Vocalist Melinda Rose and Pianist Frenchy Romero grew up within blocks of each other in Miami and while they never attended the same school together, both were attracted to straight-ahead Jazz. In 2022 Rose was invited to audition to be the first vocalist for a U.S. Army big band called, the Army Blues. She won the position and moved to Washington, D.C. to join the band About two months later Rose saw an announcement for a Pianist in another Army band at the same base. She shared the news with Romero, who won the job. These events allowed the talented duo to continue to collaborate as a Jazz duo. "I'm On My Way" is the first product of their musical efforts and it's a stunning new Jazz CD. There is something very special when these two musicians work together. First, Melinda Rose has a gorgeous, pure, velvet yet strong voice that is so refreshing to listen to especially compared to what seems to be popular today. Her voice evokes vocal images of Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald and Anita O'Day but with her own personal styling. Pianist Frenchy Romero delivers a master class on how to accompany a great vocalist. She is creative and supportive but never interrupts Melinda's vocals. What a pleasure to listen to these two young and talented musicians. There is great sensitivity between these friends that produces some of the best Jazz I have heard in a long time. The playlist this duo put together is diverse and magical.. The CD has 6 standards, some old and some new and 4 orginials composed by Melinda Rose. This CD is a dream album for any Jazz vocalist fan. Thank you Melinda and Frenchy and please get busy on your next CD!
I have attached two "YouTube" videos of songs from "I'm On My Way". It took me a lot of time to select 2 songs out of the 10 on this CD because I liked every song. The first selection is a beautiful rendition of Stevie Wonder's "If It's Magic" and this version is magic to me! The second song is the Nancy Wilson classic "You Can Have Him" written by Irvin Berlin that is simply a beautiful performance!
The Music Man Blog has a large number of followers in Canada, and this blog was written by a Canadian guest writer, J Crawford Reid. Crawford has previously written a guest blog for us and he is our man in Canada who keeps us up-to-date about Jazz happenings in Canada. The following is his latest article:
This is a blog about a concert at Brantford Downtown Jazz in my town, Brantford, Ontario. The series has been happening for 16 years! Yes, 16 years. It's held in the lobby of the local theatre. Maybe 200 people attend and the atmosphere is much like Vicky's in Indian Wells, Ca. with the audience that is quiet and respectful of the artists.
This week one of my favorite vocalist, Carol McCartney was featured. I believe Carol is one of the best Jazz vocalists in Canada and always brings along a talented group of musicians to support her. Carol sings songs from the "Great American Songbook" along with some standard Jazz tunes. Tonight Carol sang one of my favorite Lester Young tunes "Just You, Just Me" brilliantly. Pres would have been pleased! Many of the songs she sang featured her excellent scat singing, something she loves to do. Carol also sang a beautiful version of "Yesterdays" and a tremendous arrangement of "Night and Day" arranged by the great Canadian arranger, Rick Wilkins. Carol did a couple of Jazz tunes too, like Bobby Timmons "Dat Dere" and a glorious tribute to Nancy Wilson, "West Coast Blues". The last tune Carol sang was "I'm Old Fashioned" that brought a great evening of Jazz to a wonderful finish.
Carol has a new CD out "A Night In Tunisia" that really swings! I'm sure that Dizzy was the driving inspiration for this wonderful CD. You can hear Carol McCartney sing some of the songs from her new CD by visiting her site: "Carolmccartney.com". I have also attached a "YouTube" Video of Carol singing, "These Foolish Things" that I know you will enjoy. Carol performs all over the East including the USA, so if she has a gig near you, she is worth the effort to go see.
Recently I googled the title of this post and I was somewhat surprised that I could not find any posting of a top 20 love ballads list that includes any of the spectacular songs from the "Great American Songbook". How can this be? In fact, on most of the list of ballads that I found, I was not familiar with many of the songs. How sad that today's generation is only into "Pop" ballads and might never have the pleasure of listening to great love ballads that have survived more than a 100 years. This is not to say that there have not been some great love ballads written more recently because there has been many. There have also been some interesting recordings of classic "Great American Songbook" songs sung by young artists.
So I dedicate this list to both young and old who love great ballads sung by great singers. It's a mix of new and old songs that should be on everyone's ballad playlist in no particular rank.
1. "Wild Horses" The Rolling Stones 2. "Just The Way You Are" Billy Joel 3. "Body & Soul" Frank Sinatra 4. "Your Song" Elton John 5. "Unforgettable" Nat King Cole 6. "When a Man Loves a Women" Percy Sledge 7. "A Song For You" Leon Russell 8. "You Are So Beautiful" Joe Cocker 9. "You've Changed" Eva Cassidy 10. "Something" Tanya Tucker 11. "The Shadow Of Your Smile" Tony Bennett 12. "Everything I Do, I Do It For You" Bryan Adams 13. "The Very Thought Of You" Tony Bennett & Paul McCartney 14. "I Will Always Love You" Whitney Houston 15. "What's New" Nancy Wilson 16. "At Last" Etta James 17. "Here's That Rainy Day" Peggy Lee 18. "Smile" Stephen Tyler & Chris Botti 19. "Evergreen" Barbra Streisand 20. "The Nearness of You" Norah Jones
