American Lullaby by Veronica Nunn

"

- Clive Davis, New York Daily News

"Veronica Nunn has an unmistakable sound, a rich timbre at once intimate and reserved. Perfect time and remarkable vocal control make her ballads and fast tempos equally intriguing. And can she swing!"

- Stuart Troup, New York Newsday

"Nunn is very much, her own stylist and sounds like no one else . . . . I look forward to more by this talented singer and her group."

- Richard Bourcier, www.jazzreview.com

"It's been a long time since I've heard a real jazz singer!"

- Renowned jazz critic Stuart Troupe, upon hearing a Veronica Nunn demo tape being played on the house system at Sweet Basil, New York City, 1996

"When I give my love to you,' the sensual, steamy duet performed by Michael Franks with featured singer Veronica Nunn was the highlight of the evening. Her voice complimented his as it laced around the melody, ending with a moving vocalese solo, that had the audience on their feet in applause."

- Los Angeles Times Excerpt from Michael Franks review at the Strand in Los Angeles

BACKGROUND

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, the musical experience of Veronica Nunn began almost at birth. From the time she was an infant she was surrounded by music. Her father played trumpet and her mother, a lover of movie musicals, encouraged the young Veronica to dance, play piano, and sing. By the age of four, she had begun her singing career. Frequently featured in school assemblies from kindergarten throughout high school, this would serve as the foundation for performance on stage. The church choir would also be a major influence in her life. She started singing jazz at age 12 in clubs around the state, working with local legendary jazz artists Art Porter, Sr. and Bob Steele. She also performed for political functions of former president Bill Clinton, then governor of Arkansas.

Right before her 20th birthday, Veronica moved to New York. Working on her BA in Theology and holding down various jobs, she sang for four years on the New York circuit. It was during this time that she became the protégé of Big Nick Nicholas and began performing in clubs throughout Harlem. Through Big Nick's introductions and tutelage, Veronica soon formed alliances with musicians that would be instrumental in her jazz education - Eddie Chamblee, Doc Cheatum, Eddie Durham, and Donald Smith, to name a few.

Veronica had another musical turn when she found herself working with singer/songwriter and guitarist Franklin Micare, and they performed for five years as a duo, singing jazz and original tunes of strong rhythm & blues and rock & roll origin. Their unique style led the duo to Switzerland, where Veronica worked and lived for the next three years. There she began writing and performing original tunes which were recorded by local Swiss musicians.

In 1985, she returned to New York and continued on the jazz scene performing with Bross Townsend, Bob Cunningham, James Carter, Travis Shook, Rodney Kendricks, Andy McCloud, Eric Lewis, Buddy Williams, and Charles Blenzig. While performing with her own jazz trio in clubs around the city, she connected with Warner Brother's recording artist, Michael Franks. She has toured the world with Mr. Franks since 1993 and has been featured on "Island Christmas," a duet on his latest Christmas release Watching the Snow. She has also appeared with Michael Franks at New York's Lincoln Center for an all-star tribute to the late Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Veronica has also performed with Red Norvo, Eddie Harris, Spanky Davis, Ram Ramirez, Ron McClure, Café, Manolo Badrena, Michael Bowie, Ira Coleman, Jay Anderson, Steve Nelson, Xavier Davis, Oscar Neves, Jao Jobim, Astrid Jobim, Sting, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin, and Mark Egan.

American Lullaby is her first solo album. Other recordings to her credit are Michael Franks' Watching the Snow, the latest 2004 Christmas release; Jazz to the World (Blue Note), a various artist Christmas compilation; Takeshi Ito's Groove Island (Atlantic Records); Various Artists Music-lectic: Striking a Chord, a benefit compilation for the victims of the San Diego fires; Randy Parsons' Randy Parsons and Friends, and a children's album entitled The Ocean of Love. She is also featured on Travis Shook's, Awake and Travis Shook Plays Kurt Weill. Her second solo CD, Standard Delivery, is scheduled to be released on Dead Horse Records in the winter of this year.

ABOUT "AMERICAN LULLABY"

Veronica describes American Lullaby as a process for defining her musical journey, stamped with a very personal vision. With a voice reminiscent of early Abbey Lincoln and Carmen McCrea, Veronica calls herself a "jazz traditionalist," steeped in the concept of singers as instrumentalist and driven by the influences of blues, soul, classical, and folk music. The album is smooth and accessible, full-bodied jazz, musically rich and inventive.

Veronica and her quintet give fresh jazz interpretations to a careful selection of lesser-recorded tunes, including Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach's "Living Room," a metaphor for giving two people plenty of space for the relationship to grow. Also included are Stephen Sondheim's "Green Finch & Linnet Bird" and "Not While I'm Around," both taken from 1979 London's Sweeney Todd. The musical thriller is about an unjustly exiled barber who slices up his clients as a way of enacting revenge for the rape of his wife and his subsequent frame-up by a corrupt judge. With the assistance of a lovesick baker named Ms. Lovett, the clients' remains are then used as filling for her pies. Although gruesome, if the two songs are taken out of the context of the play, they stand as strong melodies with oddly positive and insightful lyrics.

Legendary singer/songwriter Michael Frank's "Don't Be Blue" is another comment on possessing a positive attitude when it comes to life and love. The album also includes familiar songs such as Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" and Rogers & Hammerstein's "It Might As Well Be Spring," as well as a Veronica Nunn original, "You Know You're in Love" and a piece by multi-instrumentalist Gerry Niewood entitled "This Joy," to which Veronica added lyrics.

The album's careful and subtle orchestration provides ample room to showcase the exceptional talents of the rest of the band: Travis Shook (piano), Jennifer Vincent (bass), Jaz Sawyer (drums & percussion), Kebbi Williams (tenor sax), and Ron Westray (trombone).

Veronica produced the album together with her husband, acclaimed jazz pianist Travis Shook. American Lullaby is the first of a set of 3 CDs known as the Systems Two Trilogy, recorded on the Woodstock-based label Dead Horse Records. The two and a half day recording session in February 2000 also produced two other releases, Travis Shook's Plays Kurt Weill, in which she is featured on two highly-textured selections, "Lost in the Stars" and "Lonely House", and Shook's Awake, in which she makes a cameo appearance on Bob Dorough's quirky "Nothing Like You."

Personnel:

Veronica Nunn - vocalist

Travis Shook - piano

Jennifer Vincent - bass

Jaz Sawyer - drums

Ron Westray - trombone

Kebbi Williams - tenor sax

Average Customer Review: