Aimee Allen

Aimée Allen – Winters & Mays
2011 Collected Reviews

C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz:
Vocalist/composer/arranger Aimée Allen exists as a whole, self-sustaining entity. Her round, sensuous alto has only smooth edges with a caress of warm linen. Her songwriting is top-notch, fully formed and in abundance on Winters & Mays. But it is her singing that is exceptional, particularly on the standards mash-up "Bye Bye Blackbird/It Could Happen to You." Allen weaves the two songs together with similar taste, as only the best singers can do.
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Geannine Reid, JazzTimes Online:
Aimée Allen, Winters & Mays:
TRULY AN EVOLVING AND EXPANSIVE VOCAL JAZZ ARTIST

Winters & Mays is a junior release for vocalist Aimée Allen. Her first release Dream introduced Allen conquering predominately jazz standards with ease and command. Her second recording l'Inexplicable, released in 2007, was an all original français release, which was only available as a digital release for download. The common thread that runs through each recording is Aimée’s supple and versatile vocals. Allen is definitely much more than a standards singer, she is a composer and songstress that can shape and weave a storyline like some of the classic folk writer luminary’s like Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez.

Winters & Mays is the breath of summer and the cool breeze of winter, perfect for any day, any month, or anytime. A beautiful collection of well-chosen covers and well-crafted originals, and a fine calling card for Allen as a composer, arranger, vocalist and stylist that will surely attract new fans to this truly evolving and expansive vocal jazz artist.
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Brent Black, @CriticalJazz:

A great many "commercial" jazz vocalists tend to emphasize pretty packing over solid substance. Allen manages to pull together a release that is a far cry from something drawn up in the board room of a media giant. There is a captivating originality and honesty to the presentation here, refreshing and earthy without ever venturing to the self indulgent side that so many singers seem to favor. Instead, Allen is a unique voice flavored with soul and sensuality, everything you can not teach while embracing jazz sensibilities with her own delivery. A stylish release that blends jazz, bossa nova, ballads, tango and even a pop cover into Allen's personal hybrid of where she is now. Some independent artists hold that label for reasons that become painfully obvious when reviewing their work with Allen the questions is "when" not "if" a major deal comes her way.

A thoughtful and highly personal outing that showcases some of Allen's original compositions including what sounds like an instant standard in "I'll Get Along" and her lyrics to the Pat Metheny tune "Love Aloud." The organic sound is highlighted with the use of accordion on the Sting cover "Fragile." This eclectic combination is an artistic self portrait of discovery and we are simply along for what is an incredibly entertaining ride. Standards are re-invented, original work stands up well by comparison and combined with a subtle texture of layered sound, Winters & Mays showcases Aimee Allen, a fixture on the New York jazz scene whose musical stock is an arrow pointing straight up!

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Mark E. Hayes, Passing Notes:
Cool and swinging throughout, Allen's voice works well with her backing ensemble of piano, guitar, bass, and drums. A song like "Eden Autumn and Noah, Too" displays both Allen's strength as a writer and her skill in swinging across tempo. With a great voice, great intonation and control, and great musical intelligence, Winters and Mays is a great album for any season.

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Constance Tucker, All About Vocals:
Dream, Allen’s debut into the national scene introduced the listener to Allen with a predominately jazz standards overview and Allen’s ability as an arranger was immediately evident. Her second recording l’Inexplicable, released in 2007, featured all original French tracks and began to show the listener the breadth of Allen’s abilities. With the release of Allen’s third outing Winters & Mays, her abilities as a composer, songstress and lyricist burgeoned to the forefront.

Allen negotiates flawlessly through a plethora of moods. Connecting the listener with a familiar cut “Peel Me a Grape” is a smart opener, what makes this cut special is, you can instantly recognize Allen is much more than a standards vocalist. Her phrasing instantly gives this cut a new flair and her vocal range is used to add interest to her lines.

A highlight for me as the listener was an original composition “Eden Autumn and Noah Too.” Dedicated to two nieces and nephew, the haunting melody gives light to a serious message of hope and tomorrow. Allen soars on this cut; her vocals are confident, yet inviting.

Winters & Mays is a beautiful calling card for Allen as a fully fledged composer, lyricist and vocalist. Her ideas are filled with depth and meaning and her lyrics profoundly unique. With three releases under her belt that already show her immense abilities, I am certain her next release will be a tour de force to be reckoned with. Truly a masterful artist in the making, I look forward to her next release and the years to come.
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Grego Gaapplegate Edwards, Gapplegate Guitar and Bass Blog:
Singers. Some get your attention by their artistry. Some don't. Aimee Allen did for me. Her new album Winters & Mays (Azuline Music) gives you plenty of music, her and a small group that includes Pete McCann and his tasty guitar work, among others.

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Doug Boynton, Girlsingers:
Aimée Allen had me at Dave Frishberg.

It’s easy to make “Peel Me A Grape” sound more silly than it is, but Ms. Allen manages to make this Frishberg gem sound sensous and bluesy, instead. And it’s her voice that carries this eclectic set of a dozen tunes – half originals, penned by Ms. Allen, or with her brother, guitarist David Allen.
Lush, but not gimmicky, she reminds me a lot of Dianne Reeves.

I’m particularly fond of Ms. Allen’s take on Sting’s “Fragile” – better than the original for me. She also added lyrics to Pat Metheny’s “Always and Forever,” from his 1992 Album “Secret Story.” The result, with a new title, is “Love Aloud,” which gets backing from Victor Prieto on accordion.

With intoxicating latin beats, this voice, and a talented crew backing her up – this disc is quite a find.

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Susan Frances, Yahoo! :
The bluesy tonality of Aimee Allen's register creates an intimacy with the listener that accentuates the personable nature of her songs on her new album Winters & Mays. Produced by Allen, the record shows attributes of cabaret-laden soul wrapped in a Latin-imbued persuasion.

Aimee Allen's selection of covers and original tunes keenly pronounce the bluesy timbres of her voice. Her affection for traditional swing, modern blues, and Latin rhythms is felt in every track. Allen shows that the jazz spectrum is multi-lingual and multi-cultured, and fluent in reaching out to people of any ethnicity.

- Various

Aimee Allen's jazz vocal French record, "L'Inexplicable", is a superb showcase for Allen's sumptuous vocal approach along with her superb supporting musician cast. The record is full of life and organic energy as clearly the band performed most tracks live while Allen performed her vocals. The opening track, 'Que'est -ce qu'on est bien ici' sets the mood - Allen's Basia meets Lulu vocal intimacy presents the foreign lyric with conviction and beauty. Her timbre is that of a strong soprano/alto with tremendous strength and support on delivery with control to pull back into her delightful caressing vibrato at the ends of phrases. The following track, "femme d'abene", utilizes brilliant percussion choices in a dreamlike musical break that lands somewhere between Sting and Sade with an attitude that is not as vulnerable - just seemingly wise. Allen's showcase comes in track 6, "Les Nuages" as simple piano chords and subtle string bass support her near a-capella performance. The only english tune is track 8, "What the Senses Know", and we were surprised to hear a clear American-bread accented singer. .throwing even more weight behind the bi-lingual talent Allen possesses. The final track, "Scenes de Menage", begins with a haunting vocal and dark organ progression as pain and loss seem to bleed through the vocal delivery - ending the record in a smokey dark barroom and red candles at 2 am - our favorite track. Where is that bar - we should all go. Great professional vocal instrumental with superb band.


- earbuzz.com

Questions for Aimee Allen/ l'Inexplicable by HMV Japan

Q1: You were listening to various kinds of jazz music as you growing up because your mom is a big jazz fan, right? From whom were your influenced musically?
I credit my mother with exposing me to jazz from the moment I was born. Great music was an event in my house growing up because of her. I know how blessed I was to have jazz as the soundtrack to my youth. I know far too few young people today have that. As for my influences, well I think everyone and everything I heard influenced me. Sarah Vaughn holds special importance for me. I think she is unmatched. Ella, of course. Nancy Wilson, Carmen McCrae, Al Jarreau. Many more. Abbey Lincoln, who I have had the pleasure of seeing live a few times, is deeply deeply inspiring, not only as a singer, but also as a songwriter, and as a soulfully connected human being.

Q2: When you belonged to a capella chorus group at college, what kind of songs did your group have in their repertoire? Also, where did your group regularly perform?
I was in two groups, both all female. One did exclusively jazz and swing, the other had a broader repertoire that included jazz, but also pop and other genres. We performed regularly on campus at Yale, and off campus, in New Haven, but both groups performed occasionally elsewhere in New England, in New York City, and in other cities throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Q3: After you finished college, you flew to France. Tell us any specific reason why you moved to France? For French study?
I had studied the language in school and always loved it, the sound of it, the feel of it. The literature as well. While in college, I got the chance to study in Paris for a semester. When I arrived, I felt immediately as though Paris was my home. I was absolutely in love with the city. And it almost felt as if it loved me back. But I had to go back to the U.S. after only a few months. I knew I wanted to return and spend more time there, so upon graduation, I went to Paris and got a job. Then I got a gig, singing piano-bar in a restaurant.

Q4: What is the definition of the word “l'Inexplicable”?
“l’Inexplicable” means that which cannot be explained. Like an unexplained phenomenon, something transcendent, that defies reason and words and everything else, but still cannot be doubted. This is how I think of music. Music says things words can’t, yet it is understood by everyone. Unexplainable, yet undeniable.

Q5: Your scat singing on the title tune of your new album sounds brilliant. Did you improvise it or was it an already written piece?
This is a tune that I wrote, chords and melody. The melody that you hear me singing and Misha Piatigorsky doubling on the piano is the melody I wrote. So no, it was not improvisation.

Q6: “l'Inexplicable” contains the songs mostly sung in French including your rendition of ”Jardin d'Hiver” originally renowned by Henri Salvador. Possibly it is one of the reasons why you went to France, isn’t it?
I was in Paris when the original version of Jardin d’Hiver, recorded by Henri Salvador, was released. Like everyone else, I fell in love with the tune – so simple, yet so beautifully crafted, so endearing. Having come from the U.S., I didn’t know Salvador, so Jardin d’Hiver, and its great popular success, introduced me to his long career and his artistry. We wanted to include a bit of popular “chanson française” on this album, something quintessentially French, along with the originals. So I chose this gem. Its perfect because Salvador represents “chanson française”, but at the same time he is an example of the cross-pollenation of musical cultures, American jazz, Brazilian bossa, Caribbean music etc. And this is precisely what my album is about.

Q7: On your first album “Dream”, you covered Brazilian music such as Antonio Carlos Jobim song along with jazz classics. Won’t you make an bossa nova album sung in Portuguese in near future?
Perhaps. Bossa nova moves me. Literally! I can’t be still when I listen to it – I have to move, to dance. But also, it has such a timelessness. For me, Jobim’s tunes never age. Their exquisite melodies and harmonies continue to surprise me, no matter how many times I hear them. What is for sure is that no matter what I do, it will always be influenced in some way by bossa.

Q8: In fact, “l'Inexplicable” evokes some kind of bossa nova feel even though it is an almost French album. Which recognitions do you want to receive from the public, a jazz singer or a bossa nova singer?
Well, first of all, I am grateful for any recognition at all of my singing, whatever it may be. Musically, I just try to be myself, and let others define. Actually, the concept of this album was to stretch the limits of such labels. And for me it was a very interesting journey because jazz is my heritage, my roots, my first love musically. So going a bit outside my comfort zone was both frightening and liberating at once. In l’Inexplicable, there is jazz, of course, but also a distinctly pop edge to some of the tunes. And clearly, Brazilian rhythms are very present, but so are African, and even Cuban influences – my guitarist on the album, Richard Padron, is Cuban. And then of course, almost the whole thing is in French, so there is a certain continental feel. “Qu’est-ce qu’on est bien ici” is a bossa, yes, but I also think of it as my personal tribute to “chanson française”, because the lyric, the poetry, is as important as the rest of the song. Anyway, to respond to your question, so long as they enjoy the music, it doesn’t matter to me how the public perceives me. I think the truth is that when I sing a bossa, or anything else for that matter, I do so with a certain obvious jazz sensibility. That won’t change, because the influence is so deep – it is my musical foundation, what everything else is built upon. And I will always be honored to be considered a jazz artist. But it doesn’t mean I won’t keep building bridges to other styles.

Q9: Do you have any favorite Brazilian bossa nova artist?
A very, very difficult question. There are so many: Joao Gilberto, Milton Nascimento, Ivan Lins. I suppose I have to say Elis Regina. I adore her, her versatility, her incredible energy, as present when she is quiet as when she screams. And her mastery. She was a virtuoso of voice. Actually, when people ask me who my favorite singers are, its her and Sarah.

Q10: Tell us about any future plan.
There is another album in the works, but it is still taking shape. I am continuing to write, so more originals.

Q11: Lastly, do you have any message to Japanese fans?
I am eager to come to Japan and see you all!

- HMV Japan

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