A Moments Glance

Julie Hardy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 26, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fresh Sound New Talent
• ASIN: B000926SDC
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #834,762 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Christopher Loudon, Jazz Times, June 2005

"...Hardy lives, like Elling and McFerrin, in a musical world of her own...it is a marvelously dynamic place."

Product Description

Excerpts from liner notes by jazz writer Bob Blumenthal

"There is a paradigm taking shape for the contemporary jazz vocalist that, while not unprecedented, promises to elevate our expectations and put to rest any notions about singers being a species apart. More and more, the new voices emerging these days are the voices of complete musicians. The best of them are comfortable with or without words, functioning as composers and interpreters, arrangers and improvisers. Julie Hardy is one of these voices.

This recording indicates what Hardy brought to New York’s thriving scene when she moved to Brooklyn after completing her graduate studies in 2003. Equally divided between originals and standards, it introduces us to a singer with admirable intonation and time, excellent taste, and feeling well beyond her years.

As a listen to these tracks will indicate, Julie Hardy has put in and continues to put in the necessary work. She will be the first to tell you that she is new and still learning, but in the area of personal, passionate creation, has already arrived.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Uninspired and a total waste of money, June 17, 2005

By 

A Jazz Fan (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Moments Glance (Audio CD)

I purchased this CD and I was totally underwhelmed. Hardy's tone is bland, her singing is lifeless and her musical approach is "by-the-numbers" jazz. Hardy does not swing and her improvisations are dull. On CD she is less than mediocre, and on stage, she is markedly worse. Her leaden approach to each song is a hapless drone that even Philip Glass would find monotonous.

Let me explain how this CD is similar to efforts made by talentless people like Mrs. Miller who made a complete and utter fool of herself publicly, and Tiny Tim, another goof singer who tip-toed through the tulips for a moment or two. Time was the true test of their alleged artistry. What Mrs. Miller and Tiny Tim left behind were their hideous vocals, so that generation after generation could continue to shake their heads in wonder and ask themselves "What the heck were these people thinking?"

I would like to believe that Mrs. Miller and Tiny Tim did not take themselves seriously. This, however, is where the similarity ends. Hardy is serious.

Mrs. Miller and Tiny Tim used up more than 15 minutes of their allotted fame. "A Moment's Glance" is the sound of Hardy depleting hers.

As an addendum to the aforementioned comments I made in 2005, I would also like to point out that there are duplicate glowing reviews on AMAZON for this truly tedious album. Please see the reviews of jazz1"serge" and of ScJeannet "jazz1". Both these reviews, which are totally identical, were posted shortly after I had posted mine. The review by Jazz knight "charles" also appears to be written by the same hand.

Furthermore, do look at the dates the 7 glowing reviews were posted and observe how these all were crafted within the span of 3 days, all on the heels of my published critical comments.

In my opinion, these appear to be written by either the singer herself or by her friends for the possible purpose of distracting the potential buyer from the fact that this album is unequivocally dreadful, and for the probable ploy of artificially improving this album's AMAZON rating.

All one needs to do to validate my claims is to:

(1) listen to the audio clips above,

(2) observe how many actual customers chimed in to disagree with the unwarrantedly stellar reviews of this sub-standard unmusical effort; and,

(3) check where Hardy's singing career stands years after this debut, despite any "well-thought out (sic) review .... in the June issue of JazzTimes."

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre, June 3, 2008

By 

Jorge V. Ledesma - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Moments Glance (Audio CD)

I got this CD as a gift and it was difficult to get through one listening. I do not understand how this album has gotten so many rave reviews from customers.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Truly Dreadful, June 11, 2008

By 

David Penn "Jazz Maven" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Moments Glance (Audio CD)

I have heard this singer at 55 Bar in NYC 2 years ago. Her latest recording shows that little improvement has been made since then. It is shocking to me that this person teaches a class on jazz singing. Hardy has no sense of time, and her superficial scat singing makes me wince.
A singer with this low level of musicianship should not attempt to scat.
A travesty.