Carmen is no pretender

The Evening Standard, Jack Massarik: September 11, 2007

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/music/review-23411732-details/Carmen+is+no+pretender/review.do?reviewId=23411732

CARMEN IS NO PRETENDER

By Jack Massarik, Evening Standard 11.09.07

Fiercely artistic and moderately eccentric, the very likeable Carmen Lundy hit town last night with a terrific new US group behind her dramatic vocals. Covering for her big brother Curtis, double-bassist Darryl Hall combined propulsively with stylish drummer Jason Evans Brown, that wonderful pianist Anthony Wonsey and percussionist Myra Casales, whose deft touches came in all the right places.

Elegant and athletic in black T-shirt and linen slacks, Carmen combined elements of Sarah Vaughan’s tone and Betty Carter’s fearlessness with throat techniques that varied her sound texturally from a constricted snarl to a warm, wide-open contralto. It’s been too long since we enjoyed her unique blend of sweetness and power, but in the interim she’s kept busy with her pen.

Just one standard, a subtle Nature Boy, interrupted a feast of new songs. The better ones included I’m in Love Again (taut and sexy), Blue Woman (sad yet incisive) and Gossip (frothy and cynical).

I’ve Known Rivers, putting music to the Langston Hughes poem, raised the bar higher still, and her ingenious amalgam of every major word for God was truly special.

Catch Carmen. In a world of pretenders, she’s a genuine jazz singer.