The Whole Music Experience

TOP CD #1 Virginie Teychene, Bright and Sweet, Jazz Village 2. Deborah Latz, Fig Tree, June Moon Productions 3. Mark Winkler, The Laura Nyro Project, Cafe Pacific Records 4. Nilson Mattas, Black Orpheus, Motema  5. Joe Barbieri, Chet Lives!, Le Chant du Monde 6. Hector Del Curto, Eternal Piazzolla, Green Parrot 7. Ahmad Jamal, Saturday Morning, Jazz Village 8. Joe Locke, Lay Down My Heart, Motema 9. Ablaye Cissoko and Volker Goetz, Amanke Dionti, Motema  10. Mulatu Astatke, Sketches of Ethiopia, Jazz Village Coming up Top 10 Classical Albums and Top 10 World Music Albums...

Jazz Virginie Teychené Bright and Sweet Jazz Village Jazz and women musicians launched 2013 and already two weeks into the New Year, and I’ve featured several women jazz musicians.   French jazz chanteuse Virginie Teychené arrived in my life like a sweet fragrance.   The name of her latest album, Bright and Sweet tells just as much about the vocalist’s character as it does the sweet, sad, and rousing repertoire she performs.   It has taken me longer to review this recording since I wanted to learn more about Teychené and also the collection of songs chosen for this project. A self-taught vocalist, Teychené impresses me with her vocal style range and her natural instincts as she makes her way around songs by Peggy Lee, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Abbey Lincoln, Billie Holiday, Michel Legrand/Jacques Demy, and other jazz greats from both sides of the Atlantic.   The French vocalist shapes the songs and makes them her own leading listene...