Tianna Hall, The Mexico City Jazz Trio - Lost In The Stars

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:46
Size: 149,2 MB
Art: Front

(5:21)  1. You Don't Know Me
(3:36)  2. Fever
(6:31)  3. Lost In The Stars
(4:35)  4. The Way You Look Tonight
(4:19)  5. In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
(4:07)  6. Pure Imagination
(5:06)  7. In The Still Of The Night
(3:27)  8. It's Alright With Me
(4:45)  9. As Long As He Needs Me
(4:22) 10. If I Were A Bell
(4:25) 11. What A Difference A Day Makes
(4:03) 12. Cool
(5:50) 13. At Last
(4:13) 14. Old Friend

Rising star in the world of vocal jazz, Tianna Hall delivers with an exceptionally creative album featuring the musicianship and improvisational skill of her band, the Mexico City Jazz Trio: Agustin Bernal-Bass, Miguel Villicana-Piano & Gabriel Puentes-Drums. Then, of course there is her buttery phrasing and lush tone... purrrrrrfect...

Tianna Hall is a 27 year-old Vocalist from Houston, Texas and a former titleholder of the Miss America Organization. She began honing her craft at the age of 4 and only found her musical path and rightful destination three years ago in jazz. She was working professionally in regional musical theater houses & performing as a 'legit' operatic vocalist for 10 years before Houston pianist/composer/arranger Paul English encouraged her to pursue jazz. Her natural ability and instincts would allow her to blossom into an exceptional jazz vocalist and she soon became the most sought after working singer in the city. 

Tianna has been blessed to work with some of the finest musicians in the world and is thrilled about this release with her band from Mexico. She was encouraged by bandleader, bassist and mentor Agustin Bernal to come down to Mexico City to record with his trio and this spectacular musical endevour is the end result. Some of Miss Hall's musical mentors and influences include pianists Dave Catney, Fred Hersch, Paul English, Hal Lanier, Vocalist Dana Rogers, and Duke Ellington Orchestra alumnus Marsha Frazier. Tianna's vocals are influenced by varied artists such as Otis Redding, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, Patti Labelle, Cecilia Bartoli, Renee Fleming, Maria Callas, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, Harry Connick, jr., Kurt Elling, Michael Buble & Jane Monheit. 

For more information please visit TiannaHall.com * jazzhouston.com. https://www.fye.com/tianna-hall---lost-in-the-stars-pid.2572340946.html

Lost In The Stars

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Tianna Hall & The Mexico City Jazz Trio - Two For The Road

Size: 126,3 MB
Time: 54:05
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2012
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Til There Was You (2:39)
02. What Is This Thing Called Love (3:21)
03. When October Goes (4:37)
04. They Can't Take That Away From Me (3:09)
05. Creep (3:24)
06. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To (3:01)
07. Black Hole Sun (4:25)
08. I've Never Been In Love Before (3:06)
09. Good Morning Heartache (4:51)
10. I'm Not In Love (4:50)
11. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down & Write Myself A Letter (2:34)
12. So In Love (5:57)
13. Moon River (3:36)
14. Two For The Road (4:29)

Tianna Hall's fifth recording, Two For The Road, and her first since Never Let Me Go (Blue Bamboo, 2011), continues to document the singer's evolution within the mainstream of jazz vocals. Thoroughly trained in the vocal arts at the University of Houston, Hall has progressively refined her smart and sexy delivery with each recording. Hall has achieved a vocal facility that is the equivalent of Lauren Bacall telling Humphrey Bogart how to whistle in the 1944 film To Have and Have Not: "You just put your lips together...and blow."

The combination of Hall with The Mexico City Jazz Trio, which also joined her on her 2007, self-produced Lost in the Stars, makes for a potent and swinging synergy that breathes new life into the standard repertoire. Hall shows she is the complete package on the opening "Til There Was You," where she sings with effortless and conversational confidence. The trio is sharp and precise, accenting Hall's vocal twists and turns. She turns her playful and smart sexiness on in her duet with saxophonist/vocalist David Caceres on Duke Ellington's "They Can't Take That Away from Me." Frank Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside" deserves these two as singers. "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" and the title tune prove Hall's Swing ability at brisk and slow tempi.

Ever the surprise, Hall introduces three (relatively) recent compositions to her recorded repertoire. She makes Soundgarden's staple, "Black Hole Sun," sway as if scored by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Radiohead's "Creep" receives a stripped-down, emotive reading, with Hall singing sardonically in tandem with bassist Agustin Bernal's determined momentum. Hall fashions the piece in the mainstream jazz idiom effectively, demonstrating that even newer and more demanding compositions can provide the fuel for interpretation and improvisation.

Eric Stewart and 10cc's 1970s ballad, "I'm Not In Love," fits perfectly between "Good Morning Heartache" and "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," while cleverly interpolating Miles Davis' "So What." The art of jazz vocals has a good keeper in Tianna Hall. C. Michael Bailey

Personnel: Tianna Hall: vocals; Miguel Villicana: piano; Agustin Bernal: bass; Gabriel Puentes: drums; David Caceres: vocals and saxophone (4); Mike Wheeler: guitar (4, 14); Lisa Vosdoganes: cello.

Two For The Road

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Tianna Hall - Hit Me With A Hot Note

Size: 155,3 MB
Time: 67:04
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Bill Bailey (Won't You Please Come Home) (2:47)
02. Hit Me With A Hot Note (And Watch Me Bounce) (5:08)
03. Cry Me River (4:40)
04. Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me (5:29)
05. Angel Eyes (6:45)
06. Too Marvelous For Words (3:49)
07. You Go To My Head (5:03)
08. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby (6:50)
09. Just One Of Those Things (5:27)
10. Love For Sale (5:53)
11. The Man I Love (4:06)
12. Exactly Like You (3:58)
13. Goody Goody (4:00)
14. Rock Me Baby (3:02)

With Texas Troubadour Jacqui Sutton splitting her time between Texas and parts West and taking on roll of Houston Jazz Mafia consigliere and Aussie reeds-mistress capo regime Alisha Pattillo staking out the Gulf, vocalist Tianna Hall remains as the undisputed Godmother of this Houston Jazz family. Hall has decided, in the hellish climes of the Texas summer, to release her finest recording to date, Hit Me With a High Note. A collection of standards that any lesser artist should take great care in covering, Hall throws these tunes off like Lord Byron did poetry on a bender. Addressing all of the high points of recording: song selection, musician selection and programming, Hall comes fully into her own.

Houston is home to an impressive collection of excellent musicians, several of whom Hall assembles here. Eschewing piano as harmony instrument, Hall taps the superb guitarist Paul Douglas Chester whose grace and musical charm knows no equal. Trumpeter Dennis Dotson and saxophonist Warren Sneed carefully season these sacred jazz pieces as they are held still by the rhythm section of Chester, bassist David Craig and drummer Sebastian Whittaker.

"Angel Eyes," "Bill Bailey," and "Cry Me a River" set the pace for this compelling look at the Great American Songbook at ground level. The title song employs everyone in a strolling, blues-inflected piece of excellent writing. Hall's voice is at once sexy and familiar, like the girl next door you finally noticed. Sneed and Dotson provide note-perfect solos that whisk Hall and company right along to a near perfect performance.

A Cole Porter expert, Hall rips a brisk-paced, Latin "Love for Sale" featuring Chester's best single-string and chordal soloing, illustrating that a singer need only a rhythm section to make things great happen. She rips through an up-tempo "The Man I Love" sliding home into a lowdown "Rock Me Baby" where Hall gets her socks dirty while Chester plays a crisp Texas blues for a masters' class in how-to-do-it. Hall and company have produced a recording every bit as intoxicating as the closer, "You Go to My Head." Warm island breezes and a kicker in a julep or two... ~by C. Michael Bailey
Personnel: Tianna Hall: vocals; Paul Chester: guitar; David Craig: upright bass; Sebastian Whittaker: snare drum/brushes, Dennis Dotson: trumpet; Warren Sneed: saxophone.

Hit Me With A Hot Note

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Tianna Hall & Danny McKnight - Ballads & Bossas

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 64:01
Size: 146.6 MB
Styles: Bossa Nova, Easy Listening
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[5:26] 1. Moonlight Serenade
[3:57] 2. Dindi
[5:25] 3. My Foolish Heart
[2:48] 4. So Danco Samba
[4:33] 5. That's All
[5:59] 6. Nearness of You
[3:58] 7. Hallelujah
[3:31] 8. L'il Darlin' [Instrumental]
[5:00] 9. Embraceable You
[4:50] 10. I'm Thru With Love
[3:48] 11. Gone With the Wind
[3:51] 12. What'll I Do
[6:11] 13. A Nightingale Sang In Berkely Square
[4:37] 14. I'll Be Seeing You

This sumptuous collection of ballads & bossa novas features some of Houston's finest including Dennis Dotson, Tim Solook, Aric Nitzberg and percussionist Fernando Ledesma. The album was produced by Vocalist Tianna Hall, Guitarist Danny McKnight and Bassist/Engineer Aric Nitzberg, mastered by Mike Tristan.

A Grammy recognized collection of some of Tianna's favorite Ballads & Bossa Novas with an easy going, laid back feel. Perfect for a relaxing evening with a bottle of wine. Featuring Guitarist/Arranger Danny McKnight with guest appearances from Trumpet legend Dennis Dotson & Bassist/Producer Aric Nitzberg.

Ballads & Bossas

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Tianna Hall - Never Let Me Go

Styles: Jazz Vocals, Bossa Nova
Label: Blue Bamboo Music
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:45
Size: 123,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:29)  1. My Blue Heaven
(5:42)  2. I Wanna Be Around
(3:38)  3. Never Let Me Go
(3:14)  4. Samba Do Aviao
(5:27)  5. You Don't Know What Love Is
(4:46)  6. Secret Love
(5:52)  7. Charade
(3:56)  8. Fotografia
(3:29)  9. You And The Night And The Music
(4:28) 10. I Can't Get Started (With You)
(4:16) 11. I Love You
(5:23) 12. Everything Happens To Me

Never Let Me Go is Houston-native vocalist Tianna Hall's third release, and first for Blue Bamboo Music, following her self-produced Lost in the Stars (2007) and Ballads and Bossas (2010). Hall has preferred the intimacy of smaller accompaniment on her first two recordings, a preference she carries to Never Let Me Go. The singer is support by guitarists Mike Wheeler and Mike Nase, cellist Lisa Vasdoganes and percussionist James Metcalfe in a style that is equal parts Hot Club, Carnegie Hall, and Grand Old Opry. Hall's performance style is one of Americana, paralleling that of fellow singer and Houstonian Jacqui Sutton and her Frontier Orchestra (Billie & Dolly (Toy Blue Typewriter, 2010)). 

The music's personality is a bit sepia-toned with contemporary notes of modernity. Americana is not all that is featured as Hall's Portuguese is impeccable and she can spin a web with composer Antonio Carlos Jobim. On Never Let Me Go, it is about standards and Hall's steamy-sardonic take on the Broadway writers Arthur Schwartz

Howard Dietz classic "You and the Night and the Music" from the 1934 Broadway show Revenge With Music removes the love song to a more complex and provocative level. Well-covered, the piece is propelled into full swing mode by Wheeler and Nase, who provide an orchestra of support.

One guitar provides a bass line and rhythm and the other filigree with Hall rushing the lyrics just ahead of the beat, giving her singing a laconic, matter-of-fact tone. Hall's voice is a solid alto with sensual grit, not too little and not too much: just enough love dust to get the point across. She sings as an impatient lover comforting her insecure love object in seduction. The projected sentiment is compounded and compelling. Wheeler and Nase both solo to great effect within these small confines proving often less is more. The piece is a triumph of minimization, where brevity wins every time.~C.Michael Bailey

(http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=39987#.UfRO2ayAc1I).

Personnel: Tianna Hall: vocals; Mike Wheeler: guitar; Mike Nase: guitar.

Never Let Me Go

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