Vocal Jazz

Seven years after Time Together, Michael Franks confirms he’s still his best imitator. At more than 73 years old, the Californian remains this cool singer, with a cool voice on cool tunes… Produced notably by Gil Goldstein and Chuck Loeb, The Music In My Head represents a new height of this barely dreamy smooth jazz on which Franks lets his velvet organ slide with delicateness… We once more tell ourselves that time seems to have stopped for him between 1976 and 1985, when his albums The Art of Tea Reprise, Sleeping Gypsy, Burchfield Nines, Tiger in the Rain, One Bad Habit, Objects of Desire, Passionfruit and Skin Dive were beautiful and sensual soundtracks, completely smooth, of an idealized California. This 2018 batch will probably not change the minds of either his fans or his detractors. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

She loves Madeleine Peyroux and Melody Gardot and she doesn't care who knows it. But Hailey Tuck does have a little something of her own up her sleeve. It's a personal touch that makes this young Texan, who has made landfall in Paris, an attractive voice in its own right, and not a pale imitation of anyone else. Larry Klein, who produced her two idols, even agreed to put together the first album of this starlet who shares a hairdresser with Louise Brooks, and a wardrobe with Josephine Baker. Klein even put together a perfect and never over-produced backdrop, with the help of some five-star studio musicians like drummer Jay Bellerose (Elton John, Robert Plant) and guitarist Dean Parks (Joe Cocker, Steely Dan)… In terms of their repertoire, the eclecticism and quality of these covers also displays thoroughgoing good taste. And the fact that she revisits That Don't Make It Junk by Leonard Cohen, Cry To Me, made famous Solomon Burke, Cactus Tree by Joni Mitchell, Some Other Time by Leonard Bernstein, Underwear by Pulp, Alcohol by the Kinks, Junk by Paul McCartney, I Don’t Care Much from the soundtrack to Cabaret and indeed the wonderful Say You Don’t Mind by Colin Blunstone, Hailey Tuck deploys her voice intelligently and with a dash of retro in every word and every phrase. Let this beautiful and timeless Qobuzissime carry you away... © Max Dembo/Qobuz

After two albums at the head of a rather jazzy quartet, Elina Duni is now releasing a collection of songs under her own name that evoke love as well as loss and departure. Recorded in the studios La Buissonne in the south of France in July 2017 under the artistic direction of Manfred Eicher from ECM, Partir is undeniably her most personal opus. Her most intimate too. In this album entirely written and produced on her own, the singer from Tirana plays on the piano, on the guitar and on percussions in tunes drawing from a multitude of sources, from folk to popular music: traditional songs from Albania, Kosovo, Armenia, Macedonia, Switzerland and Arabic Andalusia, but also Jacques Brel’s Je ne sais pas, Alain Oulman’s Meu Amor, Domenico Modugno’s Amara Terra Mia or even Let Us Dive In by Duni herself. To highlight her voice’s expressiveness, she has logically opted for sleek arrangements. In this context, her singing is beautifully emphasised and becomes the common theme throughout her electric repertoire. An organ that can be poignant at times, particularly when she sings about suffering, in a sort of Balkan fado, like a European blues following in the footsteps of Billie Holiday − the ultimate ambassador of human flaws, whom she admires above everything else! The listener comes out dazed by the captivating beauty of what turns out to be Elina Duni’s most stunning album so far… © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

After two albums at the head of a rather jazzy quartet, Elina Duni is now releasing a collection of songs under her own name that evoke love as well as loss and departure. Recorded in the studios La Buissonne in the south of France in July 2017 under the artistic direction of Manfred Eicher from ECM, Partir is undeniably her most personal opus. Her most intimate too. In this album entirely written and produced on her own, the singer from Tirana plays on the piano, on the guitar and on percussions in tunes drawing from a multitude of sources, from folk to popular music: traditional songs from Albania, Kosovo, Armenia, Macedonia, Switzerland and Arabic Andalusia, but also Jacques Brel’s Je ne sais pas, Alain Oulman’s Meu Amor, Domenico Modugno’s Amara Terra Mia or even Let Us Dive In by Duni herself. To highlight her voice’s expressiveness, she has logically opted for sleek arrangements. In this context, her singing is beautifully emphasised and becomes the common theme throughout her electric repertoire. An organ that can be poignant at times, particularly when she sings about suffering, in a sort of Balkan fado, like a European blues following in the footsteps of Billie Holiday − the ultimate ambassador of human flaws, whom she admires above everything else! The listener comes out dazed by the captivating beauty of what turns out to be Elina Duni’s most stunning album so far… © Marc Zisman/Qobuz