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Melissa Walker - In The Middle Of It All (2009)
BAND/ARTIST: Melissa Walker
- Title: In The Middle Of It All
- Year Of Release: 2009
- Label: Sunnyside
- Genre: Vocal Jazz
- Quality: FLAC (tracks) / MP3 320 Kbps
- Total Time: 01:00:11
- Total Size: 443 Mb / 153 Mb
- WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:
1. In The Middle Of It All 5:35
2. Don't Give Up 5:22
3. The Way He Makes Me Feel 4:54
4. I'll Sing A Song 5:03
5. The Other Woman (Part One) 3:38
6. Forget Me (Part Two) 4:41
7. Mr. Bojangles 5:17
8. If You Could Love Me 4:21
9. Invitation 3:48
10. I'm With You Now 5:38
11. Our Love Remains 6:13
12. Where Or When 5:21
Personnel:
Melissa Walker: vocals
Gregoire Maret: harmonica
Aaron Goldberg: piano, Fender Rhodes
Keith Ganz: guitar
Adam Rogers: guitar
Christian McBride: electric and acoustic bass
Clarence Penn: drums, percussion.
1. In The Middle Of It All 5:35
2. Don't Give Up 5:22
3. The Way He Makes Me Feel 4:54
4. I'll Sing A Song 5:03
5. The Other Woman (Part One) 3:38
6. Forget Me (Part Two) 4:41
7. Mr. Bojangles 5:17
8. If You Could Love Me 4:21
9. Invitation 3:48
10. I'm With You Now 5:38
11. Our Love Remains 6:13
12. Where Or When 5:21
Personnel:
Melissa Walker: vocals
Gregoire Maret: harmonica
Aaron Goldberg: piano, Fender Rhodes
Keith Ganz: guitar
Adam Rogers: guitar
Christian McBride: electric and acoustic bass
Clarence Penn: drums, percussion.
Melissa Walker's fourth CD is significant in many musical ways, for she is an extraordinarily gifted jazz singer with one foot in the tradition and the other planted in more progressive notions. It was likely that this album would have never come to pass, for Walker battled with allergies and infections, and was ordered by doctors not to speak or sing due to vocal cord paralysis. After a few years of silent recuperation, it is happily reported that she's back to singing, and marvelously at that. The jazz community/family has embraced her return, as a stellar group of first-class players accompanies Walker, including the trio of Aaron Goldberg, Christian McBride, and Clarence Penn, with soloists in guitarists Adam Rogers and Keith Ganz, and on three tracks harmonica player Gregoire Maret. This broad-ranging program includes jazz standards; underground, country, or contemporary pop; R&B; and nu jazz. Walker's voice is pretty strong considering her affliction, retaining a supple sweetness that has not a trace or residue of saccharine. Her slow, late-night take of Arthur Alexander's "In the Middle of It All" indicates she's lost a love and grown from it, with Maret's supportive harmonica buoying her emotional loss. A slinky blues about walking away from that love and pain during "Forget Me" is from both a male and female perspective in a deeper vocal tone than the other tunes. Vindication and trust return on "I'm with You Now," a ballad of assurance aside Goldberg's always competent piano. There are several other songs on the album that reflect these emotions, as if Walker was also struggling with a significant other in addition to her physical issues. The most personal track is "I'll Sing a Song," clearly one she has to sing in her triumphant return to jazz in an upbeat, spirited, tick-tock, steadily improving, and rising beat. But especially check out her take of Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up," assuredly a personal anthem of determination stewed in the most elusive rhythmic pot of disparate elements -- a masterpiece! Musically, "Invitation" is an elaborate arrangement on the well-worn standard that raises the bar, as crazy rhythms dot the landscape of Walker's soaring vocals. There's a spare and bouncy take of Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles," while "Where or When" with Maret closes the set in a serene, settled mood. Clearly this is a recording project that says many things about Walker's personal hell, and how she has persevered to make it back stronger than ever. Check out her three fine Enja label CDs in comparison to this extraordinary recording to see how far she has come.
Vocal Jazz | FLAC / APE | Mp3
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