There are precious few vocalists whose artistry flourishes
in both the worlds of popular song and jazz, as each world has its own special
demands and challenges. Like Sarah Vaughan, Diane Reeves and Mel Torme,
Tony-nominated, Theater World Award-winning singer-songwriter Ann Hampton
Callaway manages this feat seemingly effortless, delivering vocal
tour-de-forces marked by refined beauty, subtlety, grandeur, profound
musicality and passion. Having done critically-acclaimed tributes to the likes
of Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, written hits for Barbra Streisand,
released albums of original songs, and through her performances and recordings
helped keep the Great American Songbook alive and vital, Ann decided for her
fourteenth album to fulfill a long-time dream-a recording of great songs from
classic motion pictures. On October 19,
2018, Shanachie Entertainment will release Ann Hampton Callaway's JAZZ GOES TO
THE MOVIES, a magnificent collection of sublime interpretations of great songs
featured in beloved Hollywood films.
"All my life I have been enchanted by the marriage of
film and music," notes Callaway, "whether in movie musicals or in the
artful use of song to further a story. In the Golden Age of Hollywood, songs
written fort these charming films were by some of the most brilliant
songwriters of the 20th Century-Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields,
George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz
Hart and Cole Porter, to name a few. They were celebrating the endurance of
dreams and romance and offering hope during a time when the challenges of the
Depression and World War II were dampening spirits. During this time of
uncertainty, it seemed fitting to revisit this inspiring music."
Callaway does more than "revisit" the wonderful
selection of songs on JAZZ GOES TO THE MOVIES; she re-animates them with fresh
interpretation and a sensibility informed by our time. Backed by the same
intimate group of superb musicians who have backed her during live performances
of these songs at the fabled jazz club Birdland: pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist
Martin Wind, drummer Tim Horner and saxophonist Jimmy Greene. They provide the
perfect complement to Ann's renditions of such songs as "As Time Goes
By" from
CASABLANCA, "The Way You Look Tonight" from SWING
TIME, "'Swonderful" from AMERICAN IN PARIS and, originally, FUNNY
FACE, and "Blue Skies" from THE JAZZ SINGER. But aside from the
inspiration of the songs, Callaway had a more personal motivation in recording
them.
"During the creation of this project, I was doing many
of the arrangements at the hospital by the side of my mother Shirley, who was
in her last days, battling pancreatic cancer," Ann confides. "Since
she was the reason I sing and had unerring good taste in music, I'd sing my
arrangement ideas to her and she'd nod her head in approval or shake her head
as if to say, try again. It made letting her go sweet and a bit poetic since
music had always been our great bond."
Ann Hampton Callaway, was born in Chicago. Her father was a
journalist and her mother was singer pianist and vocal coach. Her sister Liz
Callaway is a singer and actress on Broadway. Callaway is a born entertainer
who has made her mark as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, arranger,
actress, educator, TV host and producer. In high school she performed in
musicals and after graduation studied acting at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champagne before moving to New York City to pursue her dreams. In New
York she appeared in clubs as a cabaret singer, forging her signature blend of
jazz and pop by performing classic material from the Great American Songbook.
While contributing to an album of Cole Porter songs she was invited by the
Porter estate to compose music for the songwriting legend's unfinished song
"I Gaze In Your Eyes," which was included on her debut album in
1992. What followed was a dazzling,
multi-faceted career that catapulted her to the first rank of interpreters of
popular song in America. Aside from recording 17 albums, including critically-acclaimed
tributes to Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, she has written songs with
Carole King, Rolf Lovland and Barbara Carroll as well writing songs recorded or
performed by Barbra Streisand (including "At The Same Time" on
Streisand's platinum-selling "Higher Ground" album), Barbara Carroll,
Blossom Dearie, Carole King, Patti LuPone and many more. She has performed with
top orchestras and big bands in major concert halls in more than 30 countries,
collaborating with the likes of Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz
Orchestra, The Boston Pops and more, and performing for President Bill Clinton
in Washington, DC and at Mikhail Gorbachev's Youth Peace Summit.
A peerless live performer, her performances are marked by
her warmth, spontaneous wit and passionate delivery of standards, jazz classics
and originals. As one of America's most gifted improvisers, she frequently
takes words and phrases from people in audiences and creates songs on the spot.
Ann's dream of working in film, TV and radio has been realized in several
recent projects. She made her feature film debut opposite Angelina Jolie and
Matt Damon in the Robert De Niro film THE GOOD SHEPHERD, performing the
standard "Come Rain or Come Shine". She recorded "Isn't It Romantic?"
and "The Nearness of You" in Wane Wong's LAST HOLIDAY, starring Queen
Latifah. She recently wrote songs for the upcoming film STATE OF AFFAIRS. She
also produced and directed to TV specials called SINGERS SPOTLIGHT WITH ANN
HAMPTON CALLAWAY as part of her mission to keep the Great American Songbook
alive. All of which makes her new JAZZ GOES TO THE MOVIES album a natural
progression.
"My dear friend, producer and greatest champion, Lisa
Schiff, is the reason this record exists," Callaway says. "She and I
both share the hope that this record will transport listeners to bluer skies
and the reassurance of what still matters and will always matter...as time goes
by!"
Street Date: October 19, 2018
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