The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
In our ongoing practice of social distancing and wearing our masks, this week’s selection comes the very talented interpreter and vocalist Nnenna Freelon who has delivered her latest Time Traveler. The songs for the album were recorded over a span of two years on March 13~15, 2018, October 24, 2018, August 20, 2020 and September 3, 2020. It was released on May 21, 2021 on the Origin Records label.
The album was recorded at Manifold Records in Pittsboro, North Carolina, Overdub Lane, Durham, North Carolina and Tedesco Studios in Paramus, New Jersey. It was produced by Nnenna Freelon, with musical direction by Miki Hayama. The engineers were Jason Richmond (1~6, 8~11), Ian Schreier (1,3~5,7,9) Tom Tedesco (1~3,8) and John Plymale (2,8).
The cover design and layout was by John Bishop, photography by Chris Charles, clothing stylist ~ Katina Bryson, makeup ~ Sharon Davis, hairstylist ~ Anes El and henna and face artist Shemora Sheik made up the production team.
She draws from her life story the songs of her youth and has helped her navigate the process of loss and healing and steps through an imagined doorway where past, present and future collide. She reminds us of a time when grace and elegance were a standard and that is timeless. There is a reverence in the lyrics that was lost in my youth but has been captured with age.
Tracks | 55:03
- I Say A Little Prayer For You (Burt Bachrach/Hall David) ~ 5:07
- Marvin Medley: If This World Were Mine/Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing/Ain’t No Mountain High Enough ( Marvin Gaye, Ashford & Simpson) ~ 6:05
- Just You (Nnenna Freelon) ~ 5:32
- Betcha By Golly Wow (Thom Bell, Linda Creed) ~ 4:54
- Time In A Bottle (Jim Croce) ~ 6:59
- You Make Me Feel Brand New (Thom Bell, Linda Creed) ~ 5:06
- Moon River (Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer) ~ 5:57
- Time After Time (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne ~ 4:58
- Come Rain Or Come Shine (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) ~ 5:55
- Time Traveler (Freelon,Curry,Robinson, Scott) ~ 4:30
- Nnenna Freelon ~ Vocals
- Miki Hayama ~ Piano 1,3,5,7,8 Rhodes 2,4,9 Synth 2,8
- Chuckey Robinson ~ Keyboards 10,11
- Brandon McCune ~ Hammond Organ 1,3
- Keith Ganz ~ Guitar 2~6,8~11
- Noah Jackson ~ Acoustic Bass 1,3~5,7,9
- Gerald Veasley ~ Electric Bass 2,8
- Lance Scott ~ Electric Bass 10,11
- E. J. Strickland ~ Drums 1,3~5,7,9
- Adonis Rose ~ Drums 2,8
- Jon Curry ~ Drums 10,11
- Beverly Botsford ~ Percussion 2,4,8
- Trineice Robinson-Martin ~ Background Vocal
- Kirk Whalum ~ Tenor Saxophone, Flute 4
- Shana Tucker ~ Cello 5
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Arlene Bardelle was born on November 2, 1959 and Chicago, Illinois is her home. Growing up Judy Garland was an early influence and Ella Fitzgerald was a major influence on her singing. She also took cues from Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae and Irene Kral.
Having a longtime love affair with the grand old movies of the 30’s and 40’s, Arlene has accumulated a vast repertoire of the great American standard songbook as a result.
Bardelle has performed at the top Chicago venues with her band including the likes of pianists Tom Muellner, John Campbell, Jeremy Kahn and Dennis Luxion, bassist Kelly Sill, Jim Cox, Rob Amster, Larry Kohut, Joe Policastro and Larry Gray, drummers Tim Davis, Phil Gratteau, Bob Rummage and Rusty Jones and multi-instrumenatalist Ira Sullivan, saxophonists Eric Schneider and Ron Dewar, as well as trumpeter Art Davis.
Vocalist Arlene Bardelle released her last album Blue Gardenia in 2010 and she continues to perform and select the music she is passionate about.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Betty Bennett was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on October 23, 1921. Her first major signing was with the Claude Thornhill band in 1946 the band in which her husband, bassist Iggy Shevak, was playing. Shortly after her husband left to join Alvino Rey, Bennett followed him there.
In 1949, she joined Charlie Ventura’s band before going on to join Benny Goodman in 1959. Her second album, Nobody Else But Me, featured arrangements by Shorty Rogers and her second husband, André Previn.
She later married guitarist Mundell Lowe in 1975. Vocalist Betty Bennett, who was a big band singer and recorded five albums as a leader, passed away on April 7, 2020 at the age of 98.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Roy Kral was born on October 10, 1921 in Cicero, Illinois. His sister was the renowned vocalist Irene Kral. Urged by his mother, he took classical piano lessons as a young boy but by the 1930s abandoned them to teach himself to play jazz piano by mimicking what he heard while listening to the radio under his blanket after bedtime.
During World War II, Kral served in the Army as an arranger for the Army band. After service he moved to Chicago, Illinois and joined the George Davis Quartet. As a pianist and singer for Charlie Ventura’s band, Bop for the People, in 1948 ç Kral agreed to write a new arrangement of the 1919 pop song I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles. He added a bebop sensibility and scat singing to a rather insipid pop standard, transforming it into a cool, jazzy tune and their first hit.
Meeting Jackie Cain at eighteen and just out of high school and his initial impression was not her singing until he heard her. Their voices were an octave apart and their partnership was cemented when they married in 1949 and became the duo Jackie and Roy, recording nearly 40 albums in 56 years. Coming to prominence during the bebop era they combined bebop singing with cabaret creating a very polished sound of pop, jazz and Latin music, all inflected with a jazz sensibility. The duo produced hits like Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, You Inspire Me, and It’s A Lovely Day Today.
Pianist and vocalist Roy Kral, one half of one of the most important vocal groups in jazz, passed away at 80 of congestive heart failure on August 2, 2002 in Montclair, New Jersey.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Lee Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma on October 9, 1908. At fifteen, she left home to pursue a singing career, moving to New York City to perform on radio stations. However, her career was interrupted by a horseback riding fall that temporarily sidelined her due to blindness but recovered. At 19 she became a member of the Leo Reisman Orchestra, with whom in 1931 she recorded three songs: Take It From Me, Time On My Hands, and her composition Got The South In My Soul.
Lee began her radio career at KVOO in Tulsa, Oklahoma on the Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt program on NBC in 1932, and was featured on Victor Young’s radio show in 1933. Throughout the summer of 1936, she had her own show, Lee Wiley, on CBS.
In 1939 she recorded eight Gershwin songs on 78s with a small group for Liberty Music Shop Records. The set sold well and was followed the next year by the music of Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, Harold Arlen, and the music of Vincent Youmans and Irving Berlin.She sang with Paul Whiteman, and the Casa Loma Orchestra. A collaboration with composer Victor Young resulted in several songs for which Wiley wrote the lyrics, including Got The South In My Soul and Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere. In 1963, Bob Hope Theater on NBC-TV presented “Something About Lee Wiley, where Piper Laurie portrayed her in the episode, which was produced by Revue Studios.
Vocalist Lee Wiley, active from the 1930 through the 1950s, passed away on December 11, 1975.
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