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Anita Wardell

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Anita Wardell

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ANITA WARDELL, one of the UK’s most creative and best loved vocalists, presents Kinda Blue, her much anticipated second album on Specific Jazz.

"...the singer's mercurial musicality and acute sense of improvisation freedom can at times take the breath away." Jazzwise

After the amazing response that followed Noted, Wardell’s 2006 debut Specific Jazz release of vocalese arrangements of classic jazz standards – the Observer Review stated that, “The audacity and sheer cleverness of the best vocalese performances generate a special kind of euphoria and this is where Wardell succeeds brilliantly,” – the English born, Australian raised vocalist decided that she could take a different approach to the material for her next record. Instead of focusing on a particular style of singing, she instead turns to the word Blues and its many connotations for the theme of her second album.

“I wanted to do something completely different with this album,” explains Wardell. “Noted was made up of traditionally instrumental pieces, and I wanted to go back to songs again. I’ve always loved these tunes but I haven’t had the chance to perform them on record before. The songs themselves are very special to me. I’ve been listening to this music all my life and while they’re all popular songs a few of them haven’t been done very recently, like I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues or Loose Blues, so it was a chance for me to put my own stamp on them.”

Kinda Blue welcomes back Anita’s compatriots from Noted - Robin Aspland on piano, organ and Fender Rhodes, bassist Jeremy Brown and drummer Steve Brown – and sees them joined by Adam Glasser on harmonica, Phil Robson on guitar and Tristan Mailliot alternating with Steve Brown on drums and percussion. “They’re such a great bunch of guys to have on the album, they’re so creative,“ says Anita. “I wanted to do a new arrangement for I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues. Robin took a fragment of a bass line I’d come up with and managed to turn it into the main melodic theme, it gave the piece a really fresh feeling.”

The pieces on Kinda Blue showcase Anita’s exceptional ability to make a song her own while respectfully retaining the inherent spirit of the originals. “For Loose Bloose I was able to take Jim Hall’s guitar solo and put lyrics to it as I’d done on Noted. Being able to connect to the music in this way, as it first appeared on record years ago, is such an important part of how I approach this material. I wanted the album to have a theme running through it and take my cue from the word Blues as an overall idea rather than as a strict musical form – these pieces aren’t exactly Blues. They’re just kinda blue.”

Anita Wardell - winner of the ‘Best of Jazz’ category at 2006 BBC Jazz Awards - released her debut album on Specific Jazz. Already widely regarded as one of the UK’s finest jazz singers, Wardell recorded an innovative album featuring vocalese arrangements of 10 Blue Note classics.

The idea of recording an album of vocalese music, a style of jazz singing where lyrics are set to music originally part of an instrumental composition or improvisation, came to Wardell as a result of an invitation to record for Specific Jazz. Following a conversation with Malcolm Mills, CEO of Specific Jazz, she hid herself away and began brainstorming ideas for a concept album. “When I heard Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, Eddie Jefferson and King Pleasure for the first time, I could hardly believe what I had heard. I was totally bowled over, overwhelmed and excited all at the same time” explains Wardell. “The idea of taking an instrumental solo and cleverly penning lyrics to it seemed a huge challenge – learning them all was hard enough but writing my own seemed impossible back then.” However, Wardell eventually settled on the idea of vocalese arrangements of classic Blue Note material and set about the huge task of picking 10 tracks from the vast Blue Note back catalogue.

“When Robin Aspland (pianist on “Noted”) suggested writing lyrics to the Lee Morgan solo that features on Art Blakey’s version of Moanin’, I knew it was going to be a challenge, but it’s such an exciting solo – it just had to be included. Then there’s the quintessential version of Autumn Leaves from Something Else which again was a challenge and took some time to get together. It only seemed right to add in a Jon Hendricks vocalese and I thought of Horace Silver’s Doodlin’ which really fitted in with the Blue Note project. Also included on this recording is McCoy Tyner’s Blues On The Corner which is an example of an instrumental tune to which I added lyrics and used as a basis for my own improvisation.”

“Noted” features Wardell’s regular trio which is made up of some of the jazz scene’s leading players. Pianist Robin Aspland has played with many of the UK’s greatest ever players including Ronnie Scott, Peter King, Jim Mullen, Kenny Wheeler, John Dankworth and Cleo Laine. Steve Brown started playing the drums in 1983 at the age of 15. Since then he has gone on to play with jazz greats such as Art Farmer, Scott Hamilton, Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison, Benny Green, Carl Fontana, Barry Harris, Conte Candoli and Charles McPherson. He has now become one of the most sought-after rhythm section players in Europe. Bassist Jeremy Brown was a member of Pete King’s Quartet, during which he formed a strong working relationship with drummer Stephen Keogh that culminated in a number of concerts and tours with visiting American artists including Art Farmer, Brad Mehldau, Mark Turner and Bill Charlap. The album also features well respected saxophonist Alex Garnett who has worked for and played with the likes of Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Tom Jones, Paul Weller, Jools Holland, Ray Gelato, John Dankworth, Georgie Fame and Don Weller.