CD Review: Mary Foster Conklin."These Precious Days"

 

Jazz Vocalist and radio host Mary Foster Conklin has released her fifth album, "These Precious Days" in February of this year.  The  theme of this CD features mostly outstanding women composers plus a mix of lessor-known but terrific Jazz and Pop tunes.  

Conklin has been playing music that celebrates women composers and lyricists on her radio show, called "A Broad Spectrum-the Ladies of Jazz", since 2016.  The program streams online every Sunday on WFDU.FM's HD2 channel at http://www.wfdu.fm which is broadcast from Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

Mary Foster Conklin has a strong, clear voice and she has a real focus on the lyrics in the songs she selects. Her phrasing and understanding of the meaning of the lyric of every song she sings makes listening to her a real pleasure.  Master oil painters have often said that you need to have a connection to any painting you work on or it will project no emotional message.  The same is true for singing,  the very best Vocalists have an emotional connection with the the lyric.  Mary Foster Conklin not only sings songs that have lyrics she can relate too, she also chooses melodies that inspire her.  Both of these personal requirements show up on her new CD, "These Precious Days".  The collection of songs is wonderful and satisfiying to the listener.

I selected two songs on the album to attach for your listening pleasure that really appealed to me.  The first is "Summertime" but it's not the Gershwin classic.  This song was written by the great poet, Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson.  Conklin sings this song like she is telling her own story.   The second one is a relatively unknown song written by Dory Previn and her x-husband Andre Previn set to a samba tempo.  

Conklin has invited some very high-level musicians to join her on this CD.  John Di Martino is on Piano and wrote all the arrangements.  Sara Caswell plays violin and will be heard on the first cut, "Summertime".  Ed Howard on Bass, Vince Cherico on Drums, Guilherme Monteiro on Guitar and Samuel Torres on Percussion.

PLAYLIST:

1. Summertime

2. Some Cats Know

3. Just A Little Lovin

4. Come in From the Rain

5. Scars

6. Just For Now

7. A Little White Ship

8. Heart's Desire

9. Rainbow

10. Until It's time for You to Go

11. September Song   

 

   "Summertime"

                                                          

                                                                     "Just For Now"

CD Review: "Compared To What" The Redmond, Langosch and Cooley Trio

Jay Cooley, Mary Ann Redmond and Paul Langosch

Mary Ann Redmond is a highly respected singer in the Washington, DC area who has won 22 Washington-area music awards, called "Wammies". Redmond has spent most of her professional life singing Pop and R & B tunes.  While performing at one of her gigs, it turns out that Paul Langosch and Jay Cooley were in the audience and after hearing Redmond's voice, timing and phasing approached her about joining them to jam a little. This first session together and the ones that followed produced the absolutely fabulous Jazz Blues Album named after the famous Les McCann and Eddie Harris recording of the Gene McDaniels' classic song "Compared To What".

Combining Redmond's glorious voice with the deep experience of Langosch and Cooley in dealing with songs from the "Great American Songbook" resulted in one of the best new CDs of 2012. Paul Langosh has worked with many of the giants of the Jazz world including: Phil Woods, Tal Farlow, Al Cohn, Mose Allison, Johnny Hartman, Bud Shank, Zoot Sims, Karney Kessel and Herb Ellis. In addition, he was a permanent member of Tony Bennett's Trio for 20 years. You can't play bass for Tony Bennett for 20 years without being a master of songs out of the "Great American Songbook"! Jay Cooley's career has included appearances with Charlie Byrd, Phil Woods, Keter Betts, Chuck Redd, Ethel Ennis, Ernestine Anderson and Lennie Cuje. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, Blues Alley, Strathmore Hall, The National Gallery of Arts and countless Jazz festivals.

This Album is about bringing the natural brilliance of Redmond's voice and the experience of Langosch and Cooley to new and old standards from the "Great American Songbook".  The selection of songs for this Album is nothing short of outstanding.  Even though the songs cover more than a 60 year span of music, every song on this Album fits Redmond's voice and style perfectly. I assume that Langosh and Cooley helped Redmond with the selections, but I give Redmond tons of credit for taking her Blues and R & B style and transforming her sound into Jazz standards.

I can't say enough about Mary Ann Redmond's voice and style. She has brought new life into the standards she chose for this album with impeccable timing and phrasing. Just one example is her performance of the Leonard Cohen song "Dance Me To The End of Love". Prior to this Album I had only heard this song sung by its composer Leonard Cohen and thought, why do so many people go crazy about Leonard Cohen? After hearing Redmond bring life to the lyrics of this song, I no longer ask that question. It's a good lesson for song writers to consider getting great singers like Redmond to record their songs instead of self-recording.  Most times this brings out the best of the melody and the lyrics for the listener.

Take a look at the creative list of songs and composers included on this Album. Two of the songs were composed by Redmond, "Love Me Anyway" and "Storm is Coming".

1. "Come Rain or Come Shine", Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer
2. "Dance Me To The End Of Love", Leonard Cohen
3. "Compared To What", Gene McDaniels
4. "Storm Is Coming", Mary Ann Redmond
5. "Never Make Your Move Too Soon", Nesbert "stix" Hooper and Will Jennings
6. "Creepin", Stevie Wonder
7. "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good", Duke Ellington & Paul Francis Webster
8. "Coyote", Joni Mitchell
9. "Ain't That Peculiar", Smokey Robinson, Ronald White, Pete Moore & Mary Tarplin
10. "What'll I Do", Irving Berlin
11. "Fool on the Hill", Lennon & McCartney
12. "Love Me Anyway", Mary Ann Redmond & Todd Wright

Mary Ann Redmond: Voice/Guitar
Paul Langosch: Bass
Jay Cooley: Keys

Special Guests: Dave Mattacks, Drums, Dan Hovey, Guitar, and Bruce Swaim, Tenor Sax