Reception
In a four-starred review for The Guardian , John Fordham said: "Carroll's subtle pitching, tone colouration and jazz improviser's timing reinvent Here's to Life as a distilled understatement accompanied only by acoustic guitar; her earthiness is revealingly complemented by soft strings on Goodbye; and Mad About the Boy is so slow as to be prayer-like". [2]
Peter Quinn, for Jazzwise Magazine , [8] said "Ballads sees Liane nail 11 terrific songs in magisterial fashion... Widely recorded by instrumentalists (Cannonball Adderley, McCoy Tyner) and vocalists (Dinah Washington, Frank Sinatra) alike, ‘Goodbye’ has always been an exceptional song, but in Liane's hands it charts untold depths of emotion. This is one of the few indispensable vocal jazz albums of recent years".
Dave Gelly in The Observer , gave the album four stars and said of Carroll's performance on Ballads that "Surrounded by a changing cast of the best musicians around, illuminated by piquant arrangements, her singing takes on a new, glowing depth". [1]
Chris Parker, reviewing the album for LondonJazz, said: "Carroll does not merely interpret these songs, she inhabits them, intimately confiding in her listeners so that everything from Todd Rundgren's ‘Pretending to Care’ and Carole King's ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ to more conventional jazz standards (‘Mad About the Boy’, ‘My One and Only Love’) is imbued with unaffectedly sincere, heartfelt emotion". [4]
Bruce Lindsay, for All About Jazz , described Carroll's performance of "Mad About The Boy" as "heartbreaking". "She sings as though she's aware of the futility of her desire but unwilling, or unable, to leave it behind. It shows the greatness of Coward's little ditty, the many emotions that the song can reveal – and the majesty of Carroll's voice. It's just one highlight of many on this exquisite album: Ballads is a classic-in-waiting". [9]
Jack Massarick, in a four-starred review for the London Evening Standard , said; "[W]ith symphonic strings or just solo piano or guitar cushioning her tranquil path, there's abundant time to savour her tender side and the mature timbre of her voice". [3]
Time/Life (subtitled (Song for the Whales and Other Beings)) is an album by Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra arranged by composer and pianist Carla Bley and released on the Impulse! label in 2016. It features two tracks from Haden's final live performance with the Orchestra along with additional studio recordings completed after his death.
Nucleus was a British jazz-fusion band, which continued in different forms from 1969 to 1989. In 1970, the band won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival, released the album Elastic Rock, and performed both at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Village Gate jazz club.
Liane Carroll is an English vocalist, pianist and keyboardist.
Bloom was the fourth album released by Jeff Coffin, and was issued in 2005. This album was the second album recorded and released with the Mu'tet, a constantly changing group of guest musicians that play with Coffin.
Mad Hatter is a studio album by Chick Corea. Released in 1978, it is a concept album inspired by Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Kogun is the first album recorded by the Los Angeles-based Toshiko Akiyoshi – Lew Tabackin Big Band. It was released in Japan by Victor in 1974 and received the Swing Journal Silver Disk prize for that year. It was later released on RCA Victor in the USA and elsewhere and received a 1979 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance by a Big Band.
Grand Piano Canyon is the 22nd solo album by Bob James. It was released on June 28, 1990. The cover art is reproduced from an original painting by David Grath entitled "Grand Piano Canyon." The title for the seventh track, "Xraxse" is the planet inhabited by Blue People in a story written by James' daughter, Hilary, at age 6.
Just for a Thrill is the twenty-third studio album of country music artist Ronnie Milsap. It was released in 2004 under Image Records, his first for the label. The album consisted of fourteen recordings of pop and jazz standards.
Simon Richard Spillett is a British jazz tenor saxophonist. He has won the BBC Jazz Awards Rising Star (2007), Jazz Journal's Critics' Choice album of the Year (2009), the British Jazz Awards Top Tenor Saxophonist (2011), and Services to British Jazz award (2016).
Up and Down is a studio album by English jazz pianist/vocalist Liane Carroll. Released in June 2011, and launched on 27 June at the Hideaway jazz club in Streatham, south London, it was the winner in the Jazz Album of the Year category at the 2012 Parliamentary Jazz Awards in May 2012. The album entered iTunes's jazz charts at no. 8 and reached the no. 1 spot in its first week of release. It received a four-starred review in The Guardian and a 4.5-starred review from All About Jazz.
Live at the Lampie is a live album of jazz standards by English jazz vocalist Liane Carroll and Scottish jazz pianist Brian Kellock. Produced by Neal Richardson, it was recorded at two gigs at the Blue Lamp pub in Aberdeen in October 2008 and released by Splash Point Records on 11 May 2009. It received four-starred reviews in The Guardian and Jazzwise and was funded and made possible by Creative Scotland. Funding application and subsequent tour management and recording by Thick Skinned Productions team, including Cathie Rae and Dave Gray.
Andre Canniere is an American trumpet player and composer. He is based in London, England, where he's lived since 2008. Canniere has toured throughout the United States and Europe, performing at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, the London Jazz Festival, the Hague Jazz Festival and the Rochester International Jazz Festival, among others.
Christian aTunde Adjuah is a two-disc studio album by American jazz trumpeter Christian Scott released on 31 July 2012 by Concord Records.
Open, Coma is a double album by saxophonist Tim Berne and the Copenhagen Art Ensemble with Herb Robertson and Marc Ducret which was recorded in 2000 in Denmark and Sweden and released on Berne's Screwgun label.
Seaside, a studio album by the English jazz pianist and vocalist Liane Carroll. It was released on 18 September 2015 on Linn Records.Joe Stilgoe wrote the title track.
Song for Someone is the second album led by trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler which was recorded in 1973 and released on the Incus label. The album was rereleased on CD on Psi Records in 2004.
The Right to Love is a studio album by English jazz pianist/vocalist Liane Carroll and her fourth collaboration with jazz trumpeter and record producer James McMillan. Released in July 2017 by Quietmoney Recordings and distributed by Proper Records, it received four-starred reviews in The Observer and the Evening Standard.
Memphis... Yes, I'm Ready is a 2017 studio album by American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater released via OKeh label.
Caché is an album by saxophonist Kirk Whalum issued in 1993 on Columbia Records. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and No. 39 on the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart.
Laid Black is a studio album by American recording artist Marcus Miller. It was released on June 1, 2018 by Blue Note Records. Laid Black was nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. The album features collaborations with Trombone Shorty, Jonathan Butler, Take 6, Selah Sue, Kirk Whalum & Alex Han.
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