KATHY SANBORN

ROMANCE LANGUAGE

Pacific Coast Jazz

Kathy Sanborn, lead vocals/piano/keyboards/composer/backup vocals; Wayne Ricci, trumpet.

Singer, songwriter and pianist, Kathy Sanborn has a smokey tone in her voice and it’s warm and inviting.  She has written every song on this album, both music and lyrics. Using only a drum machine and Wayne Ricci on trumpet.  Accompanying herself at the piano, she introduces us to her creative compositions.  The melodies are quite haunting and the ‘hooks’ are catchy, like on the tune “Never Blue.”  There is definitely a songwriting talent here.  In fact, one of her songs has won the American Songwriting Award, a song called “Fantasy” back in 2015. However, if Sanborn hired at least a trio and certainly a jazz pianist, this music could magnify to its full potential.  This album comes across as a songwriter’s demo.

To pump up the tracks, she layers her vocals, creating smooth, lovely harmonies.  Sanborn also has programmed the bass lines along with the drums.  Her musical ideas are simplistic, but they give a great roadmap for a professional group of jazz musicians to expand upon.  That is, if she should choose to let go of the reins and hire seasoned musicians to elevate her songs and talent to the next level. Trumpeter Wayne Ricci does an excellent job of enhancing this simplistic production and putting the ’J” into the jazz theme.

“Sonrisa” a song that speaks about the power of a smile, shows me that she sings in other languages, including Spanish and French. Her music is easy-listening, and her voice is sultry. This is the vocalist’s seventh album release.  Her grooves are hypnotic, a bit like a jazzy Sadé, and her vocals are soothing.  I think with a jazz quartet, this little bird could fly high.

 Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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