Flying High: Big Band Canaries Who Soared

For the debut project from the nonprofit Jazz At The Ballroom label, Champian Fulton served as co-producer, musical director, pianist, and one of the six singers featured on Flying High, a set subtitled “Big Band Canaries Who Soared.” Considering its title, ironically this is not a big band album. Instead, the accompaniment is provided by Fulton and a rhythm section which also includes either Neal Miner or Mike Gurrola on bass and Fukushi Tainaka or Charles Ruggiero on drums.

After the trio plays an instrumental version of “On The Sunny Side Of The Street,” there are two vocals apiece by Vanessa Perea, Olivia Chindamo, Jane Monheit, Carmen Bradford, and Gretje Angeli, plus four from Fulton. Since there are piano solos on nearly every number, this can be thought of as a Champian Fulton album with five guest singers. All but one song, the rock and roll ballad “You Belong To Me” which is sung by Angeli, are veteran standards with most dating from the swing era.

While meant as a tribute to such classic singers as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Anita O’ Day, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, and Peggy Lee, the best performances get away from those influences and find the vocalists sounding like themselves. While each of the current singers are in top form, Olivia Chindamo takes honors with a fresh version of “I Don’t Know Enough About You,” and her outstanding scat-singing on “Sweet Georgia Brown” which really displays her huge range. Also outstanding are the soulfully swinging Vanessa Perea on “The One I Love” and “Secret Love,” and Carmen Bradford on “Tea For Two.”

All in all, Flying High is a fun set of excellent swing-oriented vocals with plenty of fine piano playing from Champian Fulton.

Flying High
Jazz At The Ballroom
www.jazzattheballroom.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.