When Caity Gyorgy won her second JUNO Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year, jealous critics crawled out of their hidey holes to diminish her achievement. Unfazed, the Canadian songstress fired back with a brilliant diss track (“The Bartender,” on 2023 album You’re Alike, You Two) and just went on making records—one of which, Hello! How Are You?—bagged her yet another JUNO earlier this year.
This third gong makes Gyorgy the second most prolific vocal jazz JUNO-winner, behind Diana Krall’s seven. It’s obvious at this point that Gyorgy could just go on cranking out award-winning records, taking what has worked previously (trio and big band arrangements) and sticking rigidly to that. But that’s clearly not her style, as evidenced by her apparent commitment to mixing things up.
She did it with duet record You’re Alike, You Two—which was nominated but didn’t win, despite being a fantastic work—and is still experimenting on latest release With Strings. No prizes for guessing how this album differs from those previously mentioned.
Moreover, while some seek acclaim by reworking popular standards, the multitalented Gyorgy is creating whole records of original material, co-written this time with pianist collaborator Mark Limacher. He also stepped up to conduct the 37-member orchestra appearing on With Strings, which was co-produced by industry veteran Graham Le
