Nanette Natal - Stairway To The Stars

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 58:54
Size: 134.8 MB
Styles: Jazz vocals
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[ 5:49] 1. Fascinating Rhythm
[ 8:32] 2. When Your Lover Has Gone
[ 5:29] 3. Nice Work If You Can Get It
[ 7:03] 4. Stairway To The Stars
[10:38] 5. I Won't Dance
[ 6:38] 6. Crazy He Calls Me
[14:43] 7. You Go To My Head

On her fourth album for Benyo Music, New Yorker Nanette Natal continues her vocal quest for a sophisticated & daring exploration of standard material. The album has just seven cuts, but there is just under a hour of music, which means that each tune receives extended attention from the group, giving them plenty of time to explore every nook & cranny, every twist & turn on the melody. Natal is one of the preeminent apostles of scatting & wordless vocalizing; in her improvisional approach & in her voice, she draws upon the likes of such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Sheila Jordan & Jeanne Lee.

Stairway To The Stars mc
Stairway To The Stars zippy

---

Nanette Natal - Sweet Summer Blue

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 37:20
Size: 85,5 MB
Art: Front

(7:14)  1. Silver Night
(4:18)  2. The Eye Of The Storm
(4:14)  3. It Sure Ain't Nothin' New
(5:49)  4. Deep In My Memory
(4:11)  5. The Devil Is Working Here
(6:32)  6. Don't Take The Easy Way Out
(4:58)  7. I Got Rhythm

If you’re expecting the bold flights of wordless vocalizing that have defined so much of Nanette Natal’s previous recorded work, proceed directly to Sweet Summer Blue’s seventh and final track, a lissome “I Got Rhythm” filled with those inimitable Natal touches. The balance of the album, comprising six original compositions, might wrongly be perceived as a new direction for Natal. In fact, they recall the earliest phase of her career, harkening back to her long-ago days on the coffeehouse circuit.

The recording technique skewed old-school too, with live performances transferred direct to two-track and then onto analog tape, contributing to the pervading warmth. The intimacy is heightened by the largely acoustic settings, featuring Rolf Sturm on guitars, Dave Silliman on drums, Tony Cimorosi on bass, Clarence Ferrari on violin, with Natal accompanying herself on guitar on three tracks. The arrangements provide her a pan-Americana palette, with waves of country, folk, blues and jazz variously roiling beneath.

Thematically, the songs are equally wide-ranging, extending from the evocation of quicksilver romance on “Silver Night” to the growly assertion of openheartedness on “Don’t Take the Easy Way Out.” Her slinking “It Sure Ain’t Nothin’ New,” propelled by Silliman’s bongos, skillfully examines the chimera of humankind, while the madrigal-like “The Eye and the Storm” and august “Deep in My Memory” offer impassioned prayers for peace. Most poignant, though, is Natal’s forlorn tally of modern American woes on “The Devil Is Working Here.”  Christopher Loudon  

http://jazztimes.com/articles/28542-sweet-summer-blue-nanette-natal

Sweet Summer Blue

---

Nanette Natal - It's Only A Tune

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 47:35
Size: 109.5 MB
Styles: Contemporary jazz vocals
Year: 2004
Art: Front

[5:01] 1. It's Only A Tune
[4:58] 2. The Night Awaits Me
[4:38] 3. How Do You Walk Away From Love?
[6:17] 4. The Dream Is Over
[5:29] 5. You'd Think I Would Have Learned By Now
[4:26] 6. Different Times Different Spaces
[5:30] 7. It Was Now It Was Then
[6:18] 8. Waiting
[4:52] 9. Sweet Vanities

Nanette Natal has long been a major singer, one whose expressive interpretations of lyrics and sharp ability to improvise have made her an important if underrated talent. On It's Only a Tune, she mostly sticks to original ballads plus a couple soulful medium-tempo pieces. Natal wrote all of the music, and her intelligent and often philosophical lyrics make a few of her tunes possibilities to become standards in the future if enough singers hear this set.

Natal's interplay with the horns (each of whom are excellent even if only veteran trombonist Art Baron is well known) is playful and bluesy, adding to the appeal of this excellent set. The one flaw is the lack of liner notes, but the music itself is quite memorable. ~ Scott Yanow

This is an album of romantic ballads, all written by vocalist Nanette Natal. The music is lush in its arrangement and usage of trumpet, trombone and saxophone. The style is reminiscent of the "West Coast cool jazz" period, and it sets a sultry mood.

Nanette Natal (vocals); Nanette Natal; Tim Ferguson (acoustic bass, double bass); Daniel Hovey (guitar); David Brandom (alto saxophone); Rob Henke (trumpet); Mark Patterson , Art Baron (trombone); Vince Cherico (drums, percussion).

Recording information: Avatar Studios, New York, NY (07/2003).

It's Only A Tune

---