would've preferred to hear a more streamlined effort in the latin of jazz genre where I feel Maria and her band shine the most. Overall this is a very tastefully done album, great musicianship all around with some especially outstanding percussion, lead guitar and brass work. The production is also world class. ~ A. Dorian http://www.houstonmusicreviews.com/Reviews/mariawilliams_hybrid.htm

Hybrid

Monday, September 29, 2014

Maria Williams - Rhythmic Remedy

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:13
Size: 127,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:07)  1. The Island
(2:51)  2. More
(4:59)  3. Nature Boy
(4:04)  4. And All That Jazz
(4:05)  5. A Taste Of Me - Sabor A Mi
(4:28)  6. Sleepwalk
(3:11)  7. It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
(3:45)  8. Sabor A Mi
(1:50)  9. Give Me The Simple Life
(5:23) 10. Garden Of Imagining
(4:20) 11. Besame Mucho
(5:48) 12. Rays Of Dawn
(5:15) 13. All Very Clear

Sultry Houston Singer/Songwriter Maria Williams is also known as Texas' only female to front and lead her OWN 15 Piece Swingin' Big Band. This CD (her 2nd) has garnered radio airplay from Alaska to Brazil, and from California to Boston. Rhythmic Remedy is a compilation and integration of her own original compositions infused with Jazz & Latin Rhythms, English translations of Latin classics, and, of course, Broadway Musicals and Big Band Jazz Standards. With a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Houston, she has been entertaining and performing as a professional singer for more than twenty years. Her dance band is in high demand along the Texas Gulf Coast. The fourth of five children, she was born in Mexico to a Spanish Mother, yet her Father, a retired U.S. Colonel in the Air Force, gave her dual citizenship, along with a love of both cultures' food, dance, and music...http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mariawilliams