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| Christmas Special On Laura Ainsworth’s Stellar Debut CD  Texas-based singer Laura Ainsworth is back in the studio this month with her partner, producer/arranger/pianist/Dallas Jazz Musician of the Year Brian Piper, recording "Necessary Evil, " the follow-up to her critically-acclaimed debut, "Keep It To Yourself." The daughter of the late, legendary big band saxophonist/clarinetist/arranger Billy Ainsworth, who was playing with Tommy Dorsey behind Frank Sinatra at age 17, Laura grew up watching her dad back such jazz royalty as Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and Mel Torme. The Great American Songbook is in her blood. On "Keep It To Yourself, " she breathes new life into both standards and obscurities, from "Midnight Sun" to "He's So Unusual, " while putting a classic, retro jazz spin on newer songs, such as the darkly hilarious title track and Marshall Crenshaw's rocker, "Fantastic Planet of Love, " reimagined as a space-age lounge jazz battle between Piper's ultra-cool electric organ runs and Noel Johnston's out-of-this-world electric guitar. With backing from such stellar sidemen as bassist John Adams, percussionist Mike Drake and sax/clarinet virtuoso Chris McGuire, plus special guests, guitarist Chris Derose and violinist Milo Deering of the hot fusion band Beatlegras, "Keep It To Yourself" came out of nowhere to score worldwide airplay and stellar reviews: "You can keep all those pop divas. The only one for me is Laura Ainsworth...Ainsworth has beauty, brains, sophistication and comic timing that make her a total performance package...A wonderful modern interpreter of the Great American Songbook as well as thoroughly modern styles." - Eric Harabadian, Jazz Inside "Ainsworth's voice is sublime as it caresses top-notch musicianship by a slew of southwest jazz players...It's a very warm, elegant album with just enough big stage flair." - Mario Tarradell, Dallas Morning News "…Weaves past and present with stunning power…It might not be long before Dallas is not just known for its oil, Cowboys, and J.R. Ewing but a funny lady with a jewel of a voice..." - Robert Sutton, JazzCorner.com "Singing in a satiny, impossibly old-fashioned, nearly three-octave voice, Ainsworth is the very portrait of West Coast cool…" Her update of Skylark is "the transcendent moment every singer hopes for when they dig out one of those dusty, decades-old favorites…The results are devastatingly beautiful, nakedly honest, and a powerful argument for the ageless compositions that Ainsworth so clearly treasures..." - Nick DeRiso, SomethingElseReviews.com "A spectacular CD...Takes the ambiance of the '40's and '50's supper clubs/bands and elegantly mingles that feel with modern day flair." – RadioIndy.com write your comments about the article :: © 2012 Jazz News :: home page |