Summertime
Cry Me A River
Little White Lies
Beautiful Love
Our Love Is Here To Stay
DAVID PRICE & MARALYN – SWING/JAZZ DUO
DAVID & MARALYN are currently having a great deal of success with their duo which specialises in music of the Swing period during the 1930s and 1940s, including Maralyn’s favourite, Billie Holiday. The Duo features vocals from Maralyn and David, guitar, banjo and a pre-recorded piano/bass/drums rhythm section which combined, sounds like a swing quartet.
For versatility, the Duo also plays music from the period of 1920s to 1950s, Latin American numbers, Broadway musicals and jazz all presented with a touch of humour and for the more discerning, anecdotes and points of historical interest are included.
PERFECT FOR SMALL VENUE – RESTAURANT – U3As – RECEPTIONS – etc.
Here’s a review
Swing with David Price and Maralyn CD
Many in the BMG will know David Price as a fine exponent of plectrum banjo, but who would have guessed he would be just as comfortable on mellow jazz guitar? Yet here he is on a new CD, working with vocalist Maralyn on a selection of 16 numbers ranging from bouncy swing to smoky ballads.
David has a very melodic approach to jazz and there is always a lovely sense of line, whether he is actually playing the tune, or filling in behind Maralyn’s vocal, or taking a full improvised solo. Of course he knows his altered scales and his extended chords, but he uses them discreetly and sparingly and as the servants of the melody, not the masters in the spirit of Stephane Grappelli’s dictum that before you go off into a flight of jazz fancy, you should first “expose nicely the tune”. I think his playing on “Cute” and on the Rodgers and Hammerstein number “Dancing on the Ceiling” exemplifies all this very well, and for an example of how well the guitar and vocals work together, just listen to how neatly they dance around each other on “S’Wonderful”.
As for the other half of the duo, Maralyn has the gift of singing jazz songs in a jazz voice that is also her own voice. This sounds simple, but it isn’t! Especially not if you are from this side of the Atlantic, and even more so if you are covering songs by such an enormous and distinctive presence as Billie Holiday. Maralyn manages this balancing act without apparent effort, easily mingling British and American vowel sounds, and easily mingling ideas from the original recordings with her own authentic vocal delivery. I particularly like her voice at the slower tempos my own favourite on this album being “God Bless the Child”.
Overall. this is a good selection of well-known and also not so well known jazz, confidently and well presented. Hugh Boyd (classical/jazz guitarist/tutor)
