[SACD-R][OF] Beat Kaestli - Invitation - 2010 (Jazz)

Personnel:
Beat Kaestli: vocals; Billy Drummond: drums; Jay Leonhart: bass; Paul Meyers: guitar; Joel Frahm: saxophone

Beat (pronounced bay-at) Kaestli is a Swiss vocalist, songwriter, arranger and producer residing in New York City. Upon receiving a scholarship to the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in 1993, he decided to move from his native home of Switzerland to New York and make it his permanent home. Following several years of supporting himself as a session singer, backing such dance artists as Barbara Tucker and Inaya Day and working alongside Linda Hopkins on the world tour of the Harlem Gospel Show, Kaestli made his recording debut in 2002 with Reasons a collection of R&B-infused, pop-jazz originals that earned him a review in Billboard Magazine and comparisons to such disparate headliners as George Michael and Maxwell

Beat Kaestli turns his attention to the Great American Songbook on Invitation, his auspicious debut for Chesky Records. Recorded at St. Peter's Church in Chelsea, this stirring collection of jazz standards is the perfect showcase for Kaestli's hauntingly beautiful voice, which falls somewhere in the Chet Baker-Kenny Rankin range. His voice is imbued with clarion articulation, naturally relaxed phrasing and uncanny feeling.