Montreal International Jazz Festival 2012, Carmen Lundy

By Peter Hadekel, The Montreal Gazette

The turnout for Carmen Lundy’s concert Wednesday at Club Soda wasn’t as large as other Festival shows. Maybe folks were too busy celebrating the Fourth of July. If so, they missed one of America’s finest jazz vocalists. Lundy is a well-schooled singer with a complete command of the jazz tradition and a gift for writing her own material.

She was backed by a fine trio that included Anthony Wonsey on piano and keyboards, Corcoran Holt on bass, and Jamison Ross on drums. Like any good group of accompanists, they were sensitive to every turn of phrase and every nuance in the singer’s delivery.

Lundy’s range was impressive and she had her own colour and sound, showing no obvious stylistic influence. Her work as an actor lent a dramatic quality to her performance as she delivered original tunes like To Be Loved By You and Dance the Dance with plenty of soulful feeling.

A high point was her rendition of her great tune Vu Ja De – a wordplay on the phrase Deja Vu that built its own insistent momentum.