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| The warm-toned, versatile, and swinging jazz singer Gretje Angell releases her debut CD, In Any Key Gretje Angell, the daughter and granddaughter of drummers, was born to sing jazz. Her alluring voice has a beautiful tone, she digs into the lyrics that she interprets, and she is a superior scat-singer. For her debut recording, In Any Key (named cheekily after Dori's ability to play any song in any key at Gretje's behest), Ms. Angell is joined by guitarist-producer Dori Amarilio, Chuck Berghofer, Kevin Axt or Gabe Davis on bass, drummer Steve Haas, percussionist Kevin Winard, and a few guest musicians. The first four selections display the set's variety and quality. They include a bossa-nova version of "Our Love Is Here To Stay" (which has some warm and inventive scatting), a swinging rendition of "I'm Old Fashioned, " a quietly sensual and Latin-flavored "Fever, " and the ballad "Deep In A Dream" in which the singer shows how she sounds being accompanied by a 60 piece orchestra. The high quality continues throughout the second half of the program which includes "Berimbau" (on which Gretje Angell sounds like she is a native of Brazil), a revival of Duke Ellington's "Do Nothing Til You Hear From Me, " and three duets with guitarist Amarilio: "One Note Samba, " a charming rendition (complete with verse) of "Tea For Two, " and an uptempo and scat-filled "Theme There Eyes." "Gretje Angell was born in Akron, Ohio and early in life she regularly accompanied her father to jazz clubs for his gigs. She learned to play string bass and cherishes her memories of playing with her father at jam sessions. She studied classical music in college, spent time away from music, moved to Los Angeles, and became an important part of the local jazz scene. In addition to leading her own groups, she has sung with the Ladd McIntosh Swing Orchestra, Jack's Cats, and Glen Garrett's Big Band, also being active as a soprano with the Los Angeles Metropolitan Opera Company." Gretje Angell has worked often with guitarist-producer-arranger Dori Amarilio and he makes many valuable contributions to In Any Key. It is a very impressive debut by a talented and promising jazz singer who is well Available From: •Amazon •CDBaby •iTunes Gretje Angell "in any key" (GREVLINTO 00-001) Street Date: July 25, 2019 Gretje Angell – Vocals + Dori Amarilio - Guitar, Kevin Axt - Bass, Steve Hass - Drums, Kevin Winard – Percussion, Chuck Berghofer - Bass, Michael Hunter - Trumpet, Orchestra - Budapest Scoring write your comments about the article :: © 2019 Jazz News :: home page |