CHANGES – CD Review

By Nora McCarthy, Jazz Inside Magazine, July 2012

What Carmen Lundy has achieved in her recent offering, changes, takes a lifetime to perfect. A vocal artisan, musician, highly accomplished performer, band leader, composer/arranger, lyricist, and educator she blossoms with beauty and fulfillment on eight original compositions reflecting a complexity of subtle moods from a personal yet very relatable perspective.

Lundy’s choice of instrumentation and harmonically appealing arrangements provide a full bodied backdrop over which she designed a lovely mood infused CD. Her choice of musicians include seasoned veterans well versed in many musical languages – sophisticated, distinctive, and exquisite players who convey Lundy’s original material with finesse, expertise and timeless style. The more I listened to this CD, the more I looked forward to listening again. Her songs strike a chord within the heart and soul of the listener and speak intuitively to our feelings, experiences and memories. They are alive with emotion. Lundy sings with comfort and satisfaction, with intention, with reflection, anticipation and most of all…with conviction.

The voyage begins through the portals of a relationship on the samba-esque “The Night Is Young,” captivating and enticing with its intervallic  melodic waves that continue to oscillate through the next 7 songs altering over the varying rhythmic pulsations generated by drummer Jamison Ross and bassist Kenny Davis. This wave of (e)motion takes us through the many transformations that is love.

With a voice that is fluid and clean in its approach, tone and technique, it can also be funky and sassy. It adapts easily to lyrical interpretation in pure expression. Lundy’s broad range, sparsely employed improvisation, intricate brush strokes and tonally warm colors communicates the message of each piece by stating simple truths as in the hybrid funk-rock infused, “I’m Your Neighbor,” and the uplifting and joyful, “Dance The Dance.”

Ms. Lundy is a prolific composer and has written over 60 compositions that culminated in the first publication of The Carmen Lundy Songbook in 2007. The only cover piece on the album, is a wistfully sweet romantic arrangement of the classic, “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.”

Lundy doesn’t overdo. Her delivery is strong and sure as is her presence throughout – never overwhelming or overbearing, just right, exactly enough. She doesn’t over sing. She lets the music breath which is the sign of a true artist – to understand balance is the key to mastery.

Ms. Lundy understands what takes a piece of music from the page to the impression – the essential ingredients that go into a great song, what makes it linger, what makes it everlasting. She expertly mixes elements and textures from various genres and generations in a powerfully understated way giving changes its overall embracing sound and significance. In particular, it was nice to hear the retro ‘70’s vibe of the Fender Rhodes on, “So Beautiful,” and the worth repeating message of, “Love Thy Neighbor.” Interestingly, both are throwbacks to another time yet very relevant and potent today. Lundy’s sumptuous vocals resonate on “Where Love Surrounds Us,” the last song on this genuinely wonderful CD, a tender and intimate duo with guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves, the perfect ending to be continued for a long time to come.