April

• Artist : Susanne Abbuehl
• Binding : Audio CD
• EAN : 0044001399923
• Label : Ecm
• Manufacturer : Ecm
• Number Of Discs : 1
• Package Dimensions : 0.54 inches (Height) x 5.55 inches (Length) x 0.18 pounds (Weight) x 4.97 inches (Width)
• Product Group : Music
• Publisher : Ecm
• Release Date : 2009-01-10
• SKU : 510-1-044001399923-044001399923
• Studio : Ecm
• UPC : 044001399923

Swiss-Dutch singer Susanne Abbuehl's April is a striking debut for a label which, over the years, has recorded such comparably coolly arresting vocalists as Norma Winstone, Karin Krog and Annette Peacock. Backed by a beautifully integrated trio of Wolfert Brederode (piano, harmonium, melodica), Christof May (clarinets) and Samuel Rohrer (drums, percussion) Abbuehl delivers an hour-long programme as intelligent as it is soulful. Most of the lyrics are taken from the late American poet EE Cummings (who was drawn to jazz), with Abbuehl contributing thoughtful words to Carla Bley's "Ida Lupino" and "Closer" and offering an unusually atmospheric reading of Bernie Hanigen's lyrics to Thelonious Monk's and Cootie William's "'Round Midnight"--supported here only by the excellent Brederode on harmonium. Bley and Cummings feature equally in the programme: one of the standout tracks is the setting of Cummings's "Somewhere I Have Never Travelled" to Bley's "Seven", and there is also a knockout version of Bley's "A.I.R." where Abbuehl's quietly smouldering vocalese is beautifully complemented by Rohrer's deep-toned and ritualistic percussion. Exemplified by the solo vocal of "Since Feeling Is First", Abbuehl reveals an appealingly spacious command of pitch, intonation and rhythm, her voice and delivery at once richly formed and intimate, weighty and transparent. It's a long way from the harmonic twists and turns of "'Round Midnight" to the modal invocations of the drone-like and concluding "Mane Na", but Abbuehl and her companions manage to make it seem as natural as breathing. --Michael Tucker

- Amazon.co.uk Review

Tracks:

• Disc 1

  • 1: Yes Is A Pleasant Country
  • 2: Ida Lupino
  • 3: Closer
  • 4: All I Need
  • 5: A.I.R. (All India Radio)
  • 6: Seven/Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, Gladly Beyond
  • 7: Skies May Be Blue; Yes
  • 8: 'Round Midnight
  • 9: Maggie And Milly And Molly And May
  • 10: Since Feeling Is First
  • 11: Mane Na

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