Christopher Loudon
Christopher’s Contributions
03/15/13 Albums
Morgan James
Morgan James Live
It may seem doubly foolhardy for a young, white Broadway singer to dive headlong into the Nina Simone songbook for her debut album, and to record that album’s dozen tracks live. But Idaho-born, Juilliard-trained Morgan James proves largely up to the task...
03/12/13 Albums
Smash
Patricia Barber
Few performers in or out of jazz are as consistently brilliant as Patricia Barber. Smash , her first album for Concord Jazz, simply reconfirms Barber’s status as a consummate artist. Her perfectly chilled voice, at once stern and tender, remains singularly...
03/10/13 Albums
No Beginning No End
José James
In case there was any doubt, No Beginning No End , José James’ stunning Blue Note debut, confirms his place among the soul brethren elite, alongside Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Bill Withers. This 11-track set of originals, nine written or co-written by James...
03/07/13 Albums
Fourteen
Nouveau Stride
Some might argue that Lorraine Feather has never met a stride pianist she didn’t like, but Feather’s intense enthusiasm for pianist Stephanie Trick, her partner in the freshly minted Nouveau Stride, is fully justified. Indeed, first-time listeners of their...
03/03/13 Albums
Listen Here
Jackie Ryan
Jackie Ryan joined the upper echelon of contemporary jazz vocalists at least a half-dozen years ago, around the time of her stunning You and the Night and the Music . 2009’s aptly titled Doozy , a double platter of delights, reconfirmed her stature, evincing...
02/27/13 Albums
Deep Song: A Tribute to Billie Holiday
Ranee Lee
Manifold are the Canadian performers who’ve crossed the 49th parallel to find success, but vocalist and actress Ranee Lee numbers among the comparative few who have made the opposite journey. Born and raised in New York, Lee arrived in Montreal in the late...
02/24/13 Albums
Rewind
Elizabeth Shepherd
Across four previous albums, Toronto vocalist, keyboardist and songwriter Elizabeth Shepherd has, much like Esperanza Spalding, developed a pop-jazz sound and soulful verve of tremendous cross-generational appeal. All of those albums showcased original tunes...
02/21/13 Albums
Complete Royal Roost Recordings
Beverly Kenney
Among the scores of female jazz singers who came and went during the 1950s, Beverly Kenney is a sad and rather exceptional case. Kenney was just 28 when she took her own life in June 1960. Mere weeks before her suicide (purportedly prompted by a failed romance...
02/18/13 Albums
The Complete Columbia Recordings
Bessie Smith
Among blues royalty, Bessie Smith was known as the Empress and Dinah Washington the Queen. But their titles should have been reversed, since Smith laid the groundwork not just for Washington but for dozens of blues, jazz and soul singers, from Ella Fitzgerald...
02/02/13 Albums
Like Water, Like Air
Masha Campagne
Five years have passed since Bay Area vocalist Masha Campagne made her recording debut, forging a simpatico alliance with pianist and arranger Weber Iago and emerging as one of the most surprising Brazilian stylists to ever navigate the Jobim and Caymmi...
01/24/13 Vox
Almost Love
Marcus Goldhaber
Across his two previous albums, Marcus Goldhaber skirted the perimeter of jazz vocalism, evoking the spirit of Chet Baker while never quite capturing Baker’s ethereal charm. Almost Love finds him settling instead into a pop-folk groove—equal parts James...
01/20/13 Features
Mark Murphy: The Explorer
At 80, the great vocalist is in the midst of a career renaissance
01/18/13 Vox
Love Songs
The Four Freshmen
Take a valuable document, make a photocopy, make a copy of the copy, repeat the process another 19 times and the end result would be a barely recognizable replica of the original. Such is the case with the latest (and 22nd) configuration of the Four Freshmen...
01/12/13 Vox
Smile
Andrea Marcovicci
Tunes for tough times: such was Andrea Marcovicci’s goal when she set about assembling her 17th album. Noting, of late, a heightened sense of gloom among her audience members, the celebrated cabaret songstress decided to lay down her torch and serve up some...
01/08/13 Vox
Lost in a Lover's Dream
Georgie Fame
Thanks to the million-selling success he achieved with “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde” in 1967, British vocalist and keyboardist Georgie Fame is often misbranded as yet another pop star who turned to jazz when the hits stopped coming. In fact, Fame’s jazz...
01/05/13 Vox
The Best Thing For You
John Proulx
Assessing this musical hodgepodge from vocalist and pianist John Proulx, it’s difficult to move the praise meter past “pleasant.” Proulx is undeniably talented, with a keyboard style that often suggests the verve of Vince Guaraldi and a voice that echoes...
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ReportAbout Christopher Loudon
When the rest of the baby-boomers were wrapped up in the Beatles and the Stones, Christopher Loudon was discovering Sinatra, Fitzgerald and Bennett. Since 2003, Loudon has critiqued upwards of 700 vocal albums in these pages and shaped about a dozen profiles, including Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Harry Connick Jr., Roberta Gambarini, Jamie Cullum, Nancy Wilson, Curtis Stigers and Dianne Reeves.