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Joanna Pascale - Wildflower (2015)

Posted By: mark70
Joanna Pascale - Wildflower (2015)

Daniel Stelter - Little Planets (2015)
MP3 320 kbps CBR | 61:29 min | 146 MB
Genre: Vocal Jazz | Label: Stiletto Records

Vocalist Joanna Pascale has an enviable commodity: a durable and pliant alto voice over which she has perfect control. Whether she is in a conversational mode, as on Valerie Brown's "Forget Me" or a slow walk through the Goffin/King classic "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," Pascale readily makes the lyrics real and her own in a comfortable and familiar way that tactilely feels like a favorite blanket… warm, sensual, satisfying.

Producer and pianist Orrin Evans carefully orchestrates these pieces, these less-often heard rubies of the Great American Songbook, providing a delicate balance of harmony and rhythm over which Pascale can maximize the use of her impressive instrument. Gregoire Maret's chromatic harmonica on "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" adds a bit of sophistication to both the instrument and the song. Pascale's slippery, creamy reading of the DeSylva/Gershwin chestnut, "Do it Again," in trio with pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Obed Calvaire is guaranteed to make a good percentage of listeners blush…out loud.

Pascale approached this recording, her fourth, after finishing a ten-year stand at the Loew's Philadelphia Hotel. That is evident in her confident singing. Only "confident" is not the right term. Her singing is hyper-natural, fully lacking any evidence of "push" in her effort. Because it is not effort, it just is. On "Confessin' (That I Love You), she approaches the tune with a slight islands beat contained in a standard jazz piano trio. Pianist Evans is tart in his accompaniment, laying down a humid and fecund foundation from which Pascale's considerable talent may grow.

Pascale's most impressive performance is on the Henry Glover standard "Drown in My Own Tears." While her voice and talent are capable of addressing this Ray Charles classic, it would be easy to doubt her ability to bring it off. But bring it off she does. Where Charles' voice was all grit and whiskey, Pascale's is all honey and opium. Cyrus Chestnut's slick Hammond B3 playing brings all of the church the piece needs to christen the sacred with the profane: how the best music always begins.

Tracklist:

01. Forget Me (6:14)
02. Lament (4:14)
03. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (5:50)
04. Stay With Me (4:48)
05. Do It Again (8:14)
06. Wildflower (4:16)
07. Overjoyed (5:58)
08. I Wanna Be Loved (6:46)
09. Drown In My Own Tears (6:24)
10. I Remember You (4:56)
11. I'm Confessin' (That I Love You) (3:49)

Personnel:
Joanna Pascale: vocals; Orrin Evans: piano (1-4, 6-11);
Cyrus Chestnut: piano (5), Hammond B3 (9);
Vicente Archer: bass; Christian McBride: bass (1, 5, 6);
Luques Curtis: bass (2);
Obed Calvaire: drums; Donald Edwards: drums (1, 2, 6);
Gregoire Maret: harmonica (3, 7, 9);
Bilal: vocals (6);
Kirk Rosenwinkel, Tom Motzer: guitar (6).