Mary Foster Conklin - These Precious Days

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2023
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:31
Size: 109,4 MB
Art: Front

(3:18) 1. Summertime
(4:05) 2. Some Cats Know
(4:11) 3. Just A Little Lovin'
(5:19) 4. Come In From The Rain
(5:38) 5. Scars
(4:27) 6. Just For Now
(3:59) 7. A Little White Ship
(3:50) 8. Heart's Desire
(3:31) 9. Rainbow
(4:31) 10. Until It's Time For You To Go
(4:36) 11. September Song

Mary Foster Conklin is a New York-based singer with an eclectic approach to the choices she makes in deciding upon a repetoire for her fifth release, These Precious Days. Unafraid to step outside the nine dots, she has focussed the project on lesser-known jazz and popular compositions by predominately female songwriters. Joining Conklin are a number of top shelf New York musicians including pianist and arranger John di Martino, violinist Sara Caswell, bassist Ed Howard, drummer Vince Cherico, guitarist Guilherme Monteiro and percussionist Samuel Torres.

The session opens with "Summertime." This is not the George Gershwin classic, but rather has lyrics that are unmistakably from the pen of the Canadian poet and iconic songwriter Leonard Cohen. Conklin delivers them with panache and resonance. "Just A Little Lovin'" by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil trips along in singular fashion with Conklin covering the importance of the simple things in life message with an earthy charm. Di Martino and Caswell offer well thought out interjections.

For an interesting change of pace, the Dory and André Previn number "Just For Now" is set to a samba beat led by guitarist Guilherme Monteiro and percussionist Samuel Torres, who keep the fire stoked. Conklin covers the number with brisk proficiency and tasteful restraint. The sardonic and hip songwriter /pianist Dave Frishberg hooked up with pianist Alan Broadbent to pen "Heart's Desire." Conklin inhabits this story of love and longing without rigidity or stifling nostalgia.

The final two cuts are more recognizable compositions. The first is Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Until It's Time For You To Go" and then the Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson popular standard "September Song." Conklin delivers the first with a strong lyrical footing and evocative coloration. On the second, sympathetically supported by Di Martino and Caswell, she reaches out on an emotional level to deliver a rendition filled with unhurried revelation. By Pierre Giroux https://www.allaboutjazz.com/these-precious-days-mary-foster-conklin-mock-turtle-music

Personnel: Mary Foster Conklin: voice / vocals; John di Martino: piano; Sara Caswell: violin; Ed Howard: bass; Vince Cherico: drums; Guilherme Monteiro: guitar; Samuel Torres: percussion.

These Precious Days

---

Mary Foster Conklin - You'd Be Paradise

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2001
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:32
Size: 113,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:19)  1. Devil May Care
(4:00)  2. My Heart Belongs To Daddy
(3:22)  3. Don't Get Scared
(4:08)  4. But For Now
(6:06)  5. Baby, You Should Know It
(4:34)  6. Broken Bicycles
(5:38)  7. Everything Happens To Me
(4:42)  8. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
(4:22)  9. The Windmills Of Your Mind/Theme From "The Thomas Crowne Affair"
(4:05) 10. Nirvana
(4:10) 11. Right On My Way Home

Hip singer, splendid album. To elaborate  New York–based songstress Mary Foster Conklin, who obviously loves what she does, goes around the block and back to avoid the obvious on You’d Be Paradise, complementing no less than four sophisticated tunes by the inimitable Bob Dorough with one each by David Cantor (“Nirvana”), Tom Waits (“Broken Bicycles”) and Michel Legrand (“The Windmills of Your Mind”), King Pleasure’s wry commentary on Stan Getz’s opus “Don’t Get Scared,” a brace of venerable Cole Porter standards (“My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To”) and Matt Dennis / Thomas Adair’s plaintive lament, “Everything Happens to Me” (set to a pleasant Latin beat, but one that fails to capture the essence of Dennis’ heart rending version). 

Conklin has a clear and charming mid–range voice, knows how to sell a lyric, and is reinforced by the presence of a world class rhythm section that knows when to press and when to ease up. She has chosen some lovely melodies, none of which has been restated enough to grow stale, even Porter’s classics from the first half of the twentieth century. Dorough’s insouciant “Devil May Care” is a tantalizing curtain raiser, and his lovely ballad “But for Now” is no less agreeable, nor are Waits’ perceptive “Broken Bicycles,” Cantor’s touching “Nirvana” or the better–known “Windmills of Your Mind,” which Conklin says she heard Legrand sing in French on a July 4 evening in the Big Apple. Conklin wraps the package neatly with Dorough / Lynn Gibson’s witty “Right on My Way Home,” ably abetted, as she is on every number, by the impressively compatible foursome of Mays, Vignola, Burr and Ascione who commit themselves uncompromisingly to the task at hand. Playing time is less than fifty minutes, but Conklin and her companions make each of them shine. Hip singer, splendid album. ~ Jack Bowers  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/youd-be-paradise-mary-foster-conklin-mock-turtle-music-review-by-jack-bowers.php 

Personnel: Mary Foster Conklin, vocals; Bill Mays, piano; Frank Vignola, guitar; Jon Burr, bass; Joe Ascione, drums.

You'd Be Paradise

---

Mary Foster Conklin - Blues For Breakfast

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:29
Size: 127,6 MB
Art: Front

(3:34)  1. Before The Show
(4:03)  2. Spring Isn't Spring Anymore
(3:40)  3. Show Me The Way To Get Out Of This World
(5:52)  4. Angel Eyes
(2:19)  5. That Tired Routine Called Love
(3:56)  6. Encanto D'Amor
(4:34)  7. Blues For Breakfast
(3:28)  8. Will You Still Be Mine
(2:47)  9. Where Am I To Go
(5:23) 10. The Night We Called It A Day
(3:45) 11. Let's Get Away From It All
(3:19) 12. Let's Just Pretend
(4:14) 13. Learn To Love
(4:30) 14. Violets For Your Furs

I don't review many albums by singers these days, but I couldn't pass up a tribute to Matt Dennis, one of the most talented and sadly neglected songwriters of the Twentieth Century. Before scoffing, remember "Angel Eyes," "Will You Still Be Mine," "Everything Happens to Me," "Violets for Your Furs," "Let's Get Away from It All," "Show Me the Way to Get Out of This World" and "The Night We Called It a Day." All were written by Dennis, who sang them (and others) for many years in nightclubs across the country while accompanying himself at the piano. To Mary Foster Conklin's credit, she doesn't rest her case on these familiar melodies but has unearthed a cache of other forgotten treasures with lyrics by Sammy Cahn, Bobby Troup, Ted Steele, Jerry Gladstone and Ginny Dennis, and performs a duet with Cuban artist David Oquendo on "Encanto d'Amor," Dennis/David Gillam's "It Wasn't the Stars That Thrilled Me" translated into Spanish by Oquendo.

Among the others, Dennis/Steele's "That Tired Routine Called Love" is especially clever, right up there with Rodgers and Hart's "Everything I've Got Belongs to You," Lerner and Loewe's "How Can Love Survive," any Cole Porter lyric, and Dennis/Tom Adair's "Let's Get Away" and "Will You Still Be Mine."  Conklin's midrange voice is sweet and expressive, her articulation clean, and she caresses each lyric with notable warmth and perception. She's not quite as irresistible as Dennis himself, but few singers, no matter how adept, have ever equaled his offhanded charm. The backup group is splendid, with pianist John di Martino doubling as arranger and saxophonist Joel Frahm making brief but welcome appearances on three tracks. Dennis/Troup's "Where Am I to Go?" is a graceful duet with guitarist Tony Romano. Conklin also sings the seldom-heard verses to "Angel Eyes," "Will You Still Be Mine" and (spoken) "The Night We Called It a Day." Conklin deserves applause for breathing life into such moribund classics as "Before the Show," "Spring Isn't Spring Anymore," "Blues for Breakfast," "Let's Just Pretend," "Learn to Love" and the other songs already cited. The album is worth hearing for them alone, even more so for Conklin's earnest and caring interpretations. Even for those who thought they knew Matt Dennis, it should be a real eye-opener. ~ Jack Bowers  http://www.allaboutjazz.com/blues-for-breakfast-remembering-matt-dennis-mary-foster-conklin-rhombus-records-review-by-jack-bowers.php

Personnel: Mary Foster Conklin: vocals; John di Martino: piano, arranger; Tony Romano: guitar; Sean Smith: bass; Ron Vincent: drums; Joel Frahm (1,3,13): tenor, soprano saxophone; Wilson "Chembo" Corniel (3,6): percussion; Leo Traversa (3,6): electric bass; David Oquendo (6): vocal, lyrics.

Blues For Breakfast

---