MP3 Janice Borla - From Every Angle
Rated 4 stars by DownBeat, 5 stars by AllMusic Guide. "She''s a musician who happens to play voice. A triumph of vocal improvisation."
10 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Jazz Vocals
Details:
Janice Borla has made utilizing her voice as a jazz instrument her artistic mission, applying it to her explorations of instrumental jazz tunes by modern and contemporary jazz composers and participating in the improvisatory process as an equal member of an ensemble. Her recordings and performances have earned consistently high praise as a result of her luxurious sound, superb technique, adventurous repertoire and truly imaginative vocal improvisations.
Borla continues to expand the parameters of jazz vocal expression on her 2006 release From Every Angle (BluJazz 3350) which received a 4-Star review in DownBeat and was embraced by jazz radio stations throughout North America who were encouraged to program the CD by JazzWeek, the jazz broadcasting industry’s bible, that hailed the recording as “Another fine effort from a singer who seems to do everything right.”
Often cited for her adventurous, risk-taking approach, Borla continually challenges herself, keeping vocal improvisation front-and-center in her performances. As veteran jazz journalist and broadcaster Neil Tesser notes: “She shatters the stereotype of the jazz vocalist as a poseur or wannabe, infatuated with the idea of improvisation but lacking the mettle to carry it off: she’s a musician who happens to play voice.” And she manages to do so while remaining equally adept at expressing a lyric.
Pivotal to Borla’s approach is a rapport with the long-standing members of her band: trumpeter Art Davis, a perfect complement to her vocal sound and style; pianist Dan Haerle, bassist Bob Bowman and drummer Jack Mouse, all highly conversational players (who work together as the acclaimed Dan Haerle Trio) and guitarist John McLean, whose inventive arrangements and imaginative accompaniments are ideal vehicles for Janice’s artistic vision. DownBeat’s review observed “She often presents herself as a member of the band…One might be fooled into thinking of From Every Angle as a group rather than as a solo project.”