Sylvia Brooks - Restless

Styles: Jazz
Year: 2012
Time: 49:02
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Size: 112,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:50) 1. 'Round Midnight
(4:40) 2. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
(4:17) 3. You Go To My Head
(4:19) 4. Trouble
(4:33) 5. Last Tango
(4:14) 6. Be Cool
(4:58) 7. Blue Alert
(3:45) 8. Blues In the Night
(3:49) 9. You're My Thrill
(4:27) 10. Stormy Weather
(5:06) 11. I'm a Fool To Want You

Part the curtains and turn on the Klieg lights for singer Sylvia Brooks, whose second album, Restless, has the widescreen scope and orchestral sweep of a theatrical production. In fact, the record has the overall feel of a soundtrack for a film yet to be made. However, the kind of Hollywood movie this music recalls is certainly not of modern origin; rather, Brooks is paying homage to the film noir classics of the '40s and '50s. In terms of her image alone, Brooks certainly plays the part well; the CD case is enveloped in femme fatale imagery, capitalizing on her sultry looks but also experimenting with light and shadow to strike a black and white atmosphere. The visual element of the album is significant because it adds layers of mystery to the songs presented, placing these covers in a refreshingly pulpy context. Co-producers Brooks, Jerry Bergh and saxophonist Kim Richmond were certainly aware of the cinematic direction the songs were taking, as the opening "'Round Midnight" initially unfolds with ambulance sirens. The tune is given a James Bond kick as Brooks' larger-than-life voice recalls the booming soul of Shirley Bassey. The music sounds big, too, enveloping the speakers with its soaring horns and pounding drums. By the second cut, "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Brooks plumbs the emotional depths of the material; there is a plaintive romanticism to her vocal work here that is absolutely dazzling. While many other jazz singers are reluctant to expand their range, Brooks shows remarkable courage in continually pushing herself. The boldly self-confident swagger of "You Go to My Head" is miles apart from the heartbroken fragility of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams"; nevertheless, Brooks doesn't lose any sharpness in her stylistic shifts. The quirky stop-start rhythms of "Trouble" may seem out of place from the lush, rain-swept balladry on the record. That's probably because it's not really jazz; the song is an original from Over the Rhine, first heard on The Trumpet Child (Great Speckled Dog, 2007), and echoes CIncinatti duo's alt-rock sensibilities. The gorgeous "Blues in the Night" is, on the other hand, more characteristic of the record's moody crooning. For an independent project, Restless is certainly ambitious; this is no paint-by-numbers jazz vocal showcase, but a fully realized movie score. ~ Jim Olin

Personnel: Sylvia Brooks: vocals; Rich Eames: piano; Jeff Colella: piano; Kevin Axt: bass; Chris Colangelo: bass; Kendall Kay: drums; Steve Hernandez: percussion; Brian Kilgore: percussion; Harry Scorzo: violin, bass violin; Jeff Gauthier: violin; Jamey Havorka: trumpet; George McMullen: trombone; Kim Richmond: saxophone; Alex Budman: saxophone; Ron Kolina: harmonica.

Restless

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Sylvia Brooks - Signature

Styles: Vocal
File: MP3@224K/s
Time: 38:32
Size: 62,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:27) 1. Your Heart is as Black as Night
(4:46) 2. Catch 22
(4:18) 3. Red Velvet Rope
(3:55) 4. Over and Done
(3:47) 5. The Boy That Lived There
(3:34) 6. Sixteen
(3:59) 7. The Flea Markets of Paris
(4:26) 8. Holding Back Tears
(6:16) 9. Boogie Street

Since her captivating debut in 2009, jazz vocalist Sylvia Brooks has displayed a gift for inhabiting different personas, with a subspecialty in film- noir inspired femmes fatale. On this - Signature (Rhombus Records) - her fourth album, she embraces the most challenging role of all, defining herself with a set of beautifully crafted original songs.

Her evocative lyrics and emotionally direct delivery imbue the music with hard-won authenticity. Whether looking back with wry affection on her walk-on-the-wild-side youth or lamenting a lost love, Brooks brings bracing honesty and poise to the material.

Artistically, she is collaborating with Southern California's most creative accompanists: ace pianists Tom Ranier, Jeff Colella, and Christian Jacob designed beguiling, harmonically rich settings for her incisive lyrics. The stellar rhythm section tandem of drummer Ray Brinker and bassist Trey Henry appear on almost every track. Also featuring cellists John Waltz, lead cellist for The Los Angeles Opera Company, Stephanie Fife and Mike Kaufman.

Highlights include the cautionary tale "Red Velvet Rope" which is set to a sensuous Latin groove by cuatro master Kiki Valera, scion of a legendary Cuban musical clan. And she sways through swingtown, from the witty "Catch 22" to the passionately romantic "The Flea Markets of Paris." The two songs she includes by other artists, Melody Gardot's bluesy, organ-driven "Your Heart Is as Black as Night" and the Leonard Cohen/Sharon Robinson erotic lament "Boogie Street" seem to raise the temperature of her own work. This album marks a quantum leap reflecting years of concentrated effort.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmusic/article/SingerSongwriter-Sylvia-Brooks-Releases-Signature-20220602

Signature

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Sylvia Brooks - The Arrangement

Size: 150,3 MB
Time: 64:30
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (4:12)
02. Cold, Cold Heart (4:18)
03. Body & Soul (5:34)
04. Eleanor Rigby (4:34)
05. What Was I Thinking (4:23)
06. Midnight Sun (5:46)
07. Maybe I'm A Fool (5:31)
08. Guess Who I Saw Today (3:51)
09. Besame Mucho (6:20)
10. Tender Trap (4:11)
11. Sweet Surrender (3:59)
12. Night And Day (4:23)
13. Never Let Me Go (3:39)
14. Angel Eyes (3:44)

With her first two critically acclaimed albums, jazz vocalist Sylvia Brooks introduced a sensuous jazz-noir sound redolent of femme fatales and tough guys, crooked deals and deep-shadowed urban nightscapes. But no great artist wants to be typecast, and with her third album, The Arrangement, she steps out of the mist and fog into the sunlight, where she reveals herself as a singer at home in just about any narrative. An intimate collaboration with an array of brilliant Los Angeles arrangers.

When an artist succeeds in a particular niche she always faces pressure to repeat the performance, but Brooks had no intention of limiting herself. “I wanted to explore different musical styles,” she says. “I love Latin influenced music, big band swing, and rich ballads. I want to explore the whole spectrum musically.”

With a sumptuous velvet-rich voice and emotionally incisive phrasing, Brooks is far too protean a talent to be confined to any particular plotline. In creating The Arrangement, she didn’t just set out to investigate different moods and rhythms. She invited a dazzling cast of writers to craft bespoke charts tailored stylishly for her voice, while giving them casting carte blanche, an act of trust that led to a project marked by a glorious diversity of settings.

Starting with Kim Richmond, who collaborated on her first two albums, she connected with a superlative collection of accompanist/arrangers, including Venezuelan-born pianist Otmaro Ruiz (Dianne Reeves), pianist Jeff Colella (Lou Rawls), French-born pianist Christian Jacob (Tierney Sutton, Betty Buckley), and pianist Quinn Johnson (Steve Tyrell, Diana Ross) “who all have very different styles,” Brooks says. “Quinn is very different from Otmaro, who’s got an entirely different sensibility from Christian.”

Brooks choose the songs, and gave the arrangers two directives. They had to use a combination of brass and reeds, and they could choose the musicians they felt would best serve the direction of the piece, “so it was a real collaboration,” Brooks says. “I wanted them to have complete freedom.”

The album opens with Ruiz’s lush setting for “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (Quizas, Quizas, Quizas),” an intoxicating piece that connects Brooks to the Cuban music she heard growing up in Miami. He provides Brooks with another sleek and sensuous Latin vehicle on the oft-interpreted standard “Besame Mucho,” which she delivers as a passionate fever dream accelerated by a simmer tenor sax solo by the reed master Bob Sheppard.

Brooks takes an unexpected left turn as Johnson’s brassy, briskly swinging arrangement transforms Hank Williams’ classic country lament “Cold Cold Heart.” He also proved to be an ideal songwriting collaborator for Brooks, who contributes original lyrics to three beautifully wrought pieces, starting with their slyly funky anthem about mistaken first impressions “What Was I Thinking (The Mirage).” She teamed with the multi award-winning composer Patrick Williams on “Maybe I’m A Fool,” a lovely portrait of romantic self-doubt arranged with rollercoaster energy by Johnson.

Jacob, who wrote the widely hailed score for Clint Eastwood’s 2016 film Sully, collaborated with Brooks on one of the album’s most arrestingly beautiful pieces, “Sweet Surrender,” an intimate piano and voice duet with a graceful melody that needs no embellishments. Another standout track is Jacob’s quietly dramatic setting of Lennon and McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby,” a rendition so effective and unforgettable as a jazz vehicle (listen to the deft interplay of Jacob’s Fender Rhodes chords and Larry Koonse’s guitar) that one can only marvel at her ingenuity.

Clearly undaunted by legendary artists, Brooks puts her personal stamp on “Guess Who I Saw Today,” the forlorn narrative indelibly linked to Nancy Wilson. She closes the album with an unforgettable version of “Angel Eyes,” a haunting Richmond arrangement that links back to Brooks earlier jazz-noir albums. She’s still a riveting raconteur when it comes to tales of loss and heartbreak, but she’s got a lot of other stories to tell on The Arrangement.

The Arrangement

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Sylvia Brooks - Dangerous Liaisons

Styles: Vocal Jazz
Year: 2009
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:56
Size: 95,5 MB
Art: Front

(3:17)  1. Come Rain Or Come Shine
(4:42)  2. One For My Baby
(3:44)  3. Never Dance
(5:56)  4. Harlem Nocturne
(2:55)  5. Sway
(5:13)  6. Cry Me A River
(4:37)  7. Sophisticated Lady
(2:37)  8. When The Sun Comes Out
(3:47)  9. Lush Life
(4:05) 10. The Man That Got Away

Sylvia Brooks has the look of a classic Hollywood femme fatale, suggesting an auburn-haired variation on Veronica Lake with a hint of Rita Hayworth. And Brooks sings precisely the way she looks a dark, smoky sound with impressive firepower that seems tailor-made for the sort of plush, palm-treed nightclubs that dotted L.A. in the 1940s and ’50s. Those intimate boîtes spots like Ciro’s, The Tally-Ho, The Encore and the richly historied Cocoanut Grove are gone now, but Brooks is rapidly emerging as an SRO favorite at the chic venues that have replaced them, including Catalina’s, the Jazz Bakery and Vitello’s Jazz and Supper Club. Now, with the release of Brooks’ debut CD, the aptly titled Dangerous Liaisons, the wider world can share Los Angelinos’ discovery of her alluring sultriness. Brooks can swing hot and hard, as illustrated by a blistering “Never Dance” and an equally scorching “Sway.” She can also swing brightly, taking “Come Rain or Come Shine” at mid-tempo to ably capture the depth of the Arlen/Mercer gem’s ardor, and holding her torch high on a sweltering “When the Sun Comes Out.” 

But Brooks is perhaps best at examining love’s murkier corners. That she was an accomplished actress before she set her focus on singing is evident in her tackling of four of the most challenging numbers in the entire American songbook “Sophisticated Lady,” “Lush Life,” “One for My Baby” and “The Man That Got Away” (the latter mistakenly credited to Harold Arlen and George Gershwin, when it was Ira Gershwin who crafted the lyric, 16 years after his brother’s demise). They are the Mount Rushmore of 3 a.m. tunes, and many a capable vocalist has failed at scaling even one of them. That Brooks ably captures the near-maddening disillusionment and bourbon-fueled bitterness that pervade all four is testament to her estimable storytelling skills. But significant credit is also due Brooks’ arrangers. Top of the list is Tom Gavin, whose masterful touch adorns seven of the album’s ten tracks. Kudos, too, to saxophonist/flautist Kim Richmond who teamed with Gavin to shape “The Man That Got Away” and single-handedly put the dizzying swirl in “Sway,” and to pianist Jeff Colella, who painted the film noir backdrop for Brooks’ exquisite, indigo-hued “Harlem Nocturne” and placed “One for My Baby” in an unexpectedly dreamy setting that is stunningly effective. ~ Christopher Loudon  http://jazztimes.com/articles/26349-sylvia-brooks-dangerous-liaisons

Personnel: Sylvia Brooks (vocals); Kim Richmond, Alex Budman (flute, saxophone); Jamie Havorka (trumpet); Jeff Colella (piano); Giovanna Imbesi (keyboards); Kendall Kay (drums); Brian Kilgore (percussion).

Dangerous Liaisons

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