Artist: Eileina Williams

Title: Introducing…Eileina Williams

Genre: Contemporary Jazz

Label: Independent

Website: http://www.eileinawilliams.com

Jazz standards have a way of warming your soul. Any good vocalist that knows the tradition and culture of the music will let you to travel back in time without effort and become one with the music and its meaning. The only problem I can see developing during the course of recording is choosing the best songs for a particular vocalist. So why do they feel compelled to put out an entire album of covers? They do it because they love the music, to test their worthiness as a musician or vocalist, and because it is a right of passage in the genre.

Some artists do a great job with albums like this and others are better off sticking to their own material, then there are individuals like Eileina Williams, an amazingly talented woman whose most treasured instrument is her voice. She sounds as if each song were made especially for her on the stunning debut album Introducing…Eileina Williams. She steps out with style covering timeless classics such as “Our Love Is Here To Stay,” which gives an indication of her tremendous range and exceptional projection, and bluesy smoke filled nightclub numbers like “Willow Weep For Me,” focus on her smooth and sultry style and innate sense of rhythm.

There are 12 tracks on this recording and Williams takes each one on as a personal labor of love. You can hear it, feel it, and almost touch it…she is that convincing. With a debut this good, it is probable that there are many more good years ahead for this versatile and talented woman.

Her supporting cast is marvelous. They took two days to put this album together, an incredible turnaround. Going into the studio with no expectations, they carved out their own place in time with memorable interpretations of some the most loved jazz tunes. Kudos to Shelly Berg (piano), Darek Oles (bass) and Kendall Kay (drums), they helped Williams feel right at home. The ease and style that she maintains throughout this CD is a direct reflection of the superb musical support found throughout this recording.

Albums of this nature need many things happening all at once in the right way for it to turn out like it should. Well, it looks like their guardian angels were with them for two days in the studio because this is a great album. It takes a lot to impress me and particularly on an entire recording of covers. This was obviously a magical and spiritual experience for all involved-it certainly was for me.

© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck-http://www.muzikreviews.com

April 19, 2005

Rating-8/10

01. I Hear Music (3:05)

02. Black Coffee (6:33)

03. Period (2:48)

04. What A Little Moonlight Can Do (2:08)

05. I Cover The Waterfront (5:24)

06. Thou Swell (3:32)

07. East Of The Sun (West Of The Moon)

08. Our Love Is Here To Stay (4:30)

09. What Is This Thing Called Love? (2:27)

10. Sometimes I’m Happy (3:40)

11. Willow Weep For Me (7:37)

12. If I Should Lose You (4:25)