Listen Here

Product Description

Seven-time Grammy nominee and Grammy Award winner John Clayton joins Jackie Ryan (considered by Jazz Times to be ''one of the outstanding jazz vocalists of her generation and, quite possibly, of all time - rivaling the dexterous sass Sarah Vaughan and the scintillating verve of Diana Krall'') to deliver a tour de force through a myriad of jazz idioms - from blues & gospel flavored jazz gems, to sultry & sassy love songs, a luscious Spanish ballad, and a sensational original penned by lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman (multiple Grammy, Emmy & Acadamy Award nominees: The Way We Were, Windmills of Your Mind, You Don't Bring Me Flowers) - all backed by a host of the nation's leading artists and 3-time Grammy nominee piano phenomenon Gerald Clayton.

Ms. Ryan has been the featured artist on NPR, Primetime A&E, CNN TV en Espanol, and Voice of America. Her previous CDs have received 4-Star reviews from Downbeat and AMG and have dominated the #1 slot on Jazz Week's industry-standard nationwide chart for months. This is Jackie's finest outing to date.

With concert tours throughout Asia, Australia, and Europe (such as eight years at London's famed Ronnie Scott's Club) and with festivals at home such as Telluride, Monterey, and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, and packed concerts at New York's Birdland, Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Florida's Broward Center, and the San Francisco Bay Area's Yoshi's - Jackie has garnered well-earned world-wide recognition.

But it is not by accident that her cross-cultural appeal ''bridges the gap between both geography and generations,'' as BILLBOARD so aptly put it. Part Irish, part Mexican, she was born into it. Her father was of Irish descent, born in San Francisco's Butchertown, working night shifts, educating himself in Latin and singing classical pieces at home in his trained baritone. Her mother (who sang operettas at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara) was Mexican and crooned Spanish folk songs to her as a child. Jackie lost her mother at the age of 15 and, in memory, always includes a Spanish song in her CDs - in this case, the soaring ballad, La Puerta.

Her rousing rendition of The Gypsy In My Soul perfectly reflects Jackie's spirited exploratory nature. Surely there must be a gypsy in her soul - as evidenced not only by the far-reaching range of musical territory she covers in this CD, but also by her lifelong love of jazz in all its manifold permutations. And, as you ''Listen Here,'' you will be joining her on an adventurous journey - from the down home bluesiness of Comin' Home Baby and the gospel-tinged Accentuate The Positive, to the rarified operatic realms of an American classic, I Loves You Porgy, the Spanish laminations of La Puerta and the pulsating samba rhythms of To The Ends Of The Earth.

Listen Here is her tribute to some of her favorite lyricists - such as Abbey Lincoln's liberation of life's passions in Throw It Away and the first ever recording of John Clayton's hauntingly beautiful Before We Fall In Love with lyrics by Grammy/Oscar/Emmy Award winners, Marilyn and Alan Bergman - all culminating with the title track, Listen Here, a luscious ballad tailor-made for Jackie's rich alto (recorded mesmerizingly with Grammy Award winner Gerald Clayton). Give a ''Listen Here,'' and you will find, as others have, an extraordinarily versatile artist, now at the top of her game.

Review

Jackie Ryan joined the upper echelon of contemporary jazz vocalists at least a half-dozen years ago, evincing an effortlessness akin to Ella's or Sarah's - that ineffable ability to be as one with each song. Now, with the flawless Listen Here, Ryan again surpasses herself.

As always, her tone, phrasing, and interpretive smarts are impeccable, and her range - sublime. But there is a fresh earthiness evident across these 14 tracks, an even richer naturalness. Never one to underplay her dexterity, Ryan covers considerable musical ground, traveling from the brass-lined fervor of her opening Comin' Home Baby and testifying strut of Accentuate the Positive to the warm breeziness of Anytime, Any Day, Anywhere and the hushed beauty of the Dave Frishberg title track. Along the way, she delivers an enchanted reading of Abbey Lincoln's Throw It Away, revisits the Mexican half of her heritage with the heartrending La Puerta, and rivals the majesty of Nina Simone on a towering I Loves You, Porgy.

John Clayton who, in addition to playing bass (alongside son Gerald on piano and organ), served as producer and arranger. --Christopher Louden, JAZZTIMES Magazine

Jackie Ryan, who has been featured on NPR, CNN TV en Espanol and Primetime A&E, has taken another step up into the upper echelons of jazz. It will be a surprise and a glaring omission if this album isn't nominated for a Grammy next year. This is a CD that should be listened to over and over again. Because it will take repeated plays to appreciate all the nuances and surprises and moments of sheer beauty that Ryan packs into this diverse collection of songs.

Blessed with a warm, lush alto, Ryan comes out rockin' with a head bobbing rendition of the bluesy Comin' Home, Baby, featuring an inventive arrangement by John Clayton (who arranged the phenomenal rendition of The Star Spangled Banner that Whitney Houston sang at the 1990 Super Bowl) and lyrics by the quintessential hipster Bob Dorough.

From there she works through an intelligently thought out selection of songs, including Johnny Mercer's infectiously upbeat Accentuate the Positive, the debut of the achingly lovely Clayton-composed ballad Before We Fall in Love with lyrics by Oscar winners Marilyn and Alan Bergman; the premiere of pianist John Mayer's Rip Van Winkle with lyrics by Mark Winkler; the little known No One Ever Tells You, penned by Ryan's friend Carroll Coates, and a courageous rendition of I Loves You Porgy, which Ryan sings in the dialect of the Gullah people of South Carolina, the inspiration for the Gershwins' Porgy and Bess.

On all her albums, Ryan includes a song in Spanish in memory of her Mexican mother, once a singer with the operetta company Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara. This time she turns in a passionate performance of Luis Demetrio's torch song La Puerta, accompanied only by the guitar prodigy Graham Dechter, whose delicate, perfectly played solo makes you want to stand up and applaud.

Ryan ventures out of her comfort zone on this sophisticated album, teaming up with Grammy Award-winning bassist John Clayton, who produced and arranged Listen Here, the title taken from the David Frishberg song that closes the record. Clayton, has surrounded Ryan with top young jazz musicians from two Grammy nominated bands: the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and the Clayton Brothers Quintet - the producer's son, three-time Grammy-nominated pianist Gerald Clayton, drummer Obed Calvaire, tenor saxophonist Rickey Woodard, Dechter on guitar and Mexican trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos.

The CD, whose package includes a 20-page booklet about the music and the musicians, was recorded, edited and mixed by Joel Moss and mastered by Joel Jaffe. --Paul Liberatore, Marin Independent Journal