Putumayo CD Women of Jazz

Putumayo’s latest release, Women of Jazz, showcases the originality and artistry of 10 exceptional female vocalists from North America. This collection offers extraordinary artists from several eras – legends who have inspired today’s generation, stars of the contemporary jazz world and young women just now starting to make their mark on jazz history. Women of Jazz captures the depth and diversity of the female jazz experience.

Women of Jazz includes original songs alongside classic 1920s ballads and Broadway show tunes. A true reflection of the creativity of today’s female jazz artists, their songs often combine jazz with unexpected influences such as rhythm and blues and country ballads.

Melody Gardot’s song “Goodnite” showcases her subtly hip and swinging style. Madeleine Peyroux, whose sultry voice resembles that of Billie Holiday, turns Leonard Cohen’s folk song into a jazz classic. Sophie Milman, winner of Canada’s 2007 Juno award for best jazz vocal album, gives an inspired performance that incorporates gypsy violin and klezmer.

Several songs add a contemporary twist to well known tunes. Cassandra Wilson, a world-renowned jazz innovator, provides a modern take on the classic “Lover Come Back to Me”. Hope Waits’ rendition of “I’ll be Satisfied,” a 1950s rhythm and blues hit for crooner Jackie Wilson, sounds as if it had been written today by a contemporary singer-songwriter. Kate Paradise, part of the new generation of jazz musicians, provides her vocal improvisation of the classic tune “Mean to Me.” Jennifer Hartswick, who was a guest vocalist on several of the band Phish’s recordings, offers a new version of Billie Holiday’s “Lover Man.” Also on the collection, rising star Stacy Kent sings “Shall We Dance?” from The King and I.

Della Griffin, who sang with doo-wop and jazz groups in New York in the 1950s and spent most of the 1970s and 1980s as the featured artist at Harlem’s Blue Book Club, offers her interpretation of the jazz standard “It Could Happen to You.” Etta Jones, a jazz and blues legend, closes the album with the classic “Since I Fell for You.”