CALIFORNIA VOICES REVIEW

At least two of the other vocalists featured in this set of reviews are also trained pianists; however, only Carol Welsman actually plays keyboard on her album. It’s clear throughout her disc Alone Together that her vocal and piano styles are closely intertwined. On the opening track, Day by Day, she scats in unison with her piano lines, and the harmonically astute modulations in It Might As Well Be Spring could only come from a piano-centric musician. Yet on the first chorus of Sand in My Shoes, the piano temporarily retreats and we can hear Welsman’s flexible approach to rhythm and intimate delivery of the lyrics. Welsman’s audacious a cappella introduction to the title track is a virtual duet in itself as she alternates between lyrics and scat. She displays remarkable diction on Disappointed, Eddie Jefferson’s lyricized version of Charlie Parker’s famous JATP solo on Oh, Lady Be Good, breaks your heart with an intense reading of If the Moon Turns Green and swings with vigor on The Blues Are Out of Town. The slightly husky quality of Welsman’s voice might recall Diana Krall, but Welsman clearly offers more inventive approaches and interpretations than her fellow Canadian pianist/vocalist (incidentally, Welsman started her career in Toronto, but she’s lived in the Hollywood Hills for the past decade). Unlike the other CDs in this survey, Welsman traveled to New York to record her album, hiring the remarkable rhythm team of Rufus Reid and Lewis Nash (who are both in exquisite form). The underrated trumpeter Wallace Roney plays several fine solos on this album and guitarist Jay Azzolina enhances the rhythm section on three tracks, and plays superb obbligatos on the album’s best track, a vocal-piano/guitar/bass version of Duke Ellington’s I Didn’t Know About You. Alone Together is a superb introduction to Carol Welsman’s intimate vocal and piano style.

Review by Thomas Cunniffe