It's A
Good Day is the major label debut by the widely acclaimed young jazz singer
Cyrille Aimée-yet another step forward for the rapidly rising vocalist. Winner
of both the Montreux Jazz Festival's Vocal Competition and the Sarah Vaughan
International Vocal Competition, Aimée explores a range of musical styles,
eras, continents and moods on It's A Good Day (Mack Avenue) with a singular
voice on inventive arrangements, produced by Fabrice DuPont (Shakira, Jennifer
Lopez).
Aimée's
musical outlook is reflected in an emphasis on the guitar, an instrument with
an indigenous form in nearly every culture of the world-and it was the sound of
the gypsy guitar that inspired Aimée to become a musician. While growing up in
Samois-sur-Seine, Aimée snuck out of her home to the nearby gypsy encampments
and was mesmerized by the music of those who followed the spirit of Django
Reinhardt, revered as one of the world's most influential guitarists. Aimée-who
as a child also lived in Paris, Cameroon, Singapore and the Dominican
Republic-later became fascinated with Brazilian guitar, and her music reveals a
thorough understanding of bossa nova and samba idioms. She has now settled in
Brooklyn, where she continues to absorb the inner workings of American jazz and
the culture of the music's homeland.
The
musical accompaniment on It's A Good Day is as novel as Aimée herself: three
guitars (Jazz, Gypsy and Brazilian) with bass and drums. This captivating
multi-guitar sound is provided by her close collaborator, Michael Valeanu, a
player of French and Italian extraction on a contemporary jazz-style electric
guitar; her countryman Adrien Moignard on the steel-string guitar gypsies favor
due to its piercing, staccato sound; and the Brazilian guitarist Guilherme Mont
eiro, who relies on a nylon-stringed instrument which provides the bossa nova
its soft and undulating sensuous sound.
Thoughtful
arrangements of the thirteen songs-both standards and originals-ensure a
sumptuous musical blend. "We worked hard to create a road map for each
guitar to make the sound beautiful and exciting-without creating a musical
traffic jam," explains Aimée. The flexible and fluid rhythm section of
bassist Sam Anning and drummer Rajiv Jayaweera holds it all together.
Opening
the album are two standards, an engaging version of Rodgers and Hart's
"Where Or When," and the upbeat title track, "It's A Good
Day," made famous by Peggy Lee. "Bamboo Shoots," an alluring
original by Anning, somehow manages to sound gypsy, Hawaiian and pop-all at the
same time. In the same vein, her arrangement of "Love Me Or Leave Me"
has an original multi-cultural spin. "I was inspired to do a version of
'Love Me Or Leave Me' after hearing Nina Simone's recording," recalls
Aimée, "and then I found the Billie Holiday version, and was further
inspired."
Seamlessly
added to the mix are covers of Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" and
Duke Ellington's "Caravan." "Caravan was one of the first songs
I ever learned," says Aimée, "and it was time to inject some fiery
gypsy soul into it." That frame of mind found it to "Pourtant,"
a French pop song that was a hit for Vanessa Paradis, as well as "All
Love," which began as an instrumental composition by the late guitarist
Babik Reinhardt, the son of the legendary Django. "I heard this beautiful
melody so many times, but when they played it at Babik's funeral, I asked for
permission to put a lyric to it."
It's A
Good Day also features catchy original compositions by Aimée. Featured are
"One Way Ticket"-the result of a trip to India,
"Twenty-Eight" and "Nuit Blanche" ("White
Night"), a French expression that refers to an inability to sleep while
brooding over lost love. Oscar Pettiford's "Tricotism" is the zesty
closer-almost an encore. How better to feature bassist Anning than in a jazz
classic by one of the founding fathers of the modern jazz bass?
Cyrille
Aimée is an artist of many facets. Infused by a novel blend of multicultural
influences, a vision for a unique sound and with a voice that is sublime, It's
A Good Day makes for a great day for a wide array of lovers of music.
Vocalist
Cyrille Aimée was primarily raised in France by a French father and Dominican
mother. As a child she snuck out of her bedroom window on summer nights
wandering into nearby gypsy encampments filled with those attending the annual
Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois-sur-Seine. She quickly fell in love with
their music and way of life, and was captivated to the point of traveling
throughout Europe where she and her musician friends would play and sing on
street corners across the continent. This tour eventually led her to the
Montreux Jazz Festival, where she won first prize in their vocal
competition-which included the financing of her first self-produced album.
Aimée auditioned for the French version of American Idol, for which she was
selected to be a finalist. Informed she would have to sing only what she was
told, her gypsy and jazz spirit rebelled-she left the competition. She now
happily tours the world with her band as well as in a duo setting with
Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo. Aimée's talents recently caught the
attention of Stephen Sondheim who cast her in an Encores! Special Event at New
York City's City Center in November 2013. It's A Good Day, Aimée's major label
debut, will be released in August 2014 on Mack Avenue Records.
Upcoming
Cyrille Aimée Performances:
June 22
/ Maison-Laffittee Jazz Festival / Maison-Laffittee, France
June 23
- 25 / Le Duc des Lombards / Paris, France
June 26
/ Festival Django Reinhardt / Samois-sur-Seine, France
June 28
/ Max of Eastman Place / Rochester, NY
June 29
/ Montreal Jazz Festival / Montreal, Canada
August
14 / Shalin Liu Performance Center / Rockport, MA
August
20 - 24 / Helsinki Jazz Festival / Helsinki, Finland
August
29 / Mackinac Island / Mackinac Island, MI
August
31 / Waterfront Stage @ Detroit Jazz Festival / Detroit, MI
September
6 / O'Reilly Theater / Pittsburgh, PA
September
13 / Lake George Jazz Festival / Glen Falls, NY
September
20 / Al Sears Jazz Festival / Macomb, IL
October
8 - 11 / Mondavi Center for the Arts / Davis, CA
October
14 / Yoshi's / Oakland, CA
October
17 / The Loft at UCSD / San Diego, CA
October
18 / Rose Wagner Performing Arts / Salt Lake City, UT
October
21 - 22 / Dazzle / Denver, CO
October
24 / Symphony Center / Chicago, IL
October
25 / College of St. Benedict / St. Joseph, MN
October
28 / Iron Horse / Northampton, MA
October
29 / Scullers / Boston, MA
November
1 - 2 / Quebec City Jazz Festival / Quebec City, Canada
November
4 / Widder Bar / Zürich, Switzerland
November
25 - 29 / Birdland / New York, NY
December
5 / Drama Theatre / Buffalo, NY
December
13 - January 4, 2015 / Café Society Swing / New York, NY
January
16, 2015 / Mancini - Pink Panther Program / Orlando, FL
January
23 / Largo Cultural Center / Largo, FL
January
25 - February 1, 2015 / Jazz Cruise / Ft. Lauderdale, FL
February
5, 2015 / Norton Center for the Arts / Danville, KY
February
6, 2015 / Germantown Performing Arts Center / Germantown, TN
February
7, 2015 / Pamlico Musical Society / Oriental, NC
February
8, 2015 / The Music Center at Strathmore / North Bethesda, MD
February
12, 2015 / Penn State / State College, PA
February
14, 2015 / UVM Lane Series / Burlington, VT
February
20 - 21, 2015 / Fredrick P. Rose Hall @ Jazz at Lincoln Center / New York, NY
March 7,
2015 / Machester Craftsmen's Guild / Pittsburgh, PA
March 20
- 21, 2015 / Oxford Hotel / Bend, OR
March
27, 2015 / Lakewood Cultural Center / Lakewood, CO
April 4,
2015 / West Hartford Town Hall / Hartford, CT
April
10, 2015 / Stamford Center for the Arts / Stamford, CT
April
24, 2015 / Gerald Lynch Theatre / New York, NY
October
24, 2015 / Tempe Center for the Arts / Tempe, AZ
Cyrille
Aimée · It's A Good Day / Mack
Avenue Records · Release Date: August 19, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment