Ella … of Thee I Swing

Title: Ella … of Thee I Swing Artist: Nikki Yanofsky Date: 2008 Style: Jazz Mood: Upbeat, happy, joyous Another young Canadian artist to watch out for. In this album, Nikki is performing live at the 2007 Montreal Jazz Festival, at the tender age of 13. Some of my favorite tracks include  Lullaby of Birdland, Relax Max, [...]

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The Essential Canadian Brass

Title: The Essential Canadian Brass Artist: The Canadian Brass Date: 1991 Style — Classical crossover Mood — happy, jovial, quirky Good for — relaxing, chilling out in an energetic sort of way A fun mixture of classical, pop, and jazz elements. I was very impressed with Canadian Brass’s Zarathustra Fanfare which almost fooled me into [...]

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Piety Street

Title: Piety Street Artist: John Scofield Date: 2009 Style? Gospel with touches of blues, honky tonk, R&B, funk, reggae Mood? Well, it’s gospel, so even if it’s sad, it’s still inspirational. What I learned? that John Scofield is one of the top jazz guitarists in the world and that this album was recorded in New [...]

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When I look in your eyes

Title: When I look in your eyes Artist: Diana Krall Date: 1999 Believe it or not (okay, maybe you believe it now), I have not picked up a Diana Krall CD before. Yes, I’ve heard her on the radio, but I had never bothered to go to the library to borrow an actual CD. Her [...]

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At Home With Friends

Title: At Home with Friends Artist: Joshua Bell Date: 2009 The idea is appealing . . . renovate your Manhattan apartment with a professional yet intimate sound stage and invite your friends to perform with you. That is exactly what Joshua Bell did, and it works well, especially if you have friends like Sting, Tiempo [...]

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Come away with me

Title: Come away with me Artist: Norah Jones Date: 2002 After listening to Norah Jones in The Fall, I just had to go to the library and borrow another Norah CD. Again, this album isn’t a jazz album per se, although it features jazz-tinted chords and Norah’s smoky, silky voice. For me, the album wasn’t [...]

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Cafe Society

Title: Cafe Society Artist: Real Divas Date: 2009 In Toronto 2001, Bill King decided to set up the Cafe Society, a forum to showcase young up-and-coming Canadian singers, such as Sophie Milman and Emilie-Claire Barlow. This album features four singers from the Cafe Society: Josephine Biundo, Lauren Margison, Sophie-Berkal Sarbit, and Kinga Victoria. Cafe Society [...]

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So In Love

Title: So In Love Artist: Roberta Gambarini Date: 2009 Roberta Gambarini grew up in Italy listening to all the jazz greats, and you can see that she really loves jazz and has really put her heart into this work. She has incredible control of her voice — soft, loud, sad, joyful — she can do [...]

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Take Love Easy

Cover of Take Love EasyTitle: Take Love Easy Artist: Sophie Milman Date: 2009 Definitely a talented jazz artist to watch out for. Born in Russia, spending most of her childhood in Haifa, Israel, and now living in Canada, Sophie brings a certain international depth to the mix. For me, I had a little trouble with [...]

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Haven’t We Met?

Image via WikipediaTitle: Haven’t We Met? Artist: Emilie-Claire Barlow Date: 2009 It took a while for Emilie-Claire to grow on me, but once she did, I couldn’t stop listening to her. At first her very, very careful pronunciation of both English and French turned me off a bit. But then I learned that she is [...]

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