Bria Skonberg • Indigo

On her previous recording called Brass, Bria Skonberg put the focus on her trumpet playing with only one song including her singing. Her new CD, Indigo, takes the opposite approach by showcasing her vocalizing although there are also a few fine trumpet solos heard along the way.

Bria Skonberg is very much in the spotlight throughout this set. She is accompanied by Gil Goldstein who not only plays piano but some background accordion in addition to providing the arrangements, bassist Eric Wheeler, drummer Darrian Douglas, a string quartet, alto flutist Kathleen Nestor, and bass clarinetist Charles Pillow. The set begins quite jazz-oriented with a Latinized version of “Watch What Happens” that, in addition to her scatting and a nice trumpet solo, finds Ms. Skonberg hitting some impressive high notes in her singing. “I’m Glad There Is You” has some superior ballad singing and “Mood Indigo” is given the bass pattern (and even a tiny bit of muted trumpet playing a la Miles Davis) of Davis’ “All Blues.” “Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea” is the main swinger of the set.

From then on, the music shifts to Bria Skonberg’s singing jazz-flavored versions of Rod McKuen’s “If You Go Away,” a haunting rendition of Sting’s “Fragile,” her Brazilian-flavored original “So It Goes” (which has some fine piano and bass solos), and the middle-of-the-road ballad “Tell Him I Said Hello.” The strings, flute and bass clarinet have prominent roles in the background. The satisfying set concludes with a tender and beautiful rendition of “We’ll Be Together Again.”

While Brass showed how inventive a trumpeter Bria Skonberg can be, Indigo successfully makes the case for her as a first-class jazz singer.

Indigo
Cellar Music 30126
www.cellarmusicgroup.com

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings. Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.