Susanna Bartilla - The Look Of Love: Songs Of The Sixties

Size: 102,8 MB
Time: 40:28
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz/Pop Vocals
Art: Front

01. Our Day Will Come (3:44)
02. Dream A Little Dream Of Me (3:32)
03. Sealed With A Kiss (4:04)
04. The Look Of Love (5:01)
05. Dream Lover (3:19)
06. Till There Was You (3:23)
07. Sunny Afternoon (4:31)
08. Beyond The Sea (5:02)
09. The End Of The World (4:48)
10. There's A Kind Of Hush (2:59)

Personnel: Susanna Bartilla (voc), Mike Segal (as), Connor Fitzgerald (p), Loomis Greene (g), Max Hughes (b), Kenny Martin (dr).

Bluesy torch songs, swinging pop and latin grooves - the vibe of the Sixties, when Dusty meets Dionne with a touch of Mama Cass.

The Look Of Love

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Susanna Bartilla - Susanna Bartilla Chante Johnny Mercer - Live Au Sunside

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:26
Size: 131,2 MB
Art: Front

(4:52)  1. I'm Old Fashioned
(4:18)  2. Travelin' Light
(4:14)  3. Fools Rush In
(6:33)  4. Blues In The Night
(5:17)  5. My Shining Hour
(4:07)  6. PS I Love You/I Thought About You
(5:32)  7. One For My Baby
(5:35)  8. Goody Goody
(3:44)  9. Come Rain Or Come Shine
(4:32) 10. Skylark
(2:57) 11. The Summer Wind
(4:39) 12. Let's Take The Long Way Home

A Johnny Mercer lyric always comes across as something authentically by him, a part of his real person, as lived and experienced by him and us ! He always strikes the right balance between nostalgia and optimism, between tenderness and passion; genuine emotions that we all can relate to and that accompany us through life. And beyond that, a wonderful singer himself, he is a singer's lyricist. His ambition was to write “a song that everybody loves and all the artists can’t wait to sing and record it”. That never failed. Every vowel is in its perfect spot, the intricate, often interior rhymes fall into place naturally and the lyric hugs the music in a way that makes every tune a shere joy to sing. I prepared my centennial tribute for several years, choosing out of the hundreds of songs the two dozen I find I truely cannot do without. They range from some of his very early lyrics ("Goody Goody") to some of his last ones ("The Summer Wind"), from the very famous ("Autumn Leaves", "One for My Baby") to maybe lesser known pieces like "Let's Take the Long Way Home" or "My Shining Hour". Out of all this wealth, personal highlights of my tribute CD are "Blues in the Night", "Fools Rush In" and my alltime favourite "Skylark". 

Before I started recording, I felt I just had to go to Mercer's hometown to walk in his steps, see the places that inspired him and talk to his friends and family. In my imagination, Savannah already existed as a dreamland, where a blossom covered lane leads toward a meadowland on the banks of the Moon River ... But its reality, its loveliness and the warmth and friendliness of the people by far surpassed my imagination and spurred my inspiration. All the immediately evocative countryside images that Mercer conveys in his lyrics are romantic in the original sense of the word. As a Berlin native, I consider them on a par with the poetry written by the great German romantics, where landscapes and emotions reflect and influence each other. "Autumn Leaves" is to my mind on the same level of greatness as Rilke's famous "Herbstlied" ("Autumn Song"), and the love, lust and longing tumbling in a spin in "That Old Black Magic" are as compelling as in Goethe's masterpiece "Gretchen am Spinnrad" ("Margaret at the Spinning Wheel"). To Mercer, writing songs was “an exciting, stimulating experience like an adventure in love”, and that’s exactly how I feel singing those songs. It is always a great thrill for me to make the audience aware that one great poet wrote such a varied range of timeless words and I'm very happy to have contributed a little bit to the celebration of his centennial.  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/susannabartilla2

Susanna Bartilla Chante Johnny Mercer - Live Au Sunside

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Susanna Bartilla - I Love Lee

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 34:52
Size: 81,1 MB
Art: Front

(2:30)  1. Why Don't You Do Right
(2:51)  2. Golden Earrings
(4:18)  3. I'm Through With Love
(3:14)  4. Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You
(2:48)  5. Johnny Guitar
(3:40)  6. Fever
(4:12)  7. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
(2:11)  8. Almost Like Being in Love
(2:33)  9. I Don't Know Enough About You (feat. Sean Gourley)
(2:47) 10. You Go to My Head
(3:43) 11. Once in a While

So which Lee does singer Susanna Bartilla love? Lee Marvin? Six Million Dollar Man Lee Majors? Both men would be intriguing subjects for a tribute album, but of course the answer lies elsewhere. It's there in tiny letters on the cover of I Love Lee, but it's even more obvious from the opening bars of Kansas Joe McCoy's "Why Don't You Do Right." This is a tribute to the great Peggy Lee. It's a fitting tribute, too, with excellent song selection, superb delivery and, despite the presence of a terrific backing band, a focus on the vocals rather than extended instrumental breaks.

Bartilla was born in Germany but has lived and worked in France for some years. She has a pure, bright, voice with a distinctive vibrato, which gives a fascinating dynamic to her interpretations of these Songbook classics a style more akin to chanteuses such as Edith Piaf rather than Lee's own approach.

This album appears within months of Swedish singer Jessica Pilnas' Norma Delores Egstrom: A Tribute To Peggy Lee (ACT, 2012). It's just a coincidence, but it does reflect the admiration in which Lee is still held. The two albums also show just how much scope Lee's music gives to artists; only the classic "Fever" appears on both recordings, while the distinctly different approaches of the singers and the contrasting instrumental lineups ensure that the albums complement each other beautifully. Pilnas was joined by vibraphone, trumpet and bass, giving her songs a bright, seductive, musical foundation. On I Love Lee Bartilla is accompanied by guitar, piano, bass and drums, and the result is a more blues-tinged feel, an earthier sensuality.

Bartilla is accompanied by the duo of bassist Claude Mouton and guitarist Sean Gourley on three tunes. Mouton's emphatic bass riff on "Fever" gives Gourlay a solid foundation for his rich-toned guitar, while the sparse bass and guitar lines on "Johnny Guitar" co-written by Lee and Victor Young for the 1954 film of the same name enhance the melancholy lyrics, which Bartilla delivers with just the right level of pathos.

The addition of pianist Alain Jean-Marie and drummer Aldo Romano gives songs such as "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and the positive, optimistic "Almost Like Being In Love" an added drive. On "I'm Through With Love" and "Once In A While" the pair creates a late-night atmosphere for the torch song tales Bartilla tells.

Gourley is a splendid guitarist, and also demonstrates his vocal prowess when he joins Bartilla for "I Don't Know Enough About You." His raw, bluesy, voice is a perfect complement to Bartilla's on this cheery, upbeat, number which is further enlivened by Jean-Marie's piano contribution.

I Love Lee has the endorsement of Peggy Lee's granddaughter, Holly Foster Wells. It's pleasing to see such an acknowledgement of Bartilla's work, a formal recognition of her respect for Lee's legacy and the quality of her tribute. ~ Bruce Lindsay  

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=43188#.UtbF-LRc_vs

Personnel: Susanna Bartilla: vocals; Sean Gourley: guitar, vocals (9); Alain Jean- Marie: piano; Claude Mouton: bass; Aldo Romano: drums.

I Love Lee

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