Customer Reviews

Steal the Moon

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I discovered Carolyn Leonhart on Steely Dan's summer 2000 tour (she's the "middle" vocalist) and enjoyed her solo on the band's "Dirty Work." When I found out she had an album of her own, I knew I had to buy it. When I found it was jazz, I REALLY knew I had to buy it.

Carolyn Leonhart is an amazing talent, and those only introduced to her through Steely Dan may be amazed at her versatility. This CD really highlights her wonderful voice and tremendous phrasing. Some highlights are the musically complex "Nature Boy" which she sings without a hitch, the straight ahead "It Didn't Turn Out That Way" - a humorous Mose Allison tune which sounds like it was written for her, and her jazz-pop duet with pianist Rob Bargad on the title track. Her sultry bass-vocal duet with her bassist father Jay Leonhart - "Moonglow" - which closes out the album, is also a fun highlight. She is supported by some amazing musicians - Bargad (who also produced the album) is a tremendous songwriter and pianist, and augments her vocals perfectly. Her father plays a smokin' bass from beginning to end, and the legendary Jimmy Cobb (Miles Davis' drummer on Kind of Blue among others) plays drums on a few tracks, while Billy Drummond covers the drums on the rest.

If you enjoy jazz vocalists, such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Diana Krall, you will enjoy this album as well. It is my personal favorite jazz album of the year and one which hopefully will expose a new talent who can only get better as time goes by.

carolyn leonhart delivers an excellent eclectic vocal performance on this cd. her style oscillates between traditional and bop, but she is always precise.

highlights include: it didn't turn out that way - with a vocal track reminiscent of early carmen mcrae and sarah vaughn; i've grown accustomed to her face - tender placement...makes you sit and weep

while this cd does not truly reflect the extensive range of carolyn's skills, it is a fine choice in a line of introductory material from this talented vocalist. i look forward to hearing her future work.

If you only know Leonhart from her work with Steely Dan, get ready to be blown away! This is wonderful piano-bar jazz, simple yet melodic arrangements, and superb musicianship. The title track, "Little Man", and "Yesterday's A Dream" are standouts, but there are no weak or filler tracks here. I'm not very knowledgeable about jazz, so I don't know how to compare this to other jazz artists to give you a frame of reference. But that doesn't mean I don't know wonderful music when I hear it. Beautiful record!

In fact, great thanks are due to Donald Fagen and Walter Becker for the visibility given to Carolyn Leonhart in their tour bands of recent years. Glimpses of that clarity and perfect pitch stimulated me to check out Carolyn's other work including 'Steal the Moon' and later albums 'New 8th Day' and LynLeon's 'Glass Lounge'. This 2000 work is largely classic top-notch Jazz trio work, such as I first encountered in the back streets of London in the 60's. Rob Garbad's mellow Trini Lopez/James Taylor tones combine beautfully with Carolyn's precision in the title track, but I do prefer the simplicity and purity of voice in 'Nature Boy' and 'I've Grown Accustomed to her Face'. This album is for lovers of the female voice; if you crave for more, watch out for LynLeon's new work in fall 2005.

It is so wonderful to have a new solo album from this magnificent artist. This is Carolyn's first state-side solo collection and it is truly beautiful. Her first two solo albums for Japanese EMI were fine, but were hampered by producer Dave Matthews synthesizers and fusion concepts. She has never sounded more sure of herself than on this collection. Her reading of "Nature Boy", which she has always performed in a complex arrangement, gets deeper and deeper. She is always in tune and her time concepts are even sharper than in previous sets. She is the hope of jazz singing of the 21st Century and is the "Princess of Jazz". While Bargad may not be the most sensitive accompanist, he doesn't get in the way too often and lets the princess shine. I can't wait for her next release.

It simply does not get any better than this. I believe the late, great Billie Holliday would sit and listen to Carolyn Leonhart..... if she were still with us. On the first listen, this became one, if not the, favorite selection of a vast jazz collection that goes back to the 30's.

Will somebody with the ability to do so please shine the spotlight on this great talent?