(Vocal jazz) Bonnie Jensen - Lucky So & So - 2001, MP3, 256 kbps

Bonnie J Jensen has established herself as a respected and versatile acoustic-orientated jazz musican - a singer, pianist, and songwriter who has developed her talents through prestigious long-term residencies, into a career of professional engagements worldwide.
Her first notable public recognition in the jazz world came in 2001, shortly after the release of her debut CD Lucky So & So which received vast critical acclaim and quickly rose to NO. 3 in the Australian Independent Jazz Release Charts. This immaculately produced recording of jazz standards and two originals places her warm and stylish vocals to the fore, and also features the talents of other leading Australian musicians: Michael Bartolomei, David Stratton, Nick McBride, Steve Brien, Graham Jesse and Casey Greene.
The American music critic David Nathan, who has written scores of reviews and liner notes for luminaries including Shirley Horn and Roberta Flack, wrote the following in his column on www.allaboutmusic.com in July 2001:
"Maintaining the high standards set by the La Brava label with its previous releases, Jensen delivers a scintillating, expressive 55 minutes of music. Possessing a voice with excellent range, she distributes emotions tailored to the message she wants each song to convey to the listener, whether the tune be an original or standard - the mark of a good jazz singer."
November 2003, whilst home in Sydney, Bonnie recorded and co-produced her second CD Blue Joy, a soulful mix of popular tunes, and originals, inspired by her travels.
This album contains more original material, displays her development as a writer and arranger, and was devised with a coherent theme - love's inherent dichotomy of ecstasy and anguish.
Blue Joy quickly climbed in the Australian Independent Jazz Charts' Top 10 and was also immediately repackaged and released by a Japanese distributor. A feature article about Bonnie appeared in the April '04 issue of Japan's Swing Journal - the magazine for jazz devotees, and Blue Joy rose to No. 8 in their (vocal) charts for the month of June 2004, placing Bonnie along-side signed, well-marketed artists such as Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Michael Buble and Keiko Lee. These charts are based on sales of CDs at 9 major record stores in major cities throughout Japan.
Shane Nicols of The Australian Financial Review wrote the following in February 2004:
"Jensen's second album is a confident, bold and coherent statement of a musician (singer, player, composer and arranger) hitting stride. Jensen is that rarest of things - a full blooded, grown up sexy woman unafraid to let her passions and eroticism inform her music in a sophisticated way, beyond the usual raunchy, bluesy stuff. She's a nightclub singer who belongs in gowns, not jeans, and harkens back to a school and a style that is both timeless and increasingly rare.
"Performing with her on a selection of her own tunes and such wonders as 'This Masquerade', 'Every Breath You Take', and 'Just The Two of Us' are a crack line-up of jazz musicians that frame this music in just the lustrous and vivid colours it needs. It's a very even album, with no missteps, beginning with Bonnie's own 'Tokyo Skies', a remarkably frank and modern exposition of desire and neediness, plumbing a well of loneliness in 'Sharing The Night With the Blues', 'Good Morning Heartache' and 'Baby Come Home' - canny choices all of them - and topped with a radical reworking of Stevie Wonder's 'Creepin', replete with Jensen's own rap fantasia at the close. Her reharmonisation of Sting's classic is beautiful and logical, finding new layers in a tune that always hinted they were there."
The official launch of Blue Joy was held at Sydney's famous jazz venue - The Basement, where Bonnie and her sextet - a handful of Australia's top Jazz musicians (Jonathan Zwartz, Fabian Hevia, Michael Bartolomei, Craig Walters, Jon Pease and Don Rader) played to a full house on a cold, rainy night.
While many artists talk about listening to their parent's records when they were young, Bonnie's introduction to jazz was somewhat unconventional. She was in her early 20 when she first encountered the genre that she is now so passionate about. Her initial discovery was the music of the Brazilian master, Antonio Carlos Jobim, ironically whilst she was living in Germany. The purity, sophistication and complexity of the Brazilian music resonated with her, and its influence is audible in her writing and arranging. "I love finding a damn good song that's really well loved, blurring the genres, and giving it a new reincarnation", says Jensen.
"The beauty of jazz is that, while there are definite forms, there are no rules. The fact that there's a new generation of artists working within the parameters of jazz who also work outside the square, like the young Englishman Jamie Cullum or America's Norah Jones, and are becoming incredibly successful, tells you something really exciting is happening, and in Australia, it's an artist like Bonnie J Jensen that's making it happen."

The La Brava label continues to bring many of Australia's finest jazz musicians to compact disc. Not missing a beat in this ambitious undertaking, the label has released a session that displays the vocal renderings of Bonnie Jensen. Maintaining the high standards set by the label with its previous releases, Jensen delivers a scintillating, expressive 55 minutes of music. Possessing a voice with excellent range, she distributes emotions tailored to the message she wants each song to convey to the listener, whether the tune be an original or standard -- the mark of a good jazz singer. Thus, "Waltz for Debby" is tender and a bit wistful. "Teach Me Tonight" imparts a sense of urgency as she staggers space between words and lines to make this oft-recorded song come across somewhat differently than one usually hears it. Her own "Reality" is more contemporary music and comes wrapped in a Brazilian beat. Jensen also recognizes the importance of imaginative arrangements to make sure that the proper combination of instrumentation is used to help her meet her performing objectives. On "No More Blues," Steve Brien's acoustic guitar is her sole accompaniment. Thus the album is peppered with astute use of fluttering flute, soprano sax that manages not to be whiny and off-pitch, and most of all, Michael Bartolomei's piano. His efforts are inventive and inspired, and consequently, he is rewarded with generous solo time. Even though Jensen's choice of songs is somewhat orthodox -- standards, originals, and contemporary pop material, pretty much standard fare these days -- she displays a vocal instrument power and clarity combined with a sense of intimacy that makes the session work. Recommended. ~ Dave Nathan

Оф.сайт:http://www.bonniejjensen.com/