Greene Avenue Music 2009
60:03
3 Rooms/10 Tracks
Gone Fishin’
Night Ties
Joe’s Car
Personnel:
FV-voice, compositions
Anders Nilsson- electric guitar
Ken Filiano – bass, effects
Michael ‘TA’ Thompson- drums, percussion
1. Seasons
2. Dry
3. Bob and Weave
4. Night Ties
5. Joe’s Car
6. Stemming
7. Gone Fishing
8. Ideal Situation
9. Heating Up
10. Seasons – Reprise
“…hypnotic in its flow, every song in the three sections of the suite a masterpiece of compressed story-telling…”
–Gary Lucas, guitarist/composer (from the liner notes)
View Lyrics for The FreeSong Suite HERE.
Some reviews of The FreeSong Suite
“A jazz singer who makes her notes slow, wide and meaningful—she often sounds like an evening-out of Betty Carter and Abbey Lincoln—Fay Victor uses a great and simple concept on The FreeSong Suite(Greene Avenue Music)…a studio recording organized like a live set. This means the band flows from one song into another, without knowing where it’s going next…these songs have distinct melodic character: fascinating ballads with Anders Nilsson’s country-bluesy guitar soloing, drum chants, some careful free improvising.”
-Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
“The whole thing is as if Joni Mitchell wrote lyrics for a lost Betty Carter prog-rock album — and it totally works.”
-Patrick Jarenwattananon, 10 Greatest Moments from Jazz Recordings in 2009 – NPR Jazz
“Fay Victor has a rich, commanding voice that’s matched by a sense of adventure, like Betty Carter if that late singer hung around the current Downtown New York scene. Guitarist Anders Nilsson, bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Michael T.A. Thompson work closely with Victor, combining free improvisation, blues, and some kind of rock style…they always stay on an even keel with the vocals, whose ease blurs the lines between written word and spontaneous story.”
-Mike Shanley , JazzTimes
“Victor’s soulful, emotive delivery combines with avant-tinged invention, placing her alongside great vocal innovators like Betty Carter, Jeanne Lee, Sheila Jordan…a truly creative singer with the chops to accomplish whatever she wants, but the good taste to ensure that substance always trumps style…The Freesong Suiteis a vocal album that stands well above the pack; a welcome respite from the unwieldy preponderance of unimaginative vocal jazz albums hitting the market.”
-John Kelman, allaboutjazz.com
“The Fay Victor Ensemble’s The FreeSong Suite (Greene Avenue, 2009) is a tour de force of writing, improvisation and performance. Victor and her band paint one fluid word picture after another, linking these composed sections with free playing that is smart, muscular and emotional. From free improv to the blues to alt-rock and back again, The FreeSong Suite is easily one of my top 10 records of 2009.”
-Jason Crane, The Jazz Session
“The FreeSong Suite, peers into the NYC-based vocalist’s challenging and rewarding world of captivating vocal work and stirring spontaneity.”
-Andrew Zender, PopMatters.com
“Victor scats, vocalizes, chips, mumbles and sings bluesy chromatics or angular displays of dexterity, delivering the unexpected with beauty, depth and innovation.”
-Wilbur MacKenzie, All About Jazz-New York
“’The FreeSong Suite’ has the feeling of something new and significant. It lifts her above the ranks of most female jazz singers not only with what it delivers, but also with the even greater rewards it promises”. Music Grade: A
-Lloyd Sachs, Vinyl Blues
“Fay Victor’s voice is reminiscent of Betty Carter’s siren call mixed with the go-for-broke improvising of someone like Ellen Christi…a breathtakingly original set.”
-Jerome Wilson, Cadence Magazine
“Victor has the chops, the phrasing, the band and the courage to make contemporary music that references contemporary culture and materials that range from Carter to Berberian to Sun Ra to Hendrix. This is sheer, unadulterated brilliance. Buy it!”
- Nilan Perera, Exclaim.ca, Canada’s Music Authority
“What you hear on this album is raw and quirky and powerful and full of feeling and surprise and particularities that reflect universal human truths. One of the unique listening experiences of this or any other year.”
-Mike Chamberlain, Hour – Montreal’s weekly Entertainment magazine
“One of the most interesting voices to have emerged in recent years…always manages magically to be herself and to propose a music that looks forward cleverly mixing elements from past and present.”
-Mauritzio Comandini, All About Jazz: Italia
“WOW! Very impressive record…A splendid record from the very first listen.”
-François Couture, Monsieur Delire
Purchase The FreeSong Suite:
YEAR END KUDOS for The FreeSong Suite
>>The Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll 2009 – 4th in the Best Vocalist Category
http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-12-29/music/2009-voice-jazz-critics-poll-the-results
>>Jason Crane’s Top 10 of 2009 – The FreeSong Suite was Jason’s TOP Pick for the Year
http://thejazzsession.com/2009/12/08/my-top-10-jazz-cds-of-2009/
>>AllAboutJazz-NewYork’s Best of 2009 – Best Vocal Releases/January 2010 Issue
>>El Intruso’s International Critics’ and Musicians’ Polls 2009 – 1st place (tie) for Female Vocalist
http://www.elintruso.com/article.php?id=1785
>>PopMatters.com: The Best Jazz of 2009
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/117329-best-jazz-of-2009/
>>Laurence Donohue-Greene’s Top 10+ of 2009
http://www.jazzhouse.org/diary/2009/12/laurence-donohue-greenes-top-10-of-2009/
>>CKUT Jazz Director’s Top 20 list
http://jazzamuck.blogspot.com/2009/12/2009-top-20-jazz.html
>>Délire Actuel 2009 Demanding Music Top 30
http://blog.monsieurdelire.com/2009/12/le-top-30-des-musiques-exigeantes-2009.html