Solo Bass Performance of Jazz & Classical Music and “Songs When We Were Young” February 3, 2008

Program Description
Arlette Beauchamps Jazz Duo
“Songs When We Were Young”, a program created with a duo between bass and voice featuring Jazz-Cabaret singer Arlette Beauchamps and bassist Hilliard Greene when both take the listener down memory lane with songs from the golden 40s’ 60’s and 70’s with songs like “Windmills of my Mind”, “The Theme From Love Story”, “Bali Hai” from South Pacific, or “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music. This show promises to delight the senses as everyone says, “I remember that song!”

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:

Arlette Beauchamps began her singing career at the age of 15 touring with top 40’s bands throughout Europe. At 19, she got her first taste of musical theater in the Los Angeles production of “Evolution of a Woman” starring Nichele Nichols from the original Star Trek Series, and at the same time she discovered Jazz. She has been hooked on both ever since.

At present, Arlette is in the process of reworking one of her own musicals called “Song Therapy” while still singing jazz in Manhattan's jazz clubs. 'Love Again' is her first album…her debut.

Hilliard Greene - Bassist

Hilliard 'Hill' Greene is an extraordinary musician and composer. For the past fifteen years, he has served as bassist and musical director for the great Jimmy Scott and The Jazz Expressions. Notably, Hill has also played and recorded with Dave Douglas, Charles Gayle, Oliver Lake, Cecil Taylor, and Kenny Barron. A rare bassist who not only exemplifies the art of swing through his masterful walking bass lines, Hill Greene also brings something entirely new and fresh to the instrument.
What they say about Arlette Beauchamps
Hot - France

It's a shame that it is not indicated on the cover but there is a chamber orchestra piece ("Moonlight in Vermont") on this album! The voice of Arlette Beauchamps is fresh and lovely. The standards she interprets are very well known but have found again, beneath her voice, the beginnings of their own youth. A beautiful recording, sitting somewhere between jazz and American music with a Sinatra quality.

From All Music Guide

A survivor of the Top 40 pop scene, Arlette Beauchamps has turned to jazz, where her considerable talents are put to far better use. Possessing a crystalline, classically trained, full-bodied mezzo which she never lets go out of control, Beauchamps addresses a song list of 11 classic and traditional pop standards with an elegant delivery, flawless diction, and phrasing with unswerving pitch. Some will hear a similarity to Sarah Vaughan, less the excesses the great one was prone to engage in toward the end of her career. Beauchamps also understands that the best way to carry off the familiar material she has selected is to sing it simply and with feeling. There's minimum of swoops, shouts, and other excess emotional contrivances. She allows the natural purity of her voice to carry the day. Her vocal talents are highlighted by captivating arrangements and the presence of skilled musicians to help her present them. "Round Midnight" is done medium-tempo with bass both fretless and upright, the major backing. Dan Krimm gets in a smooth solo on this cut. In Don Fagerquist fashion, Jothan Callins provides some muted trumpet noodling on such cuts as "Speak Low" and "Love Again." Gary Motley, whose piano anchors the backing for the singer, gets some virtuosic moments along the way, especially on an up-tempo "Let's Do It." Beauchamps' debut album is cabaret's gain and Top 40's loss.

From JazzReview.com - (Jazz at a Glance Vol. 168)

On Arlette Beauchamps’ debut CD, “Love Again,” the newcomer tackles the Great American songbook. She sings 11 standards, staring with Kurt Weill’s “Speak Low” and ending with “Just One of Those Things,” one of four Cole Porter compositions on the album. The others being, “Let’s Do It,” “You Do Something to Me,” and “Love For Sale.”

The mezzo-soprano is a throwback to an era when golden-throated singers invested in good songs and simple arrangements and then trusted their voice. Beauchamps sounds comfortable wrapping herself around the heavyweight song list. Every line she sings is sharp and distinct. Listeners can understand each and every word. Perhaps, this comes out of Beauchamps’ work in musical theater. While the interpretations are classic, the performance is shaded in the hues of the footlights.

On the naughty “Love for Sale,” one can imagine Beauchamps standing on stage, working the song, singing, “Love for sale; Appetizing, young love for sale; Love that’s fresh and still unspoiled; Love that’s only slightly soiled; Love for sale…”

From Jean LaComme

"When I first heard the first bars of Love Again with the beautiful, pure, touching voice and the piano (Gary Motley), I knew I had to buy this album. This is the kind of emotion you won't find often. No scat here, just a very nice voice and great piano backing. On some titles, a full band is included, but I prefer the songs with just the rhythm section, especially Speak Low, Let's do it, Just one of those things."

From All about Jazz

As soon as the first note comes out of her, you know that Arlette Beauchamps has been classically and, with her ability to project, has appeared on the musical stage. For her debut album, Beauchamps has chosen a selection of tunes from the pens of some of the top writers of popular song, delivering them in a variety of instrumental settings. Dan Krimm's fretless bass, pitched to sound like a guitar, is the major backing on "Round Midnight", while through the magic of electronic wizardry, her quintet of musicians has been enhanced to sound like a swinging band on "You Do Something to Me". The muted trumpet, al a Harry "Sweets" Edison or Don Fagerquist, of Jothan Callins is featured on "Speak Low." Ersatz strings come in on a lovely "Moonlight in Vermont." Is electronic gimmickry wonderful or what? ...No one can quarrel with the purity of Beauchamps' voice, the emotional ardor of her delivery or her diction...she has much to offer with the potential to be a real force in the jazz/traditional pop arena."

What they say about Hilliard Greene

The Jazz Expressions, led by Bassist Hilliard Greene, may be the best supporting group currently backing a singer.
--Bob Blumenthal, Boston Globe

“For many decades the bass has ceased to be looked at as an accompaniment instrument entirely. At the same time, very few musicians dare to release solo bass recordings. Bassists like Dave Holland, Eberhard Weber, Barre Phillips and Miroslav Vitous have done that very successfully. Among those, we can add the name Hill Greene with his solo bass recording entitled “Alone”. … Even though the unique virtuosity of Hill Greene can capture the mind of the listener, what really sets him apart is his musicality, passion, and dedication to the art.”
- Vangelis Aragiannis, Ipirotikos Agon – Athens, Greece

As usual, Hill Greene created a resonating musicality, with full focus and emotional pathos...Hill Greene has a bright future as Solo Bassist, Composer, Accompanist, and Music Director.
-- Roberta Zlokower, RobertaOnTheArts.com

“Technically and sonically, Greene’s bass sounds great; his pitch is accurate even during highly technical passages played at breakneck speed, and his sound is deep and clean.”
-John Kennedy – Double Bassist Magazine

...An onslaught of rhythmic accompaniment by Hill Greene...was loud, fast, and visceral. ...[His] work on the upright bass was diverse and committed. On the funk grooves, generally associated with the electric bass guitar, he was convincingly adept, wielding the larger instrument with ease. His solos, whether arco or pizzicato, used the full potential of the instrument, including choral effects and contrivances.
--Richard Mayer, Green Mountain Jazz Messenger

. . . Hilliard Greene, simply one of the best bassists I have ever heard with a singer, can sound like a flamenco guitar one moment and a wailing horn the next.
--Misha Berson, Seattle Times

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