by dynamite | Dec 3, 2023 | Review
If the American Songbook feels like a repository of timeless wisdom it’s because jazz vocalists breathe new life into familiar tales, interpreting the music with visceral emotional immediacy. In the case of chanteuse Sylvia Brooks, the songs serve as a barometer, marking the increasing depth she plumbs.
Her evolution is evident throughout her fifth album, which was recorded at Herb Albert’s Vibrato Jazz Grill. Revisiting material from earlier releases, Sylvia Brooks Live [with Christian Jacob] provides both a snapshot of an artist in full command and a revelatory index of the distance she’s traveled since her impressive 2009 debut Dangerous Liaisons.
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by dynamite | Nov 28, 2023 | Featured
This new album from vocalist Sylvia Brooks was recorded live at Herb Albert’s Vibrato Jazz Grill, and finds her revisiting some material she released on her studio albums. Joining her on this release are Christian Jacob on piano, David Hughes on bass, Kevin Kanner on drums, David Witham on keyboards and accordion, Jeff Bunnell on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Brian Scanlon on tenor saxophone and flute. She opens the album with a delicious rendition of “When The Sun Comes Out,” written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. It’s a song she recorded for her debut album, 2009’s Dangerous Liaisons. There is something sexy about this rendition, in the horns and in her vocal approach, particularly the power behind it. And of course it features some really nice work on piano.
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by dynamite | Nov 8, 2023 | Interviews
Whoever said that Los Angeles, California is not a hot bed for Jazz, and that the American west coast was the last place to host true-to-genre Jazz performers? While the idea of the American Jazz mecca seems to always default to New York City, we have to remember that so many other U.S. geographic regions produced and purported birthing—or at least being home to—some of the best jazz players in the history of the genre, and all of it’s bona fide sub-genres and styles.
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by dynamite | Nov 8, 2023 | Interviews
On her fifth release, Sylvia Brooks Live With Christian Jacob, Sylvia Brooks kicks open the door and issues a robust reading of her recital book. Drawing from her four previous recordings: Dangerous Liaisons (CD Baby, 2009), Restless (CD Baby, 2012), The Arrangement (SBM Music, 2017), and Signature (Rhombus Records, 2022), Brooks reveals herself as a song stylist as opposed to a jazz singer, putting her more in the arena of Frank Sinatra than Betty Carter.
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by dynamite | Oct 7, 2023 | Featured, Media
Pristine and powerful jazz vocals light up timeless sentiments throughout this musically sublime live album from Sylvia Brooks and Christian Jacob.
Celebrating an extensive career by revisiting some favourite songs from her performance repertoire, Sylvia Brooks delivers ten freshly captured recordings of big-band soulful jazz tracks, elevated by faultless musical unity across a live set of piano, bass, wind and rhythm.
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