Daniela Schachter: Purple Butterfly

Singer-songwriter-pianist Daniela Schachter conjures up a Bordeaux-flavored jazz on her third release Purple Butterfly with songs befitting for wine room ambiences and social gatherings. The Sicilian-born, New York-based artist possesses a vocal adroitness akin to Diana Krall with a melodic voicing in her piano playing that pervades a loose gait and torchlight feel. Singing most lyrics in English with a few selections sung in Italian like “E Se Domani” and the bossa nova hued “Lo Sguardo Della Luna,” Schachter tweaks standards in a way that makes them a part of herself. Supported by a talented cast of musicians that includes trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm, bassist Massimo Biolcati, and drummer Quincy Davis, Purple Butterfly has a serene landscape groomed with wispy curls and tranquilizing swells which Schachter’s vocals navigate along with a sixth sense.

The album’s content has a good portion of standards like Henri Mancini’s “The Days Of Wine And Roses” and Chick Corea’s “500 Miles High,” along with a few originals penned by Schachter like the title track, “Lo Sguardo Della Luna” and “Promises” which she co-wrote with Chick Corea. Her vocals take flight across the soothing ballad “The Peacocks” with a fluidity in her piano keys that exhibits a balmy, romantic phrasing. Her arrangement for Michel Legrand’s “I Will Wait For You” is nurtured by Sipiagin’s spiraling trumpet loops which craft a penetrative performance, as her nimble playing across the melodic folds of “Autumn Leaves” is augmented by solos from the bass, drums and horns. Meshing the instruments into a seamless mix, Schachter displays a fluency that is indicative of classic jazz finery, which is exemplified through Victor Young’s number “Beautiful Love” where Schachter plays Fender Rhodes and interlocks her lifts and falls snugly into the curves of the horns and rhythm section to form a tightly threaded blanket.

Daniela Schachter’s Purple Butterfly is equip with tranquilizing phrasings and bangles of fluttering horns that build a cozy home from finely threaded structures. Without a hairline out of place, Daniela Schnachter cements traditional idioms with modern ideas, and boasts a melodic voicing that is easy on the ears and comfortable on the senses.