Hisayo Foster Body & Soul CD

MUSICIANSHisayo Foster (Vocalist)Reggie Workman (Bass)Charlie Persip (Drums)Jared Kashkin (Piano)Jonathan Powell (Trumpet)Producer: Hisayo FosterCo-Producer: Jonathan SondowMusical Director: Reggie WorkmanDesigner: Cindy RodriguezFine Artists: Hisayo Foster and James SondowEngineers: Scott Young and Anthony RuotoloRecorded at Leon Lee Dorsey Studios in NYCRecording Dates: November 18-19, 2005I am a jazz standards vocalist, born and raised on a flower farm in Niigata, northern Japan. In Tokyo I studied with the "mother" of Japanese jazz vocalists, Sanae Mizushima. I traveled to San Francisco to sing in night clubs and to study with bassist Vernon Alley. I recorded a track on guitarist Gregory James' first album "Alicia." (On his 1994 album "Amanda," he dedicated one song to me, entitled "Hisayo.") Back in Tokyo, I sang at jazz clubs like the famous Someday, as well as at hotels and concert halls, including Sogetsu Hall and Yakuruto Hall. I also taught voice at the Muse Music Institute and the Mate Music School. In New York in 1992, using my maiden name Hisayo Tominaga, I recorded my first independent CD "Now and Yesterdays." It was nominated for the Japan Jazz Vocalist Prize of 1993 by the Tokyo jazz magazine "Swing Journal." I recorded the demo CD "Blues Blue" in 1995 in New York. The following year I moved there from Tokyo to marry jazz pianist Herman Foster, who is one of my accompanists on this CD.In 1996 I recorded the demo tape "Fascinating Lullaby." One of my original songs from it, "Free as the Wind," was chosen as the closing theme for a video cassette and DVD called "Oigawa Tetsudo 1999" ("Oigawa Railroad 1999"), released by Pony Canyon Inc., Japan.I toured Japan in the spring of 2001, singing at clubs in Tokyo, Nagoya, Niigata, Saitama, and Mito. While in Niigata, I recorded two songs on a CD produced by composer and guitarist Kyomaro Ishiyama, and dedicated to the memory of Herman Foster.In addition to being a vocalist, I am also a watercolor artist specializing in paintings of flowers and abstract designs. To view a selection, please click on "Hisayo Foster website." You will find links to my watercolors and to a free download of an original song by Katsuyuki Itakura that I recorded in New York in 2000.Here is my translation of part of the "Blues Blue" liner notes by the famous Japanese music critic Hiraku Aoki:"When I first heard her voice a long time ago, I thought it was very unusual. I found it mysterious and charming. Now she has become famous, but I still have the same feeling, only more so. "Her voice is remarkable. The low-to-middle range is smoky rather than husky, while the high notes are mellow and sexy. She uses her voice very well. Especially when ending a phrase, her natural vibrato feels so good. Her voice, phrasing and mood are like the English singer Cleo Laine's. But I don't want to say she is a Japanese Cleo Laine, because Hisayo definitely has her own unique style. Now that she has had a long career and is a veteran performer in Japan, her impressive voice is more mature, which is very wonderful."In 1974 in Tokyo, she studied with [the "mother" of Japanese jazz vocalists] Sanae Mizushima. Hisayo went to San Francisco in 1975 to study with bassist Vernon Alley. She recorded a track on guitarist Gregory James' first album "Alicia" in 1977. (On his 1994 album "Amanda," he dedicated one song to her, entitling it "Hisayo.") In Tokyo in 1980, she started teaching at [the Muse and the Mate] music school[s] and began singing at jazz clubs, hotels and concerts. In 1992 in New York . . . she recorded her first album "Now and Yesterdays," which was highly praised.". . . If a vocalist has a unique, creative and original style and makes good use of it, then it is not necessary for her to use scat and ad libs to make cool jazz. Hisayo is that kind of jazz singer. "["Blues Blues"] is her second album. She chose interesting jazz standards and her interpretation does not complicate them too much. Her approach is