1 	Till There Was You 	3:55
2 	Lost In Love 	4:18
3 	Reality 	4:36
4 	Heart Of Gold 	3:08
5 	That's Why You Go Away 	3:22
6 	First Of May 	4:23
7 	You're My Everything 	
8 	Have I Told You Lately 	5:36
9 	Have You Ever Seen The Rain 	3:35
10 	Lost Stars 	4:19
11 	The Morning Sun 	4:23

Bass – Jamaaladeen Tacuma
Cello – Margarethe Deppe
Drums – Reinhardt Winkler
Guitar – Jean-Paul Bourelly
Piano, Keyboards – Paul Urbanek
Vocals – Simone Kopmajer

On her new album „Good Old Times“ (Lucky Mojo Records), SIMONE KOPMAJER transforms old favourites, clothing pop of the past in a fresh new sound. And she does it in a truly wonderful way…

Talking about Simone Kopmajer means talking about one of the most internationally successful contemporary jazz musicians from Austria. Not many in her métier can claim to have played concerts across the planet. There aren’t many stages in Europe the 15-year veteran from Styria hasn’t stood upon. Her expressive and sensitive voice has graced 11 albums and she performed for a loyal fanbase on tours in the US, Japan and Southeast Asia.

Simone Kopmajer and her band take us on a tour of recent musical history. Her new album “Good Old Times” features jazz and pop classics from the 20th century. Songs that influenced the artist during her childhood in the 80’s and 90’s. Songs like Van Morrison’s “Have I Told You Lately”, Neil Youngs “Heart of Gold”, and the Bee Gees “First of May” show where Simone Kpmajer is coming from and where her musical roots lie. The really beautiful thing about these covers is that the musicians maintain their freedom and avoid a simple reproduction of the originals. Indeed, the singer and her crew manage to add their own influence to these classics, one that, due to the stylistic breadth of the numbers from pop to jazz and soul, is remarkably diverse. The songs are given a new charm, an elegant and smooth new sound that embraces and enfolds them. Sometimes that happens in a fleet-footed, ecstatic way; sometimes with a hint of melancholy.

There are no boundaries to the expression on “Good Old Times”. Simone Kopmajer has once again delivered on the promise of her talent. “Good Old Times” invites the listener to simply lay back and enjoy the moment. It is a lot of fun to enjoy old favourites in a new sound, interpretation and presentation. Highly recommended. ---Michael Ternai, musicexport.at

download (mp3 @ kbs):

yandex mediafire uloz.to gett

back

1 	How Do You Keep The Music Playing? 	3:35
2 	A Blossom Fell 	3:57
3 	We Kiss In A Shadow 	4:05
4 	Calling You 	5:25
5 	Whatever Happens 	5:41
6 	Exactly Like You 	5:43
7 	Someone To Light Up My Life 	5:20
8 	The Way You Look Tonight 	4:22
9 	A Time For Love 	5:34
10 	Where Or When 	5:16
11 	Just Squeeze Me (But Don't Tease Me) 	4:48
12 	Whatever Happens (Reprise) 	2:58

Bass – George Mraz
Drums – Tim Horner
Piano, Arranged By – John Di Martino
Producer – Todd Barkan
Tenor Saxophone – Eric Alexander
Vocals – Simone Kopmajer 

No one will accuse Simone Kopmajer of being one of jazz's forceful, aggressive belters. Her singing is subdued, restrained, subtle and understated -- an approach that serves the Austrian vocalist fairly well on Romance, which was produced by Todd Barkan and finds her joined by pianist John Di Martino (who handles the arrangements), acoustic bassist George Mraz, drummer Tim Horner and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander. Improvisers who favor the sort of delicate vulnerability that characterizes the cool-toned Kopmajer have, in the past, been accused of not swinging, but Kopmajer does swing. She doesn't swing in the robust, hard-edged way that belters like Dianne Reeves, Ernestine Anderson and Kitty Margolis swing, but she swings nonetheless -- and emotionally, she gets her points across whether she is turning her attention to soul man Bill Withers' "Whatever Happens" or well-known Tin Pan Alley standards like "Where or When," "Exactly Like You" and "The Way You Look Tonight." Like Shirley Horn, Chet Baker, Carol Sloane and Helen Merrill -- four of the singers she inspires stylistic comparisons to -- Kopmajer demonstrates that a whisper can be as effective as a shout when it comes to jazz improvisation. Although tasteful and well-executed, Romance does tend to play it much too safe when it comes to material; Kopmajer picks too many warhorses that have been beaten to death over the years. "Whatever Happens" is a refreshing, unlikely choice, and Kopmajer needs to make more unlikely choices -- she needs to build a more adventurous repertoire and cut back on the warhorses. But all things considered, Romance is a promising effort for the Austria native, who was in her early twenties when she recorded this 2004 session. And the fact that she sings in flawless English is certainly something to be proud of. ---lex Henderson, AllMusic Review

download (mp3 @192 kbs):

yandex mediafire ulozto gett bayfiles

back