Johnny Mercer
Johnny Mercer's lyrics still define how jazz singers tell a story: conversational, witty and shot through with Southern colour, from torch laments to swing anthems and Hollywood standards that refuse to age.
He wrote words for more than a thousand songs. With Harold Arlen he found a blues grain in Come Rain or Come Shine, That Old Black Magic and Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive. With Henry Mancini came Moon River and Days of Wine and Roses. Mercer liked the melody first, then fitted lines that could pun, paint scenery or ride a train whistle. Singers keep returning to I'm Old Fashioned, Tangerine and And the Angels Sing because the words sit so naturally in the mouth. He recorded many of them himself, with a folksy ease that made the lyric sound half spoken, half sung.
Compositions by Johnny Mercer appear on
Home
Pianist Tony Gould and singer Emma Gilmartin offer intimate voice-and-piano readings of cherished songs, including three Gould originals, centred on home, family and childhood memory.
Bossa Eyes
Laid-back jazz vocals drift over bossa and samba grooves in a programme inspired by Antônio Carlos Jobim. Familiar standards sit beside originals on an acoustically open set that favours space, lyric and a gentle Latin pulse.
Songe
Emma Gilmartin’s follow-up to her collaboration with Tony Gould, Tomorrow, just you wait and see, is a poised jazz vocal set: standards, two of her own songs, and a clear, understated delivery.
Little Wing: Standards Inspired by Angels
Tried-and-true jazz standards fashioned around the theme of angels. Vocalist Debra Blaquiere is joined by award-winning pianist Joe Chindamo and bassist Philip Rex.
I Can Tell The World
Saucy Purcell rounds, madrigals, drinking songs, spirituals and English folk settings from one of Australia's finest choirs, directed by Douglas Lawrence.
Just For The Record
Renowned jazz singer Linda Cable gathers moody ballads and up-tempo standards in a polished set that moves from cool and slinky to full swing.