What’s a singer to do? Stay with the standards? Re-interpret them? Do new material? Do forward thinking material? Here are three woman who are answering the questions.
Ranee Lee mixes standards of days gone by and some Motown as well on this set with Richard Ring/g, Taurey Butler-Chad Linsley/p, Morgan Moore-Dave Watts/b, Dave Laing/dr, Chet Doxas/sax and a string section. The Carmen McRae-voiced lady makes some intriguing atmospheres with the strings on “ Lazy Afternoon” and Curtis Mayfield’s “One Love” while she proves here flexibility with bop on a hip take of “I Mean You” and her own uptempo “Echoes of the Heart.” She does a nice laid back take of the Marvin Gaye classic “What’s Going On” and shows her own soul on a lovely waltz “Silent Tears.” Impressive outing!
The sparkling Dara Tucker composes almost all of the material here, sans the thoughtful “Over The Rainbow” (with some nice piano by Helen Sung) and “The Nearness of You” which shows her crystalline charm in the a cappella intro. Rounding out the team of Donald Edwards/dr, Gret Bryant/b, Peter Bernstein/g, John Ellis/ts-bcl and Alan Ferber/tb, Tucker brings forth an R&B ish “Sometimes Love” which even includes a quote from “Another One Bites The Dust.” Some sleek straightahead jazz feels just right on “Morning Sun” and some funky gip sounds with bass clarinet are on a hep “Sun, See Through Me.” Very fresh.
Elizabeth Shepherd also composes and arranges everything here, but the sound is much more electronic and synthesized. She has artists like Lionel Loueke/g, Ross MacIntyre/b, Colin Kingsmore-Roman Tome/dr and Kevin Turcotte/tp in the mix, but the piano, Rhodes and other samples make this a much murkier session. Moody evocations are in abundance on “Another Day” and “Lion’s Den” while her cool voice sets off steam like dry ice on “Willow” and “I Gave.” Very forward looking.
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