Women of the word…
Water color toned vocalist Yvonne Flores mixes and matches musicians with her album of originals and a couple of covers. Including, but not limited to the team of Jo Cohen/ts, Peter Horvath-David Mathews/p-key, Ray Obiedo-Mike Wollenberg/g, Marc van Wageningen-John Shifflet/b and Jason Lewis-Colin Douglas/dr, Flores gets sassy with Elena Pinderhughes’ flute on the title tune, soulful with Mike Olmos/fh for “Wild Is The Wind” and inviting for the cozy “Breathlessly”. She’s a bit poppish on “Antidote” but gets tender and intimate when she dresses down and duets with Wollenberg on a lovely “Till There Was You”. Tender mercies.
Raised in the war torn world of Lebanon, vocalist Christiane Karam uses her music to heal people “from one of the planet’s darkest nights of the soul”. This album with Vadim Neselovskyup/p, Naseem Alatrash/cel, Peter Slavov/b and Keita Ogawa/perc mixes sounds and atmospheres from various parts of the world, using wordless vocals, lyrics and poetry to touch the listener’s heart and stir up passion for life and not destruction.
She includes harrowing “interludes” with lyrics such as “Everything is death where I come from” while her voice broods over the bowed and picked strings on the title tune. She gives a cantoral cry on the pizzicato’d “Petite Peyat” from Bulgaria, and agonizes in meditation during the traditional Hungarian piece “Peine”. There’s an intimate mood with Neselovskyup on Tom Jobim’s “Btiji Aola Bali” and she’s delicate and soft on “Halla’ Fallayt”. Songs with arms that reach out.
Vocalist, lyricist and arranger Kristen Lee Sergeant leads a band with Jeb Patton/p, Hannah Marks/b, Jay Sawyer/dr, Jody Redhage Ferber/cel and Ted Nash/ss through a wide range of originals. Her voice has a Broadway clear sound, working well as it broods with bass and cello on “Let’s Fall”, sauntering with Patton on “Infinity Blues” and slinky on “Honey”. She tells a clear story with rumbling support on “Sisyphus” and does creative things with multi-voices on the post bopping “Charoscuro”and the hip “Orpheus”. She shows her bop chops with Nash on “That Old Black Magic” and classical stylings on the star lit “Autumn Nocturne”. Rich reads.