Kellylee Evans | Nina
Kellylee Evans | Nina
Vocalist Kellylee Evans keeps the vocal jazz tradition alive on her solid third effort, Nina. The album is entitled ‘Nina’ as it is a tribute album to legendary vocalist and pianist Nina Simone, considered to be one of the greatest singers of all time. According to the bio on her website ( http://www.kellyleeevans.com), Nina was recorded in France in 2009 during a two-day span for French label Plus Loin Music. While Evans covers classics sung by her ‘idol,’ she also allows herself to stray from ‘tried and true’ arrangements, which allows the audience to connect with Evans’ own personality as an artist. Finely constructed all-in-all, there is very little to quibble about Nina. Vocally throughout, Evan is on ‘autopilot’ and does nothing but justice to the tunes she covers.
“Do What I Gotta Do,” a laid-back and ‘chill’ cut, opens the album solidly. The performance is pleasant and while Evans doesn’t ‘ruffle any feathers’ vocally, her performance is cool, calm, and connected; she never loses sight of the jazz vocal idiom. The arrangement works well with Evans being supported by acoustic bass and guitar (no percussion in the least here). Evans cuts loose on the ever popular “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” in which percussion is added to the mix. The interpretation is one in which Evans stays from the original (as performed by Simone). While the effects should be questionable, the effect ends up being marvelous and arguably the valedictory moment of the album. Evans’ vocal ad libs towards the end of the song are exceptional and contrast the ‘cool, calm, and collected’ feel she exhibited on opener “Do What I Gotta Do.”
“Ain’t Got No/I Got Life” is a brief cut, clocking in at 2:50 in duration. Despite this, “Ain’t Got No/I Got Life” packs great punch. Specifically, Evans achieves some ‘emotional peak,’ which is always nice to hear from a vocalist. Evans shocks more on a liberal take on “Mood Indigo,” which finds the vocalist and her supporting combo completely going an alternate route with the arrangement of this standard jazz tune. That said, it is moments like “Mood Indigo” on Nina that truly show off Evans’ own music personality, which is appreciated. While some may find “Mood Indigo’s” arrangement to be slightly ‘off-putting,’ it does achieve a ‘mystical’ and ‘moody’ sound and Evans’ vocal performance is very much in the vein of smokey, jazzy singers.
“Feeling Good” is exceptional by all means with superb production work - among the best of this effort. A fine electric guitar solo by Marvin Sewell (according to her site, she had work with him previously) puts the ‘icing on the cake.’ “Tomorrow is My Turn” finds Evans taking a more traditional take, which is a nice departure from the innovativeness of “Feeling Good.” The performance proves to be pleasant with notably nuanced, playful vocals from Evans; the phrasing sculpts and shapes this performance. Evans slows the album’s tempo with two slower cuts, “I Loves You Porgy” and “July Tree.” “I Loves You Porgy” is brief, but shows off solid, nuanced vocals from Evans. Even shorter, “July Tree” clocks in at 2:15 and finds Evans accompanied by guitar only - a nice contrast to previous cuts. Why “July Tree” is so effective is that it fully exploits Evans full bodied vocal tone.
“Love Me or Leave Me” cranks the tempo back up and like “Tomorrow is My Turn” proves to be a more ‘straight-ahead’ cut with ‘comping’ guitar, walking bass line, and solid drum groove intact. What is different however is the first and only bass solo, which is well improvised. And let’s not forget to recognize the brilliant Sewell on guitar soloing once again. On the low key “Ne me quitte pas,” Evans’ French sounds impeccable here - as is her vocal performance. A very beautiful track, the restrained use of guitar here proves very important to achieving a more atmospheric, quieting sound.
“Sinnerman” finds guitarist Sewell playing around with different sounds and Evans again providing another capable performance. The sole quibble would be the length. Similarly, the epic “Wild Is The Night,” the closing cut, clocks in at nearly eight minutes. On the positive side, considering jazz tends to be lengthy anyways, accustomed listeners shouldn’t mind the length considering that Evans’ performance on “Wild Is the Night” is extremely polished and beautiful and the arrangement complements her well.
All-in-all, there is very little to dislike about Nina. Nina does justice to cover some great classics by the late great vocalist. Perhaps more important is the fact that Kellylee Evans continues to establish herself as a distinct jazz vocalist - not a ‘copycat’ in the least. I believe this effort is a fine addition to any jazz vocal library (or playlist)!
Brent Faulkner
The Urban Music Scene
Posted by Administration at 11/30/2010 12:26 PM 
Categories: Jazz Vocals, Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
Tags: Jazz
Categories: Jazz Vocals, Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
Tags: Jazz
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