I’d never heard of non-profit Jazz at the Ballroom before today. I’m glad I finally got wise to them, as they’ve been busily celebrating “America’s truly original music—swinging, classic jazz” since 2016. Working with the world’s most talented jazz musicians “in intimate, historical, and unique settings,” their work focuses on preserving and rejuvenating the “timeless elegance” of the Great American Songbook through concerts and workshops.
Appropriately enough, the project began in the ballroom of a Californian country estate previously owned by Bing Crosby. But, once word spread and interest in their regular concerts exceeded the ballroom’s hundred-seat capacity, Jazz at the Ballroom began branching out into other spaces around the state and the country.
Previous recordings under their banner include Holiday “In” and Accentuate the Positive—the former a COVID-era Christmas lockdown project and the latter a celebration of Crosby’s music—both featuring a rotating roster of musicians and guest vocalists. Their latest release, Flying High, celebrates the so-called “canaries” of jazz: female singers who started out as small parts of big bands but went on to have their names atop the marquee. We’re talking the Peggy Lees, Lena Hornes, Anita O’Days, and Billie Holiday, here.
Musical accompaniment on Flying High comes from the Champian Fulton Trio. A regular performer at New York City’s famous Birdland, Fulton is herself an established jazz singer and pianist with eighteen albums under her belt, to date. With sell-out concerts in Spain, Morocco, Mongolia, and South Korea behind her, she has more than enough chops to take on this project alone—but she graciously shares the spotlight with an international cast of chanteuses featuring Gretje Angell, Carmen Bradford, Olivia Chindamo, Jane Monheit, and Vanessa Perea.
These ladies (including Fulton) take turns at standards including “I Only Have Eyes for You,” “Lullaby of the Leaves,” “Tea for Two,” and more. Each brings a different flavor to their allocated tracks, representing (but not quite mimicking) the varying backgrounds and styles of the historical stars celebrated: Fulton’s voice is round-mouthed and clear on “All of Me”; Perera’s breathy contribution to “I Only Have Eyes for You” just oozes longing; Chindamo evokes O’Day’s machinegun delivery on a rapid-fire “Sweet Georgia Brown”; Angell’s “Why Don’t You Do Right” bounces along with playful suggestiveness—you get the idea.
It’s a rare treat to hear such a range of vocal styles on one disc, most of which I liked very much. The only exception—and this is just a matter of personal taste—was Monheit’s strange, constantly shifting vowel pronunciation. Particularly noticeable on “Social Call,” this quirk made me wonder at times whether someone had spiked my afternoon cup of tea. I know I’ve previously waxed lyrical about singers with interesting, recognizable vocal styles but this one left me nonplussed. But then, I haven’t headlined Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, or the Village Vanguard, so what do I know?
The musical accompaniment bears more than a passing mention, as Fulton’s piano talent is easily the equal of her singing voice. She demonstrates this fact with instrumental album opener “On the Sunny Side of the Street”—one of my own favorites to play, in a similarly harmony-heavy fashion. She doesn’t leave much space for her bandmates to solo, it must be said, but this is another one of those albums which will have me obsessively pausing and rewinding sections at my own keyboard, vainly trying to copy Fulton’s clever licks and flicks.
The Flying High record was released back in May, coinciding with a year-long tour of US concert venues. There are a couple of dates left, at the time of writing—see Jazz at the Ballroom’s website for more details and to buy tickets. If, like me, there’s no chance of getting there, you can still enjoy this impressive album. It’s available right now from the same website, on either CD or vinyl.
Flying High: Big Band Canaries Who Soared
Jazz at the Ballroom
Champian Fulton
champianfulton.bandcamp.com
