It was the core and primary catalyst for the idea that Brooks would manifest with regard to recording an homage to each and every 9/11 victim. The bringing to fruition a true-to-genre and unadulterated jazz rendition of this timeless and archaic 240 year-old song – Amazing Grace.
The inimitable vocalist Sylvia Brooks returns with a 5th album, where live selections from the American Songbook were fleshed out at Herb Albert’s Vibrato, and with an all star cast on hand.
O’s Notes: Sylvia Brooks Live is a warm set of ballads backed by musical director, pianist Christian Jacob and his band. The place is Herb Albert’s Vibrato Jazz Grill in Los Angeles. Sylvia’s soft vocals and rich tones are perfect for these blues-based ballads with very intriguing stories. Among the best are “Blues In the Night” – an instrumental, “The Red Pig Flew Up the Hill” with sweet horn harmonies, and “Tender Trap” with Jacobs dazzling solo. This is a fine showcase of the headliner’s songwriting and musical talents.
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.
We continue our sweet day of discoveries with the most magical musical moment unveiled by Sylvia Brooks and her album “Signature”, an opus to discover as soon as possible. It will accompany our whole week, in the sweetest and most beautiful ways.
In 9 astonishing tracks, this incredible singer takes us on a journey through jazz and above all solar melodies, worthy of the greatest. With its soulful tone, sometimes subtly bluesy, her musical ‘signature’ is delicious, irresistible and will warm your heart up.
This heartfelt, and wholly organic new album opens on Melody Gardot’s sultry blues within Your Heart Is as Black as Night and the gentle finger-snapper, swingtown wit of Catch 22, and then they are followed by the searingly upbeat and joyous melodies within the cautionary tale Red Velvet Rope (which is set to a sensuous Latin groove by cuatro master Kiki Valera), and then come the quietly-imbued balladry of Over and Done and then an despairingly aching tale is brought forth within The Boy That Lived There.