Quinta-feira, 10 de Maio de 2007

Maria Anadon: A Jazzy Way - Featuring Five Play’s Women of the World

Notes by Will Friedwald

It took me about two seconds to get it. But now I got it. And I like it. What we have here is a Portuguese singer, steeped in the Portuguese-Brazilian musical idioms (including bossa nova, along with many other forms of the Portuguese and Spanish-speaking worlds), singing The Great American Songbook (plus one Antonio Carlos Jobim standard thrown in as dessert) with an American jazz group.
 
Even without the parenthetical specifics, I don’t know of any other album like this.   The bossa nova, though born in Brazil, had been, from the beginning, deeply influenced by American jazz and pop. Yet ever since the music washed up on the shores of North America the channels of communication generally operated in only one direction. From Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz onwards, North American musicians and singers have joyfully adopted the Brazilian idiom in general and the songs of Jobim and Joao Gilberto specifically. Yet it has been rare to find Brazilians and Portuguese musicians bringing South American rhythms to North American songs. When Frank Sinatra recorded his classic collaboration with Jobim in 1967, he included a few well-known songs by Irving Berlin, among others, but that, in general was an exception. (Another such exception occurred more recently when the jazz singer Mark Murphy recorded The Latin Porter, a set of Cole Porter songs in Pan American styles.)
 
Yet it’s hard to think of a case of a Latin singer doing North American music to a Brazilian beat, especially as the focus of an entire album. Ms. Anadon is well known in the Latin world for her mastery of the various idioms, such as bossa nova, salsa, fado, Afro Cuban (and probably choro, tango, mariachi and even zarzuela as well, I shouldn’t be surprised). For this project, she addresses a variety of styles and techniques associated with the United States, moving well beyond the boundaries of latin jazz into straight 4/4 swingtime, scat singing, blues, ballads, bebop, vocalese, and show music.
 
Ms. Anadon’s collaborators are every bit as multi-cultural as she is.
 
The group Five Play, which is, in this case, four musicians drawn from the ranks of the all-female big band Diva, has re-morphed into another subdivision, this one entitled “Five Play’s Women Of The World.” The combo is accurately described as an American band, even though only drummer and leader Sherrie Maricle was born in this hemisphere. The rest of the rhythm section, Tomoko Ohno, piano, and Noriko Ueda, bass, comes from Japan, and the star multi-reed player, Anat Cohen, is Israeli. The fifth member is, for this project, the Portuguese-born Ms. Anadon. 

publicado por mariaanadon às 15:41

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Vox from the May 2007 issue

MARIA ANADON
A Jazzy Way
(Arbors)

Jazz is a universal language. For instance, a genuinely gifted pianist from Denmark can craft as fine a treatment of “Days of Wine and Roses” as an American like Fred Hersch. But it’s different for vocalists. If a foreign-born jazz singer wants to storm the shores of the Great American Songbook, he or she has little choice but to record in English. Sadly, such sessions typically require awkward phonetic readings. The end result is virtually guaranteed to lack the emotional oomph that can only come from an intimate appreciation of the lyricist’s intent.
Maria Anadon is a delightfully rare exception. Though she is Portuguese and this is her first stateside recording, Anadon shimmers on a dozen distinctly American gems (plus one Jobim classic and, to further prove her dexterity, the faux Cockney of “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?”) with the warmth, authority and emotional believability of a Dianne Reeves or Diana Krall. But Anadon takes it a step further, effortlessly conquering two tracks—Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation,” outfitted with words by Sheila Jordan, and Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments,” complete with Mark Murphy’s high-flying lyrics—so monstrously tricky that a lot of seasoned Americans wouldn’t dare attempt them.
Adding to the disc’s international flavor (and its tangy pizzazz) is an all-female quartet that spans three continents, anchored by U.S.-born drummer Sherrie Maricle, flanked by Israeli clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Anat Cohen, Japanese pianist Tomoko Ohno and, also from Japan, bassist Noriko Ueda. All of them speak flawless jazz.
-Christopher Loudon


publicado por mariaanadon às 15:38

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The Review Corner

Members’ astute opinions
Edited by
Herb Young
Maria anadon is new voice but one that should be heard often.
She is native of portugal but one would not detect it in her singing voice. Her command of English is very natural. She also has done a whole bunch of listening. She is deep in the jazz tradition. She swings and I suspect being backed by the group of musicians presented here, she would have to do so just to survive!
The program of material chosen for this recording is varied and effective. For example, the tune “Black Coffee” is pratically a duet with voice and string bass. A risky undertaking but they pull it off magnificently. There are beautiful ballads such as “Tenderly”. They really get in to “Confirmation” in a real boppish fashion. An excellent balance of material.
The group heard here is four members of the band usually known as Five Play and Five Play is from the great female band, Diva. The leader of both is Sherrie Maricle. She is far more than a drummer on this date. She is a percussionist, using finger cymbals, triangles, and various other percussion instruments.
Anat Cohen is just one fine tenor sax player and a rare clarinetist. I’ve been a fan or hers ever since hearing her the first time. The pianist, litle is stature but big in heart and talent, Tomoko Ohno is one of those players who just knoes instintively what is needed for any given moment. Noriko Ueda plays the double bass both as time keeper and soloist as if her life depended on it . She is so sure footed.
Oh yeah, the “whomen of the world” thing. Sherrie is from USA, Anat from Israel, Tomoko and Noriko from Japan and of course, Maria from Portugal.
I guess by now you have figured that this is a CD I would not wont to be without and you are absolutely right.
It should not be difficult to find a coppy as Arbors records has a excellent distribution. Also the soundis first class thanks to Ken heckman of Red Rock Studios and booklet with the CD is well done and the notes well written by Will Friedwald.
                                                                                  ---Herb Young
publicado por mariaanadon às 15:36

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Singers of the past and some bright newcomers, all of wicth are SINGER’S SINGERS

MARIA ANADON: A JAZZY WAY

ARBORS 19351 www.arborsrecords.com

 

What an upbeat session this is. Maria can lift spirits hi. than most singers I know. She’s on top of it all here in a varied 14-song programme. The five musicians assisting her with ease are called “The Five Plays Women Of The World” and they are from the all-feamale jazz orchestra called “Diva”. Maria actually throughs herself into each song she sings. The excitement generated on her zippy version of fellow singer Sheila Jordan and Charlie Parker’s “Confirmation” exceeded most others sung and scatted before her. Listening to her will almost exhaust you.    Maria’s vocal is actually beyond description When she croons “My One And Only Love” (Mellin/Wood) she accentuates each and every meaninful lyric. Ms. Anadon is just about the most honest singer around today. In less than 3 minutes she’s on top of “Devil May Care” (Dourough/Kirkley). It’s a race to the finish line and she wins it hands down. Not to be overlooked is her swinging tornado like version of “One Note Samba” (Henricks/Jobim/Mendonca) sung once through but with intense enthsiasm and rhythm. She grabs you and never lets you go.
publicado por mariaanadon às 15:35

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A Jazzy Way

HÁ ARTISTAS que lutam teimosamente pelos seus ideais, como a cantora portuguesa Maria Anadon. Baseada a norte do país, há anos que se dedica à arte que ama, o jazz. Em 1994 editou Why Jazz? um CD bem recebido pela crítica, mas pouco se tem ouvido dela. Desta vez poderá dar um salto qualitativo em termos de promoção. Gravou no Verão passado, com a sua amiga Sherrie Maricle e três elementos da banda que dirige, a orquestra Diva, um belo CD, editado pela independente americana Arbors Records. Anadon visita os standards americanos com uma segurança e musicalidade exemplares. Acrescenta três jazz standards, «Confirmation», «Stolen Moments» e «Devil May Care», para alem de «One Note Samba». Com a sua voz grave, canta de forma soberba desde as primeiras notas de «Old Devil Moon». Depois é um banho de invenção e swing, bem escudada por um quarteto feminino de se tirar o chapéu. Não apenas a americana Maricle, mas duas japonesas e uma surpreendente israelita, Anat Cohen, no saxofone e clarinete. Não há uma nota perdida, apenas um intenso «feeling» neste CD duma autêntica cantora de jazz. Parabéns!
Raul Vaz Bernardo - Expresso
publicado por mariaanadon às 15:19

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