CD Review: Lisa Engelken - Caravan

CD Review: Lisa Engelken - Caravan







Lisa Engelken's Caravan is an album full of twists, turns and surprises that demands the complete attention of the listener. The whole album feels like a live performance, and that is how good jazz should sound like.

"We'll be together again" starts as a ballad, burst into nice swing groove with Lisa adding some dazzling scatting and slows down again at the end.

Lisa adds some sense of humour in the creative arrangement of Cole Porter's "Just one of those things", starting with a funeral march a la New Orleans, all of a sudden the band is in full swing again. The trumpet, clarinet,sax and trombone adds to the New Orleans feel of the track. On her vocal improvisations Lisa cleverly insert some lines of the song My heart belongs to daddy.

It must be a real treat to see Lisa Engelken performing live. She has a certain flair for the dramatic that surely comes from her theatre background. That broadway influence may be heard on the ballad "Winter Moon".

On Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes "Canto de Ossanha", Engelken takes us in a journey to the brazilian carnaval, singing in portuguese and accompanied with the brilliant harmonies of Jeanette Sarmiento and Chabela Yrigoyen.

Juan Tizol's "Caravan" is completely reharmonized in an unusual slow arrangement with touches of classical music. The alternate time signatures on the classic "Afro Blue", amazingly maintains a beautiful fluidity. Another example of Lisa creativeness as an arranger.

Lisa ventures into the jazz/funk fusion in Joni Mitchell's "Trouble Child" and Freddie Hubbard's "Fromthe earth". The effective slow, bluesy arrangement grows in intensity in Billy Idol's "White Wedding" is a song one does not expect in a jazz album.

The release ends up with a more traditional arrangement, on the ballad "Detour Ahead".

Tracks: We'll be together again, Just one of those things, Canto de Ossanha, Caravan, Afro Blue, Trouble Child, Winter Moon, From the earth, White Wedding, Detour Ahead

Musicians: Lisa Engeken - vocals, Adam Schulman - piano, fender rhodes (2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10) , Sam Bevan - bass (2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10), Matthew Swindells - drums, Mike Olmos - trumpet (2,8), Doug Beavers - trombone (2,8), David Alt - tenor sax, clarinet (2,8), Jon Monahan - guitars (3,4,6,8,9), Jarrett Cherner - piano (1,5), Gabe Davis - bass (1,5), Brian Rice - percussion (3), Joel Behrman - trombone, trumpet, flugelhorn (3,4,6), Jeanette Sarmiento, Chabela Yrigoyen - backing vocals