Jane Fuller: Mellow Kicks On Route 66 (live show)... (click for review)
JANE FULLER You're Coming Back Again (Independent)
This is an attractive set by a young and upcoming singer-guitarist. Although most of the songs on this CD are standards, among them 'Black Coffee', 'Route 66' and 'All Of Me', Jane Fuller is also a good songwriter. Three originals by Jane (one of them in collaboration with Laura Hart) appear here and they are by no means shaded by the better-known material. Jane has a light, airy and tuneful voice and she is an able interpreter of lyrics. Accompanied here by a selection of top-flight west coast studio musicians, her debut is not only pleasing but also a portent, I am sure, of even better things to come.
BRUCE
CROWTHER
Jazz Journal
International
JANE FULLER The Spirit of Giving (Independent)
At the risk of sounding Scrooge-like, I have to say that I am not wild about Christmas albums. It is therefore both refreshing and surprising to me to say how much I enjoyed the second of these CDs, released in time for Christmas 2006. Once again, Jane has written most of the songs, but has also included some traditional seasonal songs: 'God Rest You Merry Gentlemen', 'I Saw Three Ships', 'Let There Be Peace On Earth' and 'Silent Night'. Accompanied by highly compatible musicians, she explores the emotional and spiritual aspects of the season with effortless charm. A few years elapsed between these two CDs and Jane's vocal sound shows growth and maturity. High time, surely, for a label to pick this singer up and promote her for all she is worth, which is, I would think, quite a lot.
BRUCE
CROWTHER
Jazz Journal
International
Jane Fuller | Independent
Her girl-next-door persona gives Jane Fuller a debut that's easy to like. Not one to copy, Fuller carries her singing and songwriting beyond established boundaries. Her original pieces, “Gonna Cause Trouble” and “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothes,” take contemporary aim at the jazz singing repertoire. The blues weighs heavily on her soul. Fuller, who lists Peggy Lee and Ernestine Anderson among her vocal influences, delivers her program with a suave texture that allows for ample freedom. Coy and cool, the singer interprets with homespun vitality.
Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah, I Love Her So,” altered here to “Him” for purposes of gender, carries with it a winding country & western landscape upon which pianist Rich Eames adds considerable foliage. Together, Fuller and her sidemen swing steadily. Martin Lund, Lee Thornburg and Dick Mitchell add considerable charm to her debut session with their spirited solo spots.
Keeping her
cool on “Route 66,” Fuller reminds us how much fun it is to recall standards
that gather around us like old friends. And what an old friend Route 66 remains,
since her hometown lies at the western end of that storied trail. From
Vist Jane Fuller on the web for an audio sample of “No Moon at All.”
JIM
SANTELLA
All About Jazz
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/review.php?id=11122