I gotta tell you, of all the types of albums that get me worried, none do it better than female jazz vocalists. What? Another one?!? PLEASE!!!
What a relief to find a vocalist who sounds fresh, lyrical and having something new to offer besides the Standard Collection of Standards. If I hear “My Funny Valentine” ONE MORE TIME…
Ok, I feel better.
Camille Bertault has an alluring nasal delivery, and she uses it to great advantage with a flexible and swinging team of Oliver Hutman/p-key, Gildas Bocle’/b and Antoine Paganotti/dr on a mix of originals and clever reworkings of jazz hits. Of the latter, she gets dreamy with Bocle’ on Wayne Shorter’s “Infant Eyes” and goes from suave to swinging as she vocalizes and scats on Jimmy Rowles’ “Peacocks.” She shows her bop chops on Herbie Hancock’s kinetic “Empty Pockets” while Ellington’s “Prelude To A Kiss” is lonely, lovely and askance. On the title piece, Hutman delivers a hip little keyboard riff while Bertault weaves around and over it, while her wide range on material such as “Course” and the snappy “Double Face” is as effortless as it is impressive. She does a nice arm wrestle with Pagonitti on “Tatie Cardy” before she closes the album skating along during the gentle “Satiesque.” She sounds releaxed, mixing hints of cabaret, chasson and bohemia but always with an authoritative amount of jazz chops that mix words and wordless vocals like parts of a rich textured sauce. Bravo!
Sunnyside Records