Katie Bull
«Conversations With the Jokers»

• Katie Bull - vocals
• Michael Jefry Stevens - piano
• Joe Fonda - double bass
• Lou Grassi - percussion

1. I Remember You (Johnny Mercer, Victor Schertzinger) 6:01
2. My Little Boat (Roberto Menescal, Ronaldo Bôscoli) 5:20
3. See Through You () 3:14
4. Moonlight Becomes You (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen) 5:15
5. You and the Night and the Music (Howard Dietz, Arthur Schwartz) 4:26
6. What Is This Thing Called Love? (Cole Porter) 2:35
7. Wave (Antonio Carlos Jobim) 4:29
8. Now's the Time (Eddie Jefferson, Charlie Parker) 4:11
9. I'm Glad There Is You (Jimmy Dorsey, Paul Mertz) 5:14
10. You're Everything (Chick Corea, Neville Potter) 3:59
11. Like Someone in Love (Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen) 3:04

CD Reviews

• Laurence Donohue-Greene for All About Jazz
• Trevor MacLaren for All About Jazz
• Vittorio Lo Conte for All About Jazz Italia Italian language
• Rick Anderson for All Music Guide

11-Mar-03 by Laurence Donohue-Greene for all•about•jazz

Female jazz vocalists are spoon-fed to the masses these days, made as accessible as possible with their approach and repertoire by, more often than not, big labels and mass marketing machines. If you ask most fans of jazz vocals, however, you'll gather there's a shortage of any memorable, or listenable, vocalists out there. Vocalists such as Sheila Jordan and Jeanne Lee brought interpretive and adventurous jazz vocals to the next level. Such flexible instruments are sorely lacking in our regurgitated times; they are of several who Katie Bull has used as the basis for her unique delivery and style.

Bull's newly released CD, Conversations with the Jokers, immediately qualifies her for that deserving-of-wider- recognition category (usually loosely handed out to those whose gift is questionable and popularity mystifying). Assembling the seemingly experimental rhythm section-though found here in a more straight-ahead approach-of Michael Jefry Stevens (piano), Joe Fonda (bass), and Lou Grassi (drums), Bull finds herself surrounded by a colorful session of solos and accompaniment throughout. The vocal-bass duets of the bluesy "See Through You" (surprisingly the sole original of the date) and "Like Someone in Love" especially stick out. (Bull rumors that her next project will actually be duets with Anthony Braxton's choice bassist from the '90s.)

Stevens, who has co-led a group with Fonda for many years, shines as well. His unaccompanied piano intro to "My Little Boat" only suggests the bossa nova theme while focusing on a spacious off-beat rhythmic pulse, before settling into the dense lyrics and Grassi's beat. And the drummer's extended unaccompanied brushes flutter like a butterfly kiss to open "You and The Night and the Music," with Bull's treatment recalling the New England-New Yorker Dominique Eade. Bull's scatting tendencies develop naturally when lyrics and words just don't seem enough to get the point across. Her natural swinging ability and risk taking make her a vocalist deserving a listen.

Note: this review originally appeared in All About Jazz: New York.

Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 AllAboutJazz.com and Laurence Donohue-Greene.

CD Reviews

22-Feb-03 by Trevor MacLaren for all•about•jazz

With the recent resurgence in female vocal jazz, a lot of competition has arisen. Katie Bull may not yet have the strongest of vocal chops, but she certainly makes up for that in the original and eclectic use of varying styles that piece together her debut, Conversations with the Jokers. Opening up with the Schertzinger/Mercer track 'I Remember You', Bull is haunted by the phrasing of post-Chick Webb Ella Fitzgerald, before taking on the groove of bossa-nova. But it's when she steps outside the traditional jazz forms that she shines.

The song 'See Through You' is a great use of experimental vocal work. Using her voice and phrasing as a free instrument alongside Joe Fonda's bass exploits one the most inventive ideas that have come from the new wave of jazz vocalists. Her unique use of scat, moans, groans and other sounds resembles that of folk-punk priestess Ani DiFranco. Chopping left, right and center, Bull nourishes an innovative style. Even though this makes for an exciting step forward with vocal jazz, she does not push the envelope as far anywhere else on this disc. For the remainder she relies on the old standbys that most other vocalists stick with. Yet Bull does not insist on one specific sound or vocal style, which helps to make up for it.

She changes styles as the tracks change, from torch to cool to bop to Latin-which makes Conversation with the Jokers a varied debut. But the listener cannot help but feel that Bull is still finding her voice. Once she comes into her own, Bull will be a force to reckoned with in vocal jazz.

Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 AllAboutJazz.com and Trevor MacLaren.

CD Reviews

Vittorio Lo Conte for All About Jazz Italia

La cantante Katie Bull ? una giovane americana che ha studiato con due artiste molto diverse nel modo di affrontare l`improvvisazione jazz: Jay Clayton e Sheila Jordan. Ad accompagnarla in questa raccolta di standards sono tre musicisti che abbiamo spesso ascoltato con esponenti dell?area creativa e che qui dimostrano la propria professionalit? anche con materiale pi? che conosciuto e che rappresenta il repertorio di molti cantanti mainstream da decenni.

L?interpretazione offerta da Katie Bull e dalla sua ritmica ? ovviamente di tipo moderno: il suo lavoro si avvicina a quello di artiste come Helen Merrill (basta ascoltare le sue incisioni degli anni `60) e, ovviamente, a quello delle sue insegnanti citate sopra. Diversamente dalle colleghe pi? conosciute che incidono per case discografiche maggiori si prende delle libert? nell?interpretazioni degli standards presentati che la rendono, per l?ascoltatore esperto di questo genere, una vera e propria scoperta.

La sua voce, duttile e soffice, gioca con il testo e le melodie con swing e autorit?, capace di dare un nuovo volto a storie raccontate tantissime volte nei club di tutto il mondo. I suoi accompagnatori, dei veri e propri jokers per la duttilit? dimostrata, sono perfetti nel compito affidatogli - specie il pianista Michael Jeffrey Stevens, dal tocco cos? sensibile. Joe Fonda la accompagna durante l?unico original, un duo voce/contrabbasso che mostra la sua notevole spinta ritmica allo strumento. Lou Grassi accompagna con precisione e swing, quasi una sorpresa per chi lo ha conosciuto solo in contesti creativi/free o, la sua seconda passione, dixieland.

La passione dei quattro per le canzoni proposte emerge in ogni momento di questa incisione. Fra le cose migliori un versione di "My Little Boat" affrontata a ritmo di bossa nova con l?armonizzazione - proprio originale per questo tipo di ritmo - di Michael Jeffrey Stevens.

Un buon contributo nell?odierno panorama del canto jazz.

Valutazione: * * * ½

Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All About Jazz Italia and Vittorio Lo Conte.

CD Reviews

All reviews written by Vittorio Lo Conte:

1. Fonda/Stevens Group: Forever Real
2. Fonda/Stevens Group: The Healing
3. Katie Bull: Conversations With The Jokers
4. Joe Fonda's Bottoms Out: Loaded Basses

Rick Anderson for All Music Guide

The debut album from this prodigiously talented singer focuses on standards and, for the most part, on a standard vocalist-plus-piano-trio format, with a couple of noteworthy digressions. Katie Bull sings in a warm, smooth voice that will remind some of Sarah Vaughan and others, interestingly, of the young Chet Baker — at least until she starts to scat, at which point her rhythmic adventurousness and unusual syllabic choices make it clear that she is approaching this repertoire with an agenda all her own. She tackles "You and the Night and the Music" at a trippingly ambitious tempo, letting the words elide into each other in an almost unbroken stream; her aggressively swinging take on "What Is This Thing Called Love?" is more deliberate but no less unusual in its sometimes fractured accompaniment and in her deconstructionist approach to the lyric and melody. "See Through You" is all-out funk, a sexy and sinuous voice and bass duet that is ultimately a bit too low on ideas to justify its three-plus minute length (the other voice and bass duet on the album, a relatively straight take on "Like Someone in Love," is more successful). One wishes the piano had been more closely miked, but overall the sound quality is very good. This is a promising debut from a significant talent.

Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2006 All Media Guide, LLC and Rick Anderson.
Source: Z95-3

CD Reviews