CD Review: Callie Cardamon - Easy Street

CD Review: Callie Cardamon - Easy Street
Year: 2010

Record Label: Primavera Records

Style: Jazz Vocals

Musicians: Callie Cardamon (vocals), Rob Lockart (clarinet), Larry Steelman, Jason Danielson (piano)

Review:
Easy Street is a delightful collection of jazz ballads presented with simple but effective arrangements that allows the listener to appreciate Callie Cardamon beautiful voice and cool delivery.

As any good jazz singer Callie imprint every song with a bluesy feeling, singing behind the beat, a vocal technique most female jazz singers learned from the great Billie Holiday. "When sunny gets blue" and "Dream a little dream are perfect examples of the application of this technique. On "Dream a little dream" Callie even add some nice scats at the end.

The sound of the clarinet played by Rob Lockart, on some of the songs gives the muisc a kind of swing era feeling, reminiscent of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw.

Even though the Billie Holiday delivery style can be heard in other songs like "Stormy Weather", "Don't fence me in" and "Ain't Misbehavin", the arrangements on these songs borders on bluegrass.

Some of the highlights of the album are the Cardamon original jazz ballad "Love Jazz", a song with a touch of broadway; the jazzier and faster version of the classic "Moon river"; the cool, kind of Sinatra approach to "Let's do it" and the heartfelt vocals of the lovely ballad "I remember sky".

Tracks: Easy Street, Dream a little dream, When sunny gets blue, Let's do it, Love Jazz, Don't fence me in, When lights are low, Moon river, Stormy Weather, Ain't Misbehavin, I remember sky

Artist's Website: http://www.calliecardamon.com/

Reviewed by: Wilbert Sostre