Cynthia Felton Sings Ellington

Cynthia Felton? Ellington? Sings? Yes. Take a singer with the sweetness of a Syreeta Wright, add a sharp musical intelligence, nuance, and terrific interpretation abilities. Then cherry pick some of Ellington's (plus Strayhorn's and Tizol's) most singable songs. What you get is this album. Cynthia Felton has that something that makes a singer worthy of your attention.

We are talking about the CD Come Sunday (Felton Entertainment 0002).

She's backed by a group of notables that include Cyrus Chestnut, Tain Watts, Ernie Watts, Wallace Roney and others, and they give everything the right framework.

She can scat and swing but I especially love her attention to musical detail on the more balladic numbers like "In A Sentimental Mood," "Come Sunday," and "Prelude to A Kiss."

The best singers can do a song that's been done countless of times and find a way to make in sound new. Cynthia Felton has that. And to do Ellington? Oh yes, that's a great idea. This one will speak to anyone. . .who listens. Wow, thanks Ms. Felton.

Pyeng Threadgill Sings the Blues

Originally posted on March 3, 2008

Pyeng Threadgill is a fresh young voice with enough musical energy to wake up your weary ears. She is currently working on her third CD. We take a peek at her first, Sweet Home (Random Chance, recorded 2003). It is a modern tribute to the music of blues pioneer Robert Johnson.

The arrangements are in a contemporary bag and Pyeng’s vocals tend to be oblique compared to a classical blues belt. She finesses, drops herself into a song to ride a tide of turbulence, with one foot in the present, one in the blues past. This is not nostalgia. It is a re-creation for today and thanks to Pyeng’s musical sensibility, it works.