Reviews
Blue Afternoons
John Fordham - The Guardian
"Non American jazz vocalists who sing in English without transatlantic mannerisms are always worth a look, and British newcomer Liz Fletcher, an artist occasionally reminiscent of the celebrated Annie Ross on fast pieces, but with a steady and tranquil emotional gaze of her own, is no exception. It is not quite a promising introduction as an overall enterprise, despite fine solos from many UK stalwarts including guitarists Jim Mullen and Mark Johns, saxophonists Julian Siegel and Andy Panayi, pianists Robin Aspland and Gareth Williams, and trumpeter Steve Waterman. Rupert Wates wrote all the material, and he has an undeviating allegiance to the "misty memories" brand of lyric, and the music's mix of lounge-Latin shuffles, slow reveries and occasional bop veers toward the anonymous But Fletcher has heart, sensitivity and subtle control - her moments with only Mullen's soulful guitar for company show just how expressive she can be."
Bruce Crowther - Jazz Journal
"Once again this very good singer is in collaboration with songwriter Rupert Wates. On her debut CD Mellow Mania, about half the songs Fletcher sang were by Wates; this time the entire CD is devoted to his material and it is very good. Wates works in a contemporary vein of song writing that is far richer than that mined by many of his contemporaries. Fletcher sings with precise measures of verve and introspection called for by the songs, and her voice is always assured and aurally pleasing. I know that some members of the potential audience are a mite uneasy at complete albums of unfamiliar material. However, I do not think that they should allow this to come between them and a very satisfactory blending of contemporary approaches to song writing and song performance. Nice sound."
J F - Jazz Uk
"Very classy new British singer - a little reminiscent of Annie Ross - collaborating here with Paris - based lyric-writer Rupert Wates and a pedigree assortment of fine UK bands including Julian Siegael and Andy Panayi on saxes. Steve Waterman on trumpet, pianists Gareth Williams and Robin Aspland and the formidable Mark Johns on electric guitar. All the songs are Wates originals, mixing funki-bop hybrids, soft Latin reveries, sultry ballads and a couple of duets with Jim Mullen and Garath Williams that get the best from Fletcher's warm sound affecting directness. Only the smoothy synthstrings arrangement of 'All New' perhaps gets too close to dinner-jazz territory for some, and it's a pretty cool, low-lights kind of vocally orthtodox set - but put together with lot care."
Listen to excerpts from Blue afternoons
Mellow Mania
Lee Gibson - Jazz Journal
"What makes a jazz singer? That's like asking what is Art? The answer in both cases is almost impossible to define, yet we know it when we hear or see it! Take these three debut albums, they are as diverse as the spectrum of jazz itself and yet each in it's own way, is a testament to the finest qualities of jazz singing. I've not come across Liz Fletcher before but again we have yet another interpretive singer with a debut album which is impressive. Surrounded by wonderful musicians, Tony Coe, Marc Parnell, and, one of my favourite pianists, Robin Aspland, this is another excellent mix of old and new material which manages to capture a 90's feel. As a jazz singer Liz is reminiscent of those wonderful singers of the 50's, yet as the liner notes say she achieves that rare thing of being '...both respectfully traditional and excitingly contemporary'. What makes a jazz singer: Buy these CDs and find out."
AH - Jazzwise
"Possessed of a pleasantly intimate, light voice underpinned by a deceptive degree of tensile strength, Liz Fletcher showcases, in this her debut album, the song writing abilities of Rupert Wates. His meditative lyrics and gently wafting melodies suit Fletcher's dreamy delivery well."
Listen to excerpts from Mellow Mania
Santucci Scoppa
Straight No Chaser
"Santucci Scoppa are the old-skool kings of Italian Jazz. The trumpet and tenor players Cicci Santucci and Enzo Scoppa led the group. Having been playing together since the late 60’s they are the most iconic duo that the Italian collector jazz scene has seen ever. Their album On The Underground Round was a milestone in the European jazz-funk collectors’ movement. That is an excellent hard bop session recorded in Italy in the early 70's. The whole thing grooves along with a sound that's similar to the late 60's recordings on Blue Note. Besides this one, some of the most interesting albums from the 70’s were featuring the mighty duo: from Kenny Clark’s ‘Jazz A Confronto’ on Horo, to the super rare ‘ Chet is Back ‘ by Chet Baker (long time friend during his Roman years). With Horo’s label boss Aldo Sinesio, Santucci Scoppa recorded two incredible sound-library LP (Looking Around & Mondo Operaio) that many times have been championed by DJs like Gilles Peterson & Big Bang, and are extremely sought after by DJs worldwide. With their Quintet they start to embrace the 70’s culture of B- Movies and music for film. Santucci especially has worked with the biggest Music Directors of the so-called Spaghetti Western & Italian Soundtrack: from the Academy Oscar Winner’s Ennio Morricone, to Ortolani and also Trovajoli, Piccioni, Ferrio. Santucci’s solo on the film ‘The Legend of ‘900’ is a classic example of beauty on Morricone’s score. On a Marco Di Marco connection Arision managed to track down the duo. Then in a hot London summer Mr Big Bang himself spent a week closed in a studio with the duo and some of the most talented Anglo-Italian musicians around. The result is a superb new album, which will hit the shops soon. The feeling of “retro” meets club-jazz can only be the first impression left when listening to this album, which has a lot more to reveal…Echoes of Pharoah journeys, movie-scores themes and personal touches of class from the duo are set to conquer new audience, not only the strongholds of their longtime collectors. Amazing and unexpected return to recorded music, in-style from the Roman duo. The ‘old-school’ Trumpet and Tenor players, Cicci Santucci and Enzo Scoppa strike back with 13 new pieces!
"The album kicks off with a mellow Jazz-Funk intro by the title of ““A Different Road”, almost epitomizing the contemporary swerve taken in this recording. Check out the dialogue-solo between the two horns, in the middle of the track: suave. “Between 6th and 7th” is a slow Samba; a very fine piece taken where rhythm is king (check out the bass line) and the groove abounds from every instrument…winking an eye to the 70’s movies where car journeys often saw a seaside Riviera road. On the Latin-Jazz wave comes the impeccably execution of “Elephant March” Trumpet and Tenor Sax are at times mesmerizing. A truly refined Bossa. “Fly Rome” is yet another Bossa, a little retro but solar and accompanied by the delightful female vocals.
“From Old To New” moves us back to the Jazz tracks. This vocal piece is hanging between classic harmonic scales and more contemporary sounds. Particularly pleasant is the Rhodes solo in the middle of a composition elsewhere directed by the 2 lords of sax and trumpet. Then after the “Improvisations” interlude it’s time for the extra-funky “Night Travel”. Reminiscences of early Pino Daniele’s music in the groove might distract from the essence of this tune, which is a sexy/jazzy/dance song. Track number 9 reveals one of the true gems in this album, “Sardinia’s Memory” is an unusual, elaborated yet captivating piece of music. With echoes of Ethnic sounds, the syncopated circular flow of the rhythm unfolds an intense ambience… Travelling without moving, for real. As a natural consequence “Transitions” is another deep-jazz composition in disguise. In fact the main theme dialogued by Santucci, Scoppa and the Rhodes sounds easily enjoyable. Yet the music is all but trivial, the fruit of skilful musicians. “Walking Fast” and “Walking Fast Reprise” are closely tied together offering respectively, the first a more free/less canonical jam still groovy and upbeat; whereas the second is an uncompromisingly jazz-bop piece but like dressed up in a contemporary suit…very energetic! Santucci-Scoppa bow-out to the public on the notes of “Way Out”, a superbly interpreted, contemporary composition to remind everyone that Jazz never dies It is ever evolving into different languages of music expressions connecting past to future, new to old, classic to experimental. This album therefore seems bound to become a collector’s item, don't miss it!"
Artists
- Cicci Santucci : Trumpet
- Enzo Scoppa: Sax
- Neil Angilley: Keys
- Davide Giovannini: Drums
- Davide Mantovani: Bass
- Pete Eckford: Percussion
- Liz Fletcher : Voice
Listen to excerpts from Santucci Scoppa
45 Dip - The Acid Lounge
Stanton Swihart - All Music Guide
"The former nucleus of seminal acid jazz merchants Marden Hill, Mark Daniels and Christopher Bemand reteam as 45 Dip with this debut album of groove-centric dance music. And groove is certainly the word of the day on Acid Lounge, as the duo lay down a dozen incredibly lush bass-led tracks of seemingly infinite low end. Daniels and Bemand find a cool nexus between the organic rhythms of their original unit and the thick urban gauze of 21st century electronic music. With the ethereal jazz scatting of Loop Guru's Liz Fletcher, "Lizzies Balloon" turns into smooth blue-afternoon soul, the lack of words enhancing rather than obscuring the futuristic spin of West London streets. This is not easy listening music by any stretch of the imagination and, as good as it sounds coming out of headphones, is not really bedroom music either. "Beer Star," besides boasting a great title, belches out one of the most fabulous deep-funk bass parts. Little else happens other than bassline repetition, but then little else needs to happen for the song to serve its purpose. Perhaps the best moments on the album are when 45 Dip dispenses with song and melody altogether and investigate rhythm and sound themselves. From the delightfully whimsical future ambience of "Searching for Marden Hill" to the exotic, amorphous nebula of "Parker Street Story" to the wonderfully trippy psychedelia of "Bug Juice," the duo thrives on turning out sound paintings, albeit ones you can move to. But when 45 Dip tries to achieve too organic a fusion, they have an unfortunate tendency to rub the techno-edges from their sound, and this is music that needs edges. The music is best swallowed on a song-by-song basis, but the best bits are truly awesome."
Listen to excerpts from 45 Dip
Songs For Unsung Heroes
Dave Gelly - The Observer
"Playwright Alan Plater's work is full of jazz characters and jazz references and he regularly escapes from his proper job to go touring with a bunch of musicians, telling tall stories in between the numbers. It was during one of these jaunts that Plater and saxophonist-composer Alan Barnes hatched this set of 13 songs about lost jazz heroes, old records, motorway cafes and their mutual dislike of 'dinner jazz'. Liz Fletcher sings them with great style and the band is packed with top players, such as trumpeter Bruce Adams, saxophonist Stan Sulzmann, trombonist Mark Nightingale and pianist Brian Dee."
Purchase from www.woodvillerecords.com
Listen to excerpts from Songs from Unsung HeroesLos Ladrones - Montana Rusa
"While hanging out at the bar of the Montreax Jazz Festival, producer and keyboard player Christopher Bemand (Ballistic Brothers, Marden Hill, 45 Dip, Hed Kandi) and flute player Simon George met up with drummer Isaac Heywood and bassist Hamlet Luton of the famed chillout band Nightmare's on Wax. A love of all things liquid and Latin led to a recording session with percussionist Will Parnell (of the infamous Parnell family whose diverse credits include Spinal Tap and Saturday Night Live from the Palladium.) Then, the talent of jazz vocalist Liz Fletcher was added to the five piece band, and their first single, Las Luces del Norte, was brought into being. As Earth Projects' second release, Las Luces del Norte stormed onto the nu jazz dance scene in October of 2000.
Purchase from : www.amazon.com/Montana-Rusa-Los-Ladrones/dp/B00005RIHF