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REVIEW OF THE LOVE OF LIFE
Copyright of www.madison.com
Jazz Singer Lynette Is Still Taking Risks
Wisconsin State Journal :: RHYTHM :: 16
Thursday, April 26, 2007
BY KEVIN LYNCH
The voice of Lynette Margulies carries as much living and loving, and joy and pain, as any jazz singer's.
That's the sort of thing people used to say about Billie Holiday. Being disinclined to extravagant comparisons,
I'll stop short of suggesting she's a Jewish Holiday. Her voice doesn't have the intoxicating languor that
Holiday possessed even in her late years, when her instrument was ravaged.
But Lynette, as she is affectionately known, is just as honest an artist. At this point in her career, her singing
is laced with a grainy weight of its own, something more akin to Carmen McRae.
But her sensibility conveys more vulnerability than McRae's, which reflects back to Billie. And most Madison
fans know enough of Lynette's personal trials to understand that the warm, weathered blues-mama persona
is authentic.
Her new CD "Love of Life" is a glorious affirmation of resilience, buoyed by virtuoso bassist Jeff Eckels and
three of Madison's most simpatico pianists: Jane Reynolds, Dave Stoler and Paul Hastil.
The bass-piano accompaniment provides a relaxed atmosphere, which hardly means that Lynette is
coasting. She's taking risks, right from the opening tune. Few singers would dare open an album with the
resolutely downbeat "You Don't Know What Love Is."
If the listener feels chastened, she is promptly elevated "Over the Rainbow" on the ensuing Judy Garland
signature song. Lynette proceeds through deft programming, including Lennon and McCartney's "In My Life,"
Charlie Parker's "Confirmation," Stevie Wonder's "If It's Magic" and Sting's "Fields of Gold." You notice her
way of mixing top-notch recent pop music composers with classic jazz chestnuts.
The accompanists are well chosen, especially Reynolds, whose musical empathy with Lynette has developed
over the years. Both artists' stylistic vocabularies invariably suit the intentions of their expression. In other
words, they're not out to impress you, they've come to speak to you.
Listen to Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Waters of March." This wondrous fountain of words, rhythmic phrases and
images usually tempts a singer to take the song at a gushing speed, to show off how they surf the musical
language. By contrast, Reynolds and Lynette roll out the phrases and celebrate this seasonal intoxication as
if it were a fine wine.
We are grateful and fortunate that Lynette has aged as well as your favorite deep, dark red.
Lynette unfortunately is performing infrequently this summer, but she will do material from "Love of Life" on
Aug. 29 at Jazz at Five.
The CD is available at A Room of One's Own Bookstore and B-Side Records, and online at
www.lynettemargulies.com.
The brilliant pianist-composer Omar Sosa has found his own deep niche in the ever-expanding terra firma of
jazz. Thankfully, he digs Madison too. Sosa will return to Music Hall at UW-Madison at 8 tonight. Tickets, at
$26 for the general public and $10 for all students, are available at the Wisconsin Union box office or at
262-2201.
The Grammy-nominated Sosa is touring the United States with his new Afreecanos Quartet, which raises
Sosa's African roots with modern jazz harmonies and the latest technology. Sosa's Afro-Cuban style blends
folkloric and contemporary music and tribal and urban sounds.
The Afreecanos ensemble features Cuban drummer Julio Barreto, Mozambique electric bassist Childo
Tomas, and Senegalese vocalist Mola Sylla. Accompanying the Afreecanos tour is a new live CD release
entitled "Promise."
Sosa is dancing across the jagged edge of a pan-continental jazz synthesis, with a style that conveys a
profound sense of the best world music, at once spiritually liberated and deeply connected with multiple
cultures.
The Madison Jazz Orchestra has only two Monday night gigs left before it leaves the Harmony Bar and Grill,
2201 Atwood Ave. Sets are at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. There's no cover charge although tips are appreciated.
The orchestra is taking the summer off and will start again at the Harmony in the fall.
This Monday the orchestra will perform tunes from the repertoires of Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton, Count Basie,
Duke Ellington and others.
The following Monday the orchestra will morph into the Bones Band. This instrumental configuration will place
five trombonists with 17 possible horn combinations and a guitar, bass and drum rhythm section. The Bones
Band repertoire ranges improbably from Led Zeppelin to Jerome Kern and Edgar Winter to J.J. Johnson and
Kai Winding. The second set is a jam session. Musicians are invited.
Reach Kevin Lynch of The Capital Times at 252-6432 or at klynch@madison.com.
Copyright of www.madison.com
Jazz Singer Lynette Is Still Taking Risks
Wisconsin State Journal :: RHYTHM :: 16
Thursday, April 26, 2007
BY KEVIN LYNCH
The voice of Lynette Margulies carries as much living and loving, and joy and pain, as any jazz singer's.
That's the sort of thing people used to say about Billie Holiday. Being disinclined to extravagant comparisons,
I'll stop short of suggesting she's a Jewish Holiday. Her voice doesn't have the intoxicating languor that
Holiday possessed even in her late years, when her instrument was ravaged.
But Lynette, as she is affectionately known, is just as honest an artist. At this point in her career, her singing
is laced with a grainy weight of its own, something more akin to Carmen McRae.
But her sensibility conveys more vulnerability than McRae's, which reflects back to Billie. And most Madison
fans know enough of Lynette's personal trials to understand that the warm, weathered blues-mama persona
is authentic.
Her new CD "Love of Life" is a glorious affirmation of resilience, buoyed by virtuoso bassist Jeff Eckels and
three of Madison's most simpatico pianists: Jane Reynolds, Dave Stoler and Paul Hastil.
The bass-piano accompaniment provides a relaxed atmosphere, which hardly means that Lynette is
coasting. She's taking risks, right from the opening tune. Few singers would dare open an album with the
resolutely downbeat "You Don't Know What Love Is."
If the listener feels chastened, she is promptly elevated "Over the Rainbow" on the ensuing Judy Garland
signature song. Lynette proceeds through deft programming, including Lennon and McCartney's "In My Life,"
Charlie Parker's "Confirmation," Stevie Wonder's "If It's Magic" and Sting's "Fields of Gold." You notice her
way of mixing top-notch recent pop music composers with classic jazz chestnuts.
The accompanists are well chosen, especially Reynolds, whose musical empathy with Lynette has developed
over the years. Both artists' stylistic vocabularies invariably suit the intentions of their expression. In other
words, they're not out to impress you, they've come to speak to you.
Listen to Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Waters of March." This wondrous fountain of words, rhythmic phrases and
images usually tempts a singer to take the song at a gushing speed, to show off how they surf the musical
language. By contrast, Reynolds and Lynette roll out the phrases and celebrate this seasonal intoxication as
if it were a fine wine.
We are grateful and fortunate that Lynette has aged as well as your favorite deep, dark red.
Lynette unfortunately is performing infrequently this summer, but she will do material from "Love of Life" on
Aug. 29 at Jazz at Five.
The CD is available at A Room of One's Own Bookstore and B-Side Records, and online at
www.lynettemargulies.com.
The brilliant pianist-composer Omar Sosa has found his own deep niche in the ever-expanding terra firma of
jazz. Thankfully, he digs Madison too. Sosa will return to Music Hall at UW-Madison at 8 tonight. Tickets, at
$26 for the general public and $10 for all students, are available at the Wisconsin Union box office or at
262-2201.
The Grammy-nominated Sosa is touring the United States with his new Afreecanos Quartet, which raises
Sosa's African roots with modern jazz harmonies and the latest technology. Sosa's Afro-Cuban style blends
folkloric and contemporary music and tribal and urban sounds.
The Afreecanos ensemble features Cuban drummer Julio Barreto, Mozambique electric bassist Childo
Tomas, and Senegalese vocalist Mola Sylla. Accompanying the Afreecanos tour is a new live CD release
entitled "Promise."
Sosa is dancing across the jagged edge of a pan-continental jazz synthesis, with a style that conveys a
profound sense of the best world music, at once spiritually liberated and deeply connected with multiple
cultures.
The Madison Jazz Orchestra has only two Monday night gigs left before it leaves the Harmony Bar and Grill,
2201 Atwood Ave. Sets are at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. There's no cover charge although tips are appreciated.
The orchestra is taking the summer off and will start again at the Harmony in the fall.
This Monday the orchestra will perform tunes from the repertoires of Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton, Count Basie,
Duke Ellington and others.
The following Monday the orchestra will morph into the Bones Band. This instrumental configuration will place
five trombonists with 17 possible horn combinations and a guitar, bass and drum rhythm section. The Bones
Band repertoire ranges improbably from Led Zeppelin to Jerome Kern and Edgar Winter to J.J. Johnson and
Kai Winding. The second set is a jam session. Musicians are invited.
Reach Kevin Lynch of The Capital Times at 252-6432 or at klynch@madison.com.
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