CD Reviews

MusicWeb International

Webmaster: Len Mullenger

[ Jazz index ] [Nostalgia index]  [ Classical MusicWeb ] [ Gerard Hoffnung ]


Reviewers: Tony Augarde [Editor], Steve Arloff, Nick Barnard, Pierre Giroux, Don Mather, Glyn Pursglove, George Stacy, Bert Thompson, Sam Webster, Jonathan Woolf



BUY NOW
AmazonUK   AmazonUS   MDT

LaGAYLIA FRAZIER and
JAN LUNDGREN Trio

Until it's time

PROPHONE PCD 126

 

 

1. Until it’s time for you to go (Buffy Sainte-Marie) [8:09], 2. When we say goodbye (LaGaylia Frazier & Jan Lundgren) [5:22], 3. I’m all smiles (Michael Leonard/Herbert Martin) [6:35], 4. The shadow of your smile (Johnny Mandel/Paul Francis Webster) [7:14], 5. Walkin’ after midnight (Alan Black/Don Hecht) [3:18], 6. Jean (Rod McKuen) [7:37], 7. If you go (Michel Emer/Geoffrey Parsons) [8:30], 8. Inner City blues (Make me wanna holler) (Marvin Gaye/James Nyx) 9. [9:17], What’s going on (Marvin Gaye/Al Cleveland/Renaldo Benson) [6:02]

LaGaylia Frazier (vocals), Jan Lundgren (piano), Mattias Svensson (bass), Zoltan Csörsz Jr. (drums, except 3,4), Special guests: Hal Frazier (vocals on 5), Andy Pfeiler (guitar on 2,8,9), Jonas Johansen (drums on 3,4).

All tracks recorded live: 1. Fasching (Sweden), February 2010, 2,5,8&9. Stockholm Jazz Festival, Sweden, June 2011, 3&4. Krapperup, Sweden, July 2011, 6&7. Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival, August 2011. [62:08]

 

LaGaylia Frazier is an American born Swedish jazz singer and Until it’s time is her second album but as you listen to it the question immediately forms itself, how can such an obviously great jazz singer not have made many others. The answer may be partly attributed to her move to Sweden a decade ago. In any event hers is a wonderfully silky smooth richly layered voice that can be compared with many of the very best voices in jazz. The choice of songs on this album is an excellent one that perfectly shows her talents off in the best possible light. She is accompanied by the Jan Lundgren Trio which is joined by guitarist Andy Pfeiler on three of the tracks and by LaGaylia’s father on track 5, with Jonas Johansen replacing Zoltan Csörsz Jr. on tracks 3 and 4, presumably because dates clashed for him at that time. Jan’s trio provides great and infinitely sympathetic backing for LaGaylia and is a joy to hear on its own too. Highlights for me were Until it’s time for you to go which was a reminder to me as to how good a songwriter (and singer) Buffy Sainte-Marie was and LaGaylia gives it a beautiful rendition that showcases it to perfection. I also loved The shadow of your smile a really great song which suits her voice to a tee. It was a nice touch to duet with her father Hal, a nightclub singer on Walkin’ after midnight which I very much enjoyed. The Marvin Gaye/James Nyx song Inner City blues (Make me wanna holler) written in 1971 depicted what it was like to live in black ghettos in the USA and how the situation would make you want to cry out against it. This song has been covered by many of the all-time greats such as Grover Washington Jr, Sarah Vaughn and Joe Cocker. LaGaylia makes it her own with a gutsy and impassioned performance of it. It appeared on a Marvin Gaye album together with this album’s last song What’s going on which earned Gaye 1,000,000 sales. What’s going on is also a fitting song with which to close this album with its message that we need more love in the world about which there can be no argument. This is a disc to savour and there’s no doubt I shall play it often.

Steve Arloff

Error processing SSI file


Return to Index


You can purchase CDs, tickets and musician's accessories and Save around 22% with these retailers: