Dee Daniel’s State of the Art

Dee Daniels
State of the Art
Criss Cross, 2013

A recording of standards by vocalist Dee Daniels, State of the Art on Criss Cross Jazz is not neophyte music bending the boundaries of genre but rather a solid statement of mature personal artistry.

The great thing about Daniels is her sound – unique, dark and warm – and it fills every track. Her tone emanates from deep within her torso, her heart to be exact. Her voice is so enchanting that the words she sings almost don’t matter. Almost, but she does respect the lyric. Her inflections don’t ignore the songwriter’s words – they add color, spirit and soul. Daniels embodies the music, the sound becomes flesh. 

Because the repertoire of standards is so familiar, listeners are free to marvel at the evergreen youthfulness and world wise breadth of Daniels’ life experience in her interpretation. She was belting jazz from the Seattle Opera House stage way back in 1974, circling the globe on her talent as she grew. Over the span of her ascending musical life, the sound of her distinct gracious voice spread to stages in Europe, Asia, and South America. 

The generosity evident in her tone and delivery spills over to the dedication she devotes to students. She’s the artistic director of the annual DeMeiro Jazz Fest in Edmonds, Washington, founded the Dee Daniels Vocal Jazz Workshop in Sitka, Alaska, and has a Jazz Vocal Scholarship in her name at Capilano University, North Vancouver, BC, Canada, and will serve as an Adjunct Professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, New York.

After listening to State of the Art, I found myself singing “The Summer Wind” around the house and scrolling back several times to hear Daniels’ slowed down ballad version of the typically up-tempo “Cherokee.” With such a beautiful voice, why not take your time? In an era of increasing distraction and decreasing attention span, Daniels voice opens a door to savoring the act of listening here and now.

– Steve Griggs

Syrinx Effect’s Snail Songs

Syrinx Effect
Snail Songs
2014

Among the many young ensembles creating action-packed music within Seattle’s productive jazz and creative music scene, the Syrinx Effect is a standout. Playing (usually) without a rhythm section, the soprano sax and trombone duo draws propulsive energy from the air like a wind turbine. The group’s second release, out in April, channels that energy into a tuneful and confident set of composed pieces, making Snail Songs a nicely contrasting pair with last year’s gnarly and sweet, a set of unvarnished free improvisations. 

In fact, the Syrinx Effect seems to be all about the nicely contrasting pairs – Kate Olson’s sky-bound reeds with Naomi Siegel’s gently loping trombone, the group’s double commitment to both improvised and composed music, the two halves of their acoustic palette, which augments the duo’s live playing with samples and looped duplicates of themselves. 

In the new recording, all of these pairings make for a fluid dance, in which sax and trombone slither in and out of the musical foreground, set against an electronic continuo of echoes and loops. (The effect is often as if Pauline Oliveros had been the third member of Jimmy Giuffre’s late 50s trio with Bob Brookmeyer.)

Moods on Snail Songs range from bouncy to becalmed, and generally more sweet than gnarly. Olson’s lovely “Respired by” has Siegel stretching out in a breathy, bluesy solo, then slowly building up a buzzing, didgeridoo-like drone, before both players come together for the tune’s main theme. In Siegel’s graceful closer, “Lonesome and the Moonbuggy,” a gently swinging duet gradually dissolves into a sun-drenched pool of prismatic harmonies.

Both Siegel and Olson are members of several other ticket-worthy performing groups (including Wayne Horvitz’s Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble), so there is no shortage of opportunities to catch performances of these rising lights of the Seattle jazz scene. But a Syrinx Effect gig is worth seeking out on its own.

– Jonathan Lawson

Other recent releases

Dawn Clement’s Tempest

Dawn Clement
Tempest/Cobalt
2013

With a live band Clement calls Tempest – Clement (lead vocals/keys), Johnaye Kendrick (background vocals/keytar), Isaac Castillo (guitar/background vocals), Ryan Burns (moog bass/keys), and Jacques Willis (drums) – Tempest / Cobalt is a ten-track collection of elegantly crafted contemporary pop songs. Airy vocals, lush harmonies and pensive lyrics create a dreamlike landscape and reflect on human themes such as redemption, struggle and love. A release party performance features the group at the Royal Room, June 18, with Jacques Willis’ Bubble Control opening.

Eric Barber Metrilodic Feel It Give Way

Eric Barber’s Metrilodic
Feel It Give Way
2014

Recorded live at the Blue Moon Tavern, Seattle, between January and June 2013, by Steve Kennedy-Williams, this recent Metrilodic release captures the live, in-the-now spirit of Barber’s instant compositions and improvisations with bassist PK and drummer Byron Vannoy.