Two recent albums of ladies at the mic…
Porcelain toned vocalist Miki Purnell teams up with some of LA’s finest with pianist Tamir Hendelman, drummer Dean Koba, bassist Alex Frank and a supporting cast of Bob Sheppard/ax-cl-fl, Pat Kelley/g and Tommy Aros/ perc through some rich reads of jazz standards. She’s classy and luminous as she goes it alone with Hendelman on a handful of tunes, as “Quiet Now” is serene, “You Are There” a beauty of an aria and “Midnight Bloom” an intimate moment of passion. She shows she can assert herself on a Latin read of “No Moon at All” while she coos with Kelly on “ Love Dance” and gets dramatic with Sheppard for “’Round Midnight/Midnight Madness Called Jazz.” Flexible forms.
Just shows how looks can be deceiving. Judging the book by the cover, vocalist Carrie Wicks appears to be someone who’d be comfortable interpreting the Crosby, Stills and Nash songbook. Instead, the Norah Jones-toned lady has a soulful sizzle to her voice, giving us some original pieces that are clever, catchy and swinging. She teams with Bill Anschell/p, Brent Jensen/ss-as, D’Vonne Lewis/dr and Jeff Johnson/b, with the tunes ranging from a rich teaming of voice and piano on ”Remember” to saucy Latin work on “Paginas En Blanco.” She slinks like she’s got sawdust under her shoes on “A Love For Just Part” and is relaxed like she’s nursing her Merlot during a rich read of “Some Other Spring.” She can go from coy on “Wide Open” to funky on the post bop “Shadow Play” without dropping a stitch. If she hits So Cal, don’t miss her!