Rhode Island Newspaper Group

Thursday, November 4, 2004

Ann Austin debuts promisingly with the elegant

“Lost in Your Eyes”

 

Last August, Austin had a simple conversation with reknown jazz pianist John Harrison III. Well, one thing led to another, which led to another and Austin found herself in the recording studio: PBS Studios in Westwood , Mass. , to be specific, with engineer Peter Kontrimas. "Little did I realize the adventure I was about to embark on," says Ann in the liner notes. The adventure, and the satisfaction derived from that adventure, is evident from the first few grooves of Ann's debut disc, Lost In Your Eyes .

 

Of the eleven cuts on Lost In Your Eyes , Austin penned four, including the opening track, the bittersweet "Tell Me Not to Love You." Beginning with the classy piano work of Harrison , the song introduces Austin 's MO: strong vocals, lots of melody, and poignant songs about love, love lost, and hearts getting broken. Another original, the title track, treads provocatively between love and heartbreak. "I may be right, I may be wrong," she sings, "How do I belong in your life? Though I ache for your touch / Your love could be too much."

 

Thanks to great performances from Harrison and the band-which also includes Mark Pucci, Paul Good, and Rusty Russo-Austin's originals stand toe to toe with the covers on the album. There's a sweet rendition of the Stevie Wonder tune "Lately," a spicy version of the standard "Black Coffee," and a bluesy take on Rudy Stevenson's "Ain't No Use." Austin even takes Sting's "Fragile" for a whirl.

 

Harrison 's arrangements manage to illuminate rather than overshadow Austin 's vocals, with his piano dancing deftly around her and the rhythm section, keeping tempo without forcing Austin out of her comfort zone. As it is on his own brilliant material, Harrison 's vision for Austin is spot on and his guidance of the sessions has undoubtedly brought out the best of everyone involved.

 

Whatever the material, Austin sings with strength and passion. She's got powerhouse pipes that can turn a sad song blue and a blue song indigo. That she's able to infuse her song with smart, deeply wrought lyrics turns Lost In Your Eyes into an accomplished debut.

 

Recorded for the fast-growing and impeccably tasteful Whaling City Sound label, the album is without a doubt a welcome addition to the imprint's catalog.

 

 

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

 

 

Ann Austin - LOST IN YOUR EYES:   Debut CD's are always (either) a drag or pure joy! Ms. Austin's initial release, fortunately for your ears, falls in the latter category. Her vocals on the lovely title track will make you feel the blues ( & if you can't feel 'em after listening to her down-home rendition of this original composition; that get-down feeling is also most prominent on track 3, Ann's cover of Rudy Stevenson's "Ain't No Use." I suppose it's that picture of the FORD (pickup truck) that makes me think this is one "real" lady, but I can tell you that what actually creates that impression (more than anything else) is the passion for life & the living in her vocals. Ann handles the covers very well, too, but (as always) for me, it is the originals that bring the energy levels to high! The music has strong jazz orientation, but what shines through more than anything else is that any listener who loves a bit o' fire & spark will dig this! Ms. Austin has some strong players with her, too... Mark Pucci's acoustic bass, Paul Good's guitars, Rusty Russo's drums, & John Harrison III's keyboards all blend very nicely to support her spirited singing flawlessly. This is a great recording that will give your ears (& your heart) many hours of pleasure in (repeated) listening. A definite keeper , I give this a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, & advise that you keep your ears on Ms. Austin's future recordings. Contact via the site at www.whalingcitysound.com or via e-mail to @whalingcitysound.com   

 

Dick Metcalf, aka Rotcod Zzaj

Prime perpetrator & Incipient Instigator

Zzaj Productions & Improvijazzation Nation

www.homemademusic.com/~zzaj

http://home.comcast.net/~rotcod

Home phone: 360-438-9299

 

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

 

 

Lost In Your Eyes

Ann Austin | Whaling City Sound

Cape Cod-based vocalist Ann Austin sounds blue collar, blue jeans, with an unaffected and straightforward delivery and pipes with some power when she needs it. Throw in the occasional world-weariness and an underlying toughness—tinted with vulnerability—and she sounds like a lady who sings in a bar somewhere—and does it very well, exploring themes of love, longing, love lost, problems with love.

 

The “love themes” might sound country & western, but Austin 's gig is more straight-on popular songs with a soulful side to them. On “Ain't No Use” I'm reminded of Aretha, as Austin sings with emotion and power in front of the band's bluesy backing. On “Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You, Baby)”—done orignally by British songstress Lulu—Austin sounds resolved to the fact that she's head over heels with someone who, perhaps, doesn't return the feeling. Stevie Wonder's “Lately,” arranged with a shuffling groove and John Harrison III's erudite piano, has an elegant sheen. If Austin sings in blue jeans, Harrison plays in a tuxedo, which is a dynamic that contributes greatly to the success of the sound.

 

Austin penned four of the songs here, and if she's a fine vocalist, she's a better tunesmith. The title cut, “Lost in Your Eyes,” and “Can't Erase You From My Heart” seem perfect vehicles for coverage by other songstresses, with strong and engaging melodies and intelligent everywoman lyrics.

A strong debut. Now let's hear some covers of Austin 's originals.

Visit Ann Austin on the web at www.annaustin.com .

~ Dan McClenaghan

 

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

 

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=15491

Column: Nights at the Turntable

Vocalists 2004 C. Michael Bailey Posted: 2004-11-22

Ann Austin

Lost in Your Eyes

Whaling City Sound 024

 

Ann Austin possesses a straightforward, muscular vocal style that would have been as at home in the rock arena as it is in the jazz. Back by a standard piano-guitar quartet, Ms. Austin's powerful vocals steer pianist John Harrison's arrangements through an earthy collection of jazz and blues. Austin blows off the slate with her composition “Tell Me Not To Love You” which features some nifty post-bop drumming by Rusty Russo. The blues “Ain't No Use” is given a humid, austere reading, reaching into the song's blues roots. “Black Coffee” and “Ballad of the Sad Young Men” reach backwards into the songbooks of Peggy Lee and Anita O'Day, repositioning the tunes perfectly for reconsideration. Ms. Austin's vocals are so strong and so potent that it took as bright a band as she has to pull off this recording. Paul Good provides the piquant guitar that spices this recording.

 

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

 

Confirmed Radio Airplay

 

Station City State

 

WGBH Public Radio 89.7FM Boston MA

WRBB-FM 104.9 Boston MA

WMVY-FM West Tisbury MA

WOMR-FM 91.9 Provincetown MA

WSMU 91.1FM N. Dartmouth MA

WGBH-FM 89.7 Boston MA

WMEB 91.9FM Orono ME

WRTC 89.3 Hartford , CT

WVOF 88.5 FM Bridgeport CT

WBCX 89.1 FM - The Jazzical Station Gainesville GA

WHCJ 90.3FM Savannah GA

WEMU 89.1FM Ypsilanti MI

KUMD 103.3 Duluth MN

KETR-FM 88.9 Commerce TX

KYOU-FM Greeley, CO

Radio DeLuxe Portland OR

Jazz Excursion Parker CO

KCME- 88.7 FM Colorado Springs CO

CBC, JAZZ BEAT WESTMOUNT Canada

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Montreal PQ Canada

Radio Universitária do Minho Braga Portugal

20

 

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

 

Featured Artist: Ann Austin

CD Title: Lost In Your Eyes

Year: 2004

Record Label: Whaling City Sound

Style: Jazz Vocals

Musicians: Ann Austin (vocals), John Harrison III (piano), Paul Good (guitar), Mark Pucci (bass), Rusty Russo (drums)

Review: Ann Austin is recording her first CD at the encouragement of well-known New England pianist John Harrison III, and the result is the introduction of a vocalist with a style of her own…one who defies pigeonholing as she goes for the heart of each song rather than worrying about dividing lines of musical categories. For Austin 's voice is such that she invests each song with such a sense of knowing and wisdom, comparable to the way that the earthiest of blues singers do it. It becomes apparent that she chose the songs of Lost In Your Eyes from the importance they hold for her. In addition to the covers on the CD, Austin wrote four of the songs as well, and they are instructive for the thematic guideposts that she sets up: themes of unrequited love, romance, the fragility of the human spirit, the futility of pretense and loss. In the process, Austin blurs boundaries as she places primary importance on the conveyance of emotions. At times, she sounds as direct as a soul singer on “Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You, Baby),” as heart-wrenching as a blues singer on “Black Coffee,” as existential as Mark Murphy on “Ballad Of The Sad Young Men,” or as universal in intent as the best of the pop song writers on Stevie Wonder's “Lately.” And let us now give recognition to Harrison 's arrangements that let Austin explore the meaning of each of the songs while he provides their harmonic basis and sets up their atmosphere.

Austin 's voice is the most unforgettable component of Lost In Your Eyes, a burnished alto of contained force that saves its volume for the infrequent crescendos or high points of musical drama within the lyrics. As effective as her voice may be, its most obvious strength is its versatility, with its ability to make each song memorable and not a repetition of someone else's interpretation.

Her own lyrics fit right into the pattern of heartfelt lyrics, honest in their communication of hurt or longing: “Tell me what's in your heart/So this romance can have a proper start/Or must I forever be lost in your eyes?” Or “Tell me not to love you anymore./Tell me just to walk right out that door./Tell me that you hold no love for me./Tell me that you're happy to be free./I can't let you go from my heart./I can't let you go from my mind./You're still tearing my world apart/'Cause I still think of you as mine.” The same undercurrent of hurt and sadness continues on Sting's song, which receives an expressive introduction from Harrison : “On and on the rain will fall/Like tears from a star/Like tears from a star./On and on the rain will say/ How fragile we are.”

But Austin ends Lost In Your Eyes on an upbeat note, her own “Cha Cha Blues,” sounding somewhat like “Hey Big Spender” with its air of defiance and coquetry. By the time the last track is sung, it's evident that Ann Austin is a singer with a lot to say, and we wonder where she's been all these years.

Tracks: Tell Me Not To Love You, Oh Me Oh My, Ain't No Use, Once Upon A Time, Lost In Your Eyes, Lately, I Can't Erase You From My Heart, Black Coffee, Fragile, Ballad Of The Sad Young Men, Cha Cha Blues

Record Label Website: http://www.whalingcitysound.com

Artist's Website: http://www.AnnAustin.com

Reviewed by: Don Williamson

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

 

Ann Austin  -    Lost In Your Eyes    4/3

O's Notes: She opens with a bossa nova beat on "Tell Me Not To Love You". Ann's voice carries her emotions though the lyrics especially on "Oh Me Oh My". There's a taste of blues with soulful guitar from Paul Good on "Ain't No Use". Those themes are repeated with sharp lyrics over a nice mix of originals and standards that she makes her own, especially on "Lately" and "Black Coffee". It grew on us with repeated listening.

 

 

D. O scar Groomes

O's Place Jazz Newsletter

P.O. Box 2437

Naperville , IL 60567-2437

http://www.OsPlaceJazz.com

 

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

 

• 

•  Sunday, December 12, 2004

• 

•  "Lost in Your Eyes" (Whaling City Sound)

•  Ann Austin.

•  With a big voice and an even bigger grasp of song, Austin offers a set that includes wonderful versions of Stevie Wonder's "Lately" and Sting's "Fragile." She even does "Black Coffee" without lapsing into cliche. A real treat.

•  Three stars

 

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

RUM 95.5 Portugal i http://www.rum.pt/ Turntable

Programas

CD-Rum

:: quarta, 15 de dezembro:: 11:50

SÓ JAZZ

Na próxima edição de "sÓJAZZ" , SEXTA- FEIRA DIA 17 de Dezembro entre as 22h e as 24h destaque para na primeira hora passagem do Cd "Lost in your eyes" da prometedora cantora Ann Austin ,editado pela Whaling city sound. È o seu

primeiro trabalho discográfico mas com um começo de carreira brilhante.

A não perder de vista!

Na segunda hora , destaque para u ma entrevista com um dos saxofonistas mais criativos da cena jazz portuguesa- Rodrigo Amado , a propósito do trabalho lançado na Clean Feed dos Lisbon Improvisation Players onde pontifica Rodrigo Amado. O jazz contemporâneo a marcar presença no panorama da música feita em Portugal .

o Programa tem reedição quarta- feira dia 22 entre as 2h e as 4h da manhã.

José Carlos Santos

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

 

CD Review/Ann Austin

''Lost In Your Eyes''/ Whaling City Sound024

First, it's always nostalgic to review an artist from my roots. And,

seeing the name Peter Kontrimas, a bass player extraordinaire as well as consummate recording engineer, (& my friend too!).............And, the nice moments I remember playing keyboard with bass colossus, Mark Pucci.........Makes the whole process of writing this review a study in warmth. So, on to the frosting.........Vocalist, Ann Austin!! This is essential listening for those concerned in capturing the rich & varied strains of both insightful & introspective tunes within The American Songbook. Therefore. I relegate my readers to Ann's wonderful & poignant original, ''I Can't Erase You From My Heart.'' I sense here a song written as an autobiography, but I feel Ann catches succinctly the heartache some of us have felt about lost love, etc. Austin's vocal earthiness is a fine counterpoint to her sidemen, (under the capable hands of keyboard giant John Harrison III).............All these musical craftsmen Back her up with great balance, variety, animation, & dash. Massachusetts does it again!!

George W. Carroll/The Musicians' Ombudsman

 

 

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

Whaling City Sound

Review by Thom Jurek

Rating ****

First recordings by promising jazz vocalists, those who display perfect pitch and the ability to imitate the great stylists and standards of yesteryear, are a dime a dozen. Fine singers, who bring something new to classic material and write their own songs, are rare. A singer in the full of life who showcases these latter talents full throttle on a debut is extraordinary. Massachusetts singer and songwriter Ann Austin is just that. Her first outing, the wonderful Lost in Your Eyes , is an exercise in panache, earthy elegance, and personal style from start to finish. In her clean throaty contralto, she throws notions of detached cool to the wind as she provocatively and originally interprets canon material, vernacular pop songs, and contributes four fine originals. Expressively Austin as a vocalist posses the immediacy and complexity of a Laura Nyro , though her jazz chops are sharp, hip, and marvelous. Austin 's voice carries within it an emotional honesty and expressiveness that is refreshing and soulful in its openness. Accompanied by fine quartet led by pianist/arranger/composer John Harrison III , Austin approaches jazz songbook material like "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" with an empathy that is startling. Accompanied only by Harrison , one can hear the grain of her voice, the poetic lyric become a nearly visual paean to the passage of time and youth, a poignant hymn to mortality that carries within it sorrow, reverie, and acceptance. Her reading of Stevie Wonder 's "Lately," with Harrison 's bossa arrangement and guitarist Paul Good 's shimmering tropical vamp, brings out the intricacies in the melody and the sense of panic and loss in the lyric. Mark Pucci 's bass line introduces Sonny Burke 's "Black Coffee," dressed stylishly in drummer Rusty Russo 's high-hat whisper. Austin follows Harrison into the verse and it's all want, all pain, all bewildered, thwarted love; it comes straight from the pit of the belly and aches without apology. The same goes for Jim Doris ' "Oh Me Oh My," where the halting grace in the song's verse expresses a kind of need that's unsettling. When she lets that feeling loose, the raw desire that expresses the notion "love has no pride" is pasted Technicolor in the heart of the listener. As evidenced by her version of Rudy Stevenson 's "Ain't No Use," and her own "Cha Cha Blues," Austin can also belt the blues with the authority of a Bonnie Raitt . But it's on her self-penned songs such as "Tell Me Not to Love You," the title track, and "I Can't Erase You From My Heart" where the true measure of her poetic talent is felt. Vocally and stylistically she straddles the cracks between jazz and pop like a dancer moving through a crowd on a parquet floor. Her words are economical, never trite, never anything less than painstakingly honest. Austin 's sensual instrument comes from the body; it is the voice of experience. Calling her a torch singer is a constraint, because the deep passion for life that comes ringing from these tunes — all better heard than written about here — expresses uncommon emotional commitment to the material, yet is utterly free of the artifice. There is no chanteuse/victim on Lost in Your Eyes . This singer willingly owns her stuff in her material and speaks to it through the contributions of other songwriters. Lost in Your Eyes is a singular first effort from an enigmatic, sophisticated talent.

 

 

MIXED MEDIA 20 Lockmere Road Cranston RI 02910 401.942.8025

 

Harrison , Austin collaborate for

'Lost in Your Eyes'

By SEAN McCARTHY, Standard-Times correspondent

Singer Ann Austin teamed up with pianist and arranger John Harrison III on her first project for Whaling City Sound.

John Harrison III has done it again.

For the ninth time the talented pianist has produced a top-notch record -- this time for the New Bedford label Whaling City Sound.

The CD is the classy debut of Ann Austin, "Lost In Your Eyes."

The 11-song CD ranges from champagne to whiskey -- elegant jazz to smoldering blues. It is a compilation of four of Ms. Austin's songs and a selection of tunes previously recorded by artists such as Sting and Stevie Wonder. The theme of the record is the joys and sorrows of love.

"It didn't take a while for me to want her on my label," says Neil Weiss, president of Whaling City Sound. "Her voice and her performance are on a par with anything else I've heard."

Mr. Harrison and Mr. Weiss previously teamed to release Mr. Harrison's "Roman Sun," the biggest selling release on Whaling City Sound.

"We originally intended this to be an independent release, but when Neil wanted it we were eager to go with him," Mr. Harrison says. "We got a record deal right out of the gate."

As well as doing the production, Mr. Harrison found the musicians and studio to record the album as well as doing the arranging for each song.

"In one person I got the whole package," Ms. Austin says.

"John's demands for quality are very high, so he's unlikely to produce something that isn't very strong," Mr. Weiss says.

"This is an honest album in the sense that it's very relaxed and balanced," Mr. Harrison says. "Nobody really stands out.

"My intention was to capture the intensity of the acoustic instruments -- the acoustic piano, acoustic bass and drums, as well as some older jazz guitar.

"Before we even started recording, I knew what the project should sound like, so I put the right people in the right seats and let them do what they do."

And the decision for the lyrics was as important as the music.

"We really considered the emotional content of the lyrics," Harrison says. "They had to mean something to Ann.

"The songs also had to fit her voice, and we didn't want to use any overdone songs. We also wanted songs that fit well with her own pieces."

This was the first time that Ms. Austin had professionally recorded her own songs.

"For Ann this was like taking classes in studio performance," Mr. Harrison says. "She learned about the inner workings of a studio and what she can expect from her voice. Now she's more aware of what can happen in a studio."

And what can happen coincidently.

Harrison and Austin met in the summer of 2003, when they were playing separately on Cape Cod . As they began talking, Ms. Austin mentioned that she had interest in doing some recording.

"I told her that's what I do," Mr. Harrison says. "I thought she had a great voice and that we would be a good fit."

As the Cape Cod summer passed and the tourists retreated, the two had a better chance to collaborate.

By this summer "Lost In Your Eyes" was in record stores and on radio stations. The result has been positive reviews from around the country.

Mr. Harrison, 53, lives in New Bedford . He teaches jazz piano at UMass Dartmouth.

The 46-year-old Ms. Austin resides in Monument Beach , Mass.

"I often write about feelings," Ms. Austin says. "I try to write about emotions. I would like it if someone heard one of my songs and thinks 'Oh, I feel that way.'"

"You get the impression that she feels what she sings," Mr. Weiss says.

Listeners will likely have an opportunity to hear more of Ms. Austin's songs in the future.

"I'm currently writing a follow-up album that will contain mostly my own songs," she says.

And some of those songs can be heard this January when Mr. Harrison and Ms. Austin perform Wednesday nights at Freestone's City Grill in downtown New Bedford from 7 to 10 p.m.

This story appeared on Page C3 of The Standard-Times on January 2, 2005 .

           

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