REBECCA PARRIS: Double Rainbow

Rebecca Parris

Double Rainbow

© 1987 Rebecca Parris

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jazz vocals with class and pizazz.. the perfect match of precision with passion

notes

Rebecca bridges the music of jazz with her very own notion of what singing the American standards should be about. She is not a slave to the standard but adheres to the advice of Duke, "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." Ms. Parris seeks material that is original. Whether from Brazil or Omaha (Anne Ronell, from that town, wrote Willow Weep For Me) the sound of the melody is united with her sound. I've learned more songs from my friend Rebecca than anyone. The main ingredient when necessary is swing, when it's called for, groove, or it's blues, or again swing. Once I wrote she is a bravado kook. On this album the Gershwin melody is more swing with A Foggy Day. We hear the loveliness of Thad Jones A Child is Born which has the sweet sensibility that'll make you bawl; Rebecca does that to you. Harold Arlen is immortalized as she sprinkles voodoo dust about That Old Black magic. Sondheim gets the parries treatment with Send In The Clowns, The island is provocative from the Brazil connection; back up north Autumn Leaves. She never took "advantage of me", but with the Rodgers and Hart rendition it could be done. I'm easy.

Eddie Higgins is a one man band with tenor help from Mike Monaghan, recorded at the Starlight Roof where the only illumination was the Citgo sign and the illuminating sound of Rebecca Parris. The Starlight Roof was another home for me close to Boston University Radio in Kenmore "Square" (a word nowhere in the Rebecca Parris lexicon).

We went from Duke to Jobim with the Parris interpretation. Sensitive to the composers' wishes the songs become hers and you may never want to hear them done again by anyone else. I guess I'm prejudiced, I can't stop writing, but it's complete, like Rebecca Parris' singing is complete. Tony Cennamo
Professor of Jazz History Emeritus
Emerson College, Boston, MA
November 1998

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  • powerhouse live set
    author: Tim Wictor

    It seems every Rebecca Parris release has at least two or three song treatments that blow away any others you've ever heard. On this album, recorded live with Eddie Higgins on piano and Michael Monaghan on saxes, the standouts for me are the ballads "To Say Goodbye," "A Child Is Born," and the showstopper "Send In The Clowns." Her combination of technique and emotional power is devastating--this is the Real Thing in singing, so pay attention, and buy this CD!

  • Awesome!
    author: Mary Jones

    Awesome!

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