HOLLI ROSS YOU LL SEE

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Holli Ross "You'll See" Miles High Records 2011

Good singers are a dime a dozen which accounts for the law of supply and demand having so many marking time on cruise ships and as lounge lizards at the local Marriott. The singer that transcends the song and instead tells a story by making an intimate connection with the audience is special.

Enter Holli Ross.

After a twenty five year and counting run with her membership in the celebrated trio String of Pearls, Ross steps out with a solo release that is a captivating and inventive display of everything good about straight ahead vocal jazz. An all star line up including Brazilian trumpet/flugelhorn master Claudio Roditi and one of the finest bass players over the last thirty years in Rufus Reid, takes us on a delightful journey with tunes from Duke Ellington, Oscar Petitiford along with some wonderful original collaborations with Roditi and Reid.

Ross's phrasing and inflection allow her to work magic with the material here especially when she takes a huge musical roll of the dice by covering the Fifth Dimension hit, "Wedding Bell Blues." Ross slows down "Wedding Bell Blues" and immediately begins to transcend that role from singer to story teller with an infectious tone and phrasing that seem to linger long after the final notes and this is why the tune and arrangement work so well. Ross does not sing the words, she makes the music. The arrangement of "Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart" takes a song that has the potential to be a train wreck and instead becomes a contemporary spin on a classic breathing new life into an extremely dated tune. Ross also gives a jaw dropping performance on Oscar Pettiford's "Tricotism" and ventures into areas most vocalists would think twice about. Great vocals, a killer band and inventive arrangements make this release as entertaining as they come. An elegant swing with an artistic flair, "You'll See" is a solid winner!

 Holli Ross makes "old school" become "new cool."

Tracks: Wedding Bell Blues; Pick Yourself Up; Lucky To Be Me; Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me; Forty Three After; If I Only Had A Heart; Elegy; I Dont Know Enough About You; Alone Together; You'll See; Tricotism; Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart; Cafe Suite.

Personnel: Holli Ross: vocals; Ted Rosenthal: piano; Rufus Reid: bass; Matt Wilson: drums; Dennis Wilson: trombone; Claudio Roditi: trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion.

A taste of Holli Ross from 2010 ( not performed on this release ).

For more information be sure and check out http://www.holliross.com/ and http://www.stringofpearls.net/