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 Sings & Plays album for sale Product Description
Michelle Latimer - Sings & Plays Album Track Listing
Sings & Plays buy CD music Customer Reviews
| Average Rating: |  |
| An amazing and enjoyable first album!
Michelle Latimer is a rare commodity in jazz. Not only does she both sing and play the trumpet - she does both well. Having had the opportunity to see her quartet live on a few occasions, it is unavoidable that this CD does not entirely do justice to her music; however, having said this it is a very enjoyable listen. The album comprises a mixture of standards and originals which is well balanced, resulting in one of those albums that is enjoyable to listen to in its entirety, rather than having only a few good songs and a lot of filler. Michelle's style is very straight ahead. While she is clearly not a Chet Baker clone, she does have the acumen, as Chet did in his trio work, to hold back for emotive effect and not get lost in the technical aspects of playing. She does branch out in her arrangements a bit, very much in a "lounge music" vein, although not in what this phrase has come to mean these days but in the original sense of the word. Her voice is neither disaffected and breathy nor brassy and affected. Instead it has an honest tone that is clear and emotive. The comparison made below to June Christy and Doris Day is an accurate one, but I would add that she reminds me of Judy Garland on some tracks like "Over the Rainbow" and "The Tender Trap." Her sidemen are all excellent, especially guitarist Scott Gould, and there are some amazing moments on this album. The solos are also impressive, with a seamless well-composed quality, like those of Louis Armstrong. In all, this is a good, solid first album. I cannot imagine anyone regretting buying this, as I would imagine they'd play it over and over again, as I have. That being said, it is a first album, so don't expect Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" or Billie Holiday's "Songs for Distingue Lovers," okay? Taken for what it is, this is an impressive first effort that hints tantalizingly of what is to come in her next album.
By drdna (San Francisco, CA) |
| Premature release
It's true: Michelle Latimer can sing. While I'm not the world's biggest fan of scooping notes and musical-theatrical affectations, people who can pull off that vocal style well are hard to come by. That said, likening Latimer to Chet Baker is really not doing Chet much justice. As a trumpeter, he not only had a darker, richer tone, but his ideas were much more coherent and well-thought-out. His singing, too, was melancholic and unaffected, and mirrored the timbre of his horn exactly, to the point where they were sometimes indistiguishable. He was a master. By contrast, this recording finds Latimer in over her head: her tone is inconsistent and her technique halting, her ideas are not well-developed - her playing is often flat and frequently uninspired. Sadly, the album does not swing, and the trumpet solos meander aimlessly, without shape or form. So, while there are fleeting moments where I do understand the Chet reference (certainly in choice of repertoire), all in all this is a premature release from an artist who still needs to find her voice. She has a very classical approach to the instrument, including a good range and an obvious handle on the fudnamentals of playing, but it's not jazz. Overall, though she is backed by some very serious talent who try to buoy her along as best as possible, I think this album would have done better to be released 2 or 3 years later, when Latimer had really begun to forge her own sound and had really delved into some of the greats (Hubbard, Farmer, Terry, Brownie, etc.), rather than this effort, which seems hastily and impatiently released.
By Ben (Canada) |
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