[Dixielandjazz] Carline Ray reviewed - All About Jazz, June 1, 2013

[Robert Ringwald]

Carline Ray: Vocal Sides (2013)
by C. Michael Bailey
All About Jazz, June 1, 2013
Vocalist Carline Ray has a musical reach that extends to the beginning of jazz. Her
father played in James Reese Europe's Society Orchestra in the early years of the
20th century. Juilliard-trained (as her father was), Ray sang and played guitar and
bass in a variety of formats in the International Sweethearts of Rhythm and Erskine
Hawkins, all in the late '40s and early '50s. She has enjoyed a lifetime in jazz,
both performing and learning. With the singer in her late 80s, it was not without
a little trepidation that she releases a recording considering Anita O'Day's late-life
offering "Indestructible" (Kayo Stereophonic, 2006). Rather than smacking of desiccation
and exploitation, as "Indestructible" did, Ray's "Vocal Sides" beams only raw grace
and experience and a radioactive dignity that demands respect and notice.
Produced by her singer/daughter Catherine Russell, "Vocal Sides" exposes Ray to a
variety of formats to react against. She sings a recital that spans jazz time, that
is, across time, styles, periods, the whole of the music's history. Ray vocally arranged
the Hammerstein/Romberg "When I Grow Too Old to Dream" to reflect influences from
Mahalia Jackson and deep gospel from the '30s to Sarah Vaughan and high jazz in the
'60s. She divides the song in two between the singers separated by a Miles Davis
"Walkin'" piano vamp that gently swings in that late '40s way that made Frank Sinatra
so famous.
The pairing of Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee" and the standard "Back Home in Indiana"
is as inspired as is Ray's singing, attacking bebop at its core and laying waste
to it. Ray covers two Mary Lou Williams spiritual pieces: a bluesy "Lazarus," propelled
by Gregg Skaff's staccato guitar figure and a darkly hued "Our Father." Ray duets
with daughter Catherine Russell on and bouncy gospel "Land Beyond the River" and
"Hold On." Thad Jones' "A Child Is Born" is a highlight, as well as, Ray's husband,
Luis Russell's rollicking "Lucille." "Vocal Sides" is a masterful achievement.
__________
Track Listing: When I Grow Too Old to Dream; Donna Lee / Back Home Again in Indiana;
Somewhere; Lazarus; Our Father; Land Beyond the River; Come Sunday; Hold On; A Child
Is Born; Without a Song; Lucille.
Personnel: Carline Ray: vocals, vocal arrangement (1); Catherine Russell: vocals
(6, 8); Yuka Aikawa: piano (1, 2, 3, 5,10); Mark Shane: piano (6); Atsundo Aikawa:
bass (1, 2, 3, 5,10); Greg Skaff: guitar (4, 7, 9); Mark McLean: drums (1, 2, 10)
Akua Dixon: cello (7,9); Frank Anderson: organ (11).
Record Label: self produced.
-30-



-Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Amateur (ham) Radio Operator K6YBV
916/ 806-9551

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