POSTED ON September 30, 2015
“…a skilled vocalist, top-notch in her phrasing and intonation, but she also possesses an ineffable ‘something extra’ that’s both compelling and engaging in its delivery of the stories she has to tell.”
– ALL ABOUT JAZZ
Reaching deep into a space of quiet joy and beauty, tinged with a bit of melancholy, Seattle vocalist Carrie Wicks’s new CD presents a new set of original songs that complement lyrically and melodically the three accompanying classics, Bob Dorough’s “Small Day Tomorrow,” Van Heusen and Burke’s “It Could Happen to You,” and Ellington’s “Solitude.” Maybe features the same superb, simpatico trio as her prior two recordings–pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Jeff Johnson, and drummer Byron Vannoy–providing a comfortable, warmly swinging environment for Wicks’s co-written lyrics to shine.
TRACKS:
1. Ghost of a Perfect Flame 4:16
2. Small Day Tomorrow 6:52
3. Desolation Moon 4:21
4. It Could Happen to You 4:06
5. Maybe 3:24
6. Watercolor Rhyme 5:44
7. Afternoon 6:11
8. The Bottom of Your Heart 4:23
9. Dreamtime 5:23
10. Waltz Beyond 4:01
11. Solitude 4:49
Tracks (1,6,7,8,10) by Ken Nottingham & Carrie Wicks
(5) by Ken Nottingham, Carrie Wicks & Aria Prame
(2) by Bob Dorough & Fran Landesman
(3,9) by Nick Allison & Carrie Wicks
(4) by Jimmy Van Heusen & Johnny Burke
(11) by Duke Ellington, Eddie DeLange & Irving Mills
PERFORMERS:
Carrie Wicks – vocals
Bill Anschell – piano
Jeff Johnson – bass
Byron Vannoy – drums
Aria Prame – harmony on “Maybe”
PRODUCTION INFO:
Produced by Carrie Wicks & Ken Nottingham with Nick Allison
Recorded by Reed Ruddy & Andrew Ching
Recorded at Studio X, Seattle
(with assistance by Derek Ruddy, Kyle Smith, Davis Rendle)
May 19, 25-27, June 12, 2015
Mixed by Reed Ruddy & Andrew Ching
Mastered by Ed Brooks at RFI, Seattle
Photography by David Fox
Cover design & layout by John Bishop
REVIEWS:
Improvijazzation Nation, issue #162: (Dick Metcalf)
It’s amazing (to me, anyway) that there are so many splendid artists so near to me (Carrie is based in Seattle, only a few miles from my abode)… her vocal work on this October 2015 release is full of life and the joy of living it! After listening to her sweet & loose vocal on the haunting “Desolation Moon,” it’s clear that I need to carve some time out of my busy (retirement, lol) schedule & get on up North to hear her live, & maybe do a live interview as well. She’s joined by some highly qualified players (Bill Anschell – piano; Jeff Johnson – bass; Byron Vannoy – drums & Aria Prame – harmony on “Maybe”), and they smoke that jazz, to be sure! You’ll just love the laid-back feel on “Watercolor Rhyme” and find yourself thinking back to far earlier days (Bill’s piano work on this tune is excellent). Of the eleven superb pieces offered up, it was “Small Day Tomorrow” that captured my vote for personal favorite, though… a perfect feel for these great NW rainy days. I give Carrie and her fellow players a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of 4.99 for this excellent album. Get more information on the Origin Records page for this release.
Earshot Jazz (Connor Creighton)
Seattle vocalist Carrie Wicks has presented an album that leads the mind to wander and fall into deep tonal seduction. The lyricism within Maybe provides listeners with a form of storytelling unlike any other. There is a palpable sense of maturity found in Wicks’ writing, one that teeters between states of pensiveness and supreme delectation. The opening track “Ghost of a Perfect Flame” has an empathetic nature, forcing out concepts of empirical realism and glimpses into the artist’s own…
Midwest Record (Chris Spector)
Ever wonder who was the mook that decided shoe gaze was a good thing for a genre? Probably some mook who grew up in a house where jazz thrushes singing about how much life sucked was the soundtrack for the story of his life. Wicks does the thrush/cabaret thing without a touch of the tortured artist effect that goes with the genre all too often. Adding her own special sauce to the mix by doing some snappy writing as well, Wicks has no problem with getting interior and personal but even when…
All About Jazz (C. Michael Bailey)
Vocalist Carrie Wicks is three albums into her recording career with the release of Maybe, a collection heavy on smartly composed and sung originals. Wicks has previously released I’ll Get Around to It (OA2 Records, 2010) and Barely There (OA2 Records, 2012). She enjoyed the same rhythm section so much on both recordings, pianist Bill Anschell, bassist Jeff Johnson, and drummer Byron Vannoy that she uses them with no additional solo instruments on Maybe.
AXS (Carol Banks Weber)
In a city with so many jazz singers, Carrie Wicks somehow manages to stand out. Seattle’s Wicks doesn’t do a whole lot of gigs or albums. But what she does is concentrated and sure, a heady mix of unorthodox, intelligently chosen covers and deeply wrought originals – wrapped in an unlikely package of quiet solitude. That is, until she steps up to the microphone.As equal a songwriter as she is a musician’s singer, Wicks quietly presents a style all her own, always carefree with some…
KUCI, Irvine, CA (Hobart Taylor)
The original tunes on this disc are all revelations. Written by Wicks and the web elusive Ken Nottingham, (is he the Seattle Bluegrass musician?), the songs display musical and lyrical sophistication of the highest order. If you attached a name like Bacharach or Richard Rodgers to them you would not be surprised. I don’t believe this is hyperbole. These songs are smart earworms and authentically earnest. “Watercolor Rhyme” has a melody always on the edge of resolution and poetry that gracefully …
Jazz Weekly (George W. Harris)
One of the most denigrated categories is “jazz female vocalists.” Most either try to sound like a quirky indie like Norah Jones, or try to jump on the Diana Krall bandwagon by ONCE AGAIN revisiting the Great American Songbook. Well, if you want something else, here is an artist that has the pulse of jazz, but delivered in fresh voice. What a joy!Carrie Wicks is in a quartet setting with Bill Anschell/p, Jeff Johnson/b and Byron Vannoy/dr with a mix of covers and collaborations with…
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