CD Review: Debbie Spring, "Tocamos"

 

You don't usually hear Jazz musicians playing in a Jazz group including a Viola however, when you listen  Debbie Spring's recent CD, "Tocamos" it is a breath of fresh air.  Debbie Spring is a classically trained Viola player of the highest skill level, and she plays a five-string viola that in itself is rare.  At first glance, the Viola looks very similar to a Violin.  Both are tuned in perfect fifths.  Debbie gives us insight into what the differences are.  The Violin tuning is G, D, A and E.  While the strings of the Viola are tuned one fifth lower than the Violin,  C, G, D and A.  In addition, Debbie has added a high E string to her instrument to be able to play closer to the the range of a Violin. 

Debbie Spring has written all of the compositions for her CD except "Fragile" which was composed and recorded by Sting.   She performs her music in a technically flawless manner and her songs are very lyrical and accessible to the listener.   Her tones on the Viola produce a beautiful, warming and mellow sound.  Her classical background and her dexterity and creativity while playing her Viola reminds us that the line between Classical and Jazz is sometimes hard to identify.  Good music is never limited by genre and Debbie Spring's composing and performing make that point very clear.  One of her favoite gigs was touring with Shakira, "I loved playing with Shakira. I'm a Jazz musician at heart and Shakira didn't dictate what I was supposed to play.  She let me improvise, and I had some of the most fun trading riffs with her on the stage".

I have attached below two "YouTube" recordings from her album.  The first is a tango titled, "Tango Y Mas".  The inspriation for this song came as a result of Debbie's many trips to Argentina with Shakira where she fell in love with the music.  Debbie brought in two-time Grammy winner, Howard Levy who is a widely acknowledged master of diatonic harmonica to give the tango a different direction.  It's a beautiful piece of creative music.  The second song is "Senegal" which was written in 5/4 time and is supported by Rusty Heck on Bass and David Schanzer on Percussion with rhythms captured in West Africa.     

 

                                                                      "Tango Y Mas" 

                                                                            "Senegal"

PLAYLIST:

1. Mockingbird

2. Fragile

3. Summer

4. Tocamos/English

5. Bossa Minha

6. Tango Y Mas

7. Senegal

8. Tocamos/Spanish

PLAYERS:

Debbie Spring- 5 String Viola, Compositions

Hal Roland- Piano, Keyboards, Vocals Track 2

Rusty Heck- Bass and Compositions Track 4 & 5

Ettienne Fuentes Jr- Drums

Scott Marischen- Harp Track 2

Phil Fest- Guitar Track 5 

Howard Levy- Harmonica Track 6

David Schnazer- Percussion Tracks 2,5,6,7  Keyboard Track 7

Julio Matta- Percussion Tracks 4 & 8

Eddy "Oriente" Balzola: Vocals Tracks 4 & 8, Composition Tracks 4 & 8w