Sitting comfortably at the smoother, more accessible end of the jazz spectrum, Gilded & Silver is an album that evokes those smoky jazz bars and high-end supper clubs of times gone by — a place where sass and sophistication seem to merge effortlessly.
If those days are largely gone, it is so rewarding to find artists like Heather Ward keeping such a sound, style, and scene alive through her music. And if her music echoes the sound of icons such as Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington, it is also easy to see her connection to more contemporary torchbearers, including Holly Cole and Michael Bublé.
Now, I’m no jazzhead, but if you are unschooled in the genre, as I certainly am, this feels like the perfect place to dip your toe into its sonic waters. Do that, and you will find mellifluous and magical music forged of shuffling drums, cascading piano, deft upright bass, and breezy trumpets.
As I said, I’m not au fait with the jazz standard canon, but I do recognize some of the songs that she covers here, such as Peggy Lee‘s “He’s A Tramp” (from the Disney film, “Lady and the Tramp” where Ward seems to duet with the double bass. The Beatles‘ “Dear Prudence” wanders some wonderful new pathways, understated and restrained, and “Midnight At The Oasis” takes Maria Muldaur‘s already jazz-infused track into even more groove-driven and syncopated territory.
But whether it is her own material, jazz standards, or pop crossovers, Heather Ward has produced a great album, one that will excite jazz aficionados, please those just getting into the genre, and prove popular with discerning music fans of all sonic persuasions.
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