ISABELLA ISHERWOOD

THE SWEETEST SOUNDS

Sabrina Records

Isabella Isherwood, voice/piano; Mike Allemana, guitar; Joe Policastro, bass; Alejandro Salazar, drums.

Here is a twenty-three-year-old vocalist who also plays piano, is an actress, a music director, arranger and conductor for a local theater production company.  She’s even co-founded a small theatrical group. Isabella Isherwood is a Chicago based artist and this is her debut album.  It’s another vocal landscape where the singer has chosen songs from the great American Songbook.

Isabella opens with “Devil May Care” featuring an unusual arrangement that plays with time, using a 5/4 tempo that made me play the tune twice, trying to lock into the groove. Although it’s jazzy and unique, I didn’t ever get comfortable with the production. Even though Mike Allemana’s guitar sounded great, like it was swinging, I just couldn’t find a place to pat my foot. Isabella’s tone is pleasing, but I never felt she established the groove vocally. On the other hand, I enjoyed the title tune arrangement of “The Sweetest Sounds.”

Isabella Isherwood is not a stylist.  That means, she sounds like a hundred other vocalists. That’s not helpful when you are trying to make a mark in the jazz world. For example, once you hear Nancy Wilson, or Nina Simone, Julie London, or Billy Holiday, you will recognize those voices when you hear them again.  That’s a stylist.  Still, she has a lovely tone.

This album was produced by Champian Fulton, who is both a talented vocalist and piano player. Isabella Isherwood is presenting her artistic statement, using classic material to articulate her personal, contemporary voice. Three of the album’s twelve tracks feature intimate duets with individual band members.  For example, “Till There Was You” is performed with just voice and the drums of Alejandro Salazar. The drums are swinging, but I didn’t hear the ‘swing’ in Isherwood’s vocal approach.  At first, I thought she was going to trade fours. This was when she arranged breaks between the lyrics and the drummer’s accompaniment.  But that didn’t happen.  Her lyrical rhythm was all over the place.

Isherwood sounded a lot more comfortable on the pop tune written by Bob Dylan, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”  She also sounds confident, honest and sincere when she sings “My Buddy” with just her piano accompaniment. She is a very competent pianist.

Isabella Isherwood sings “The Song is You” at an extreme pace. The tempo is charged and her musicians clearly enjoyed the challenge. However, the job of the vocalist is to be a storyteller, as well as an instrument.  It’s difficult to tell the story at this speed.  I found this vocalist much more sincere and convincing on her ballads, like “Time Heals Everything” and Amy Winehouse’s tune, “Love is A Losing Game” where she steps back into her comfortable pop vein.

This vocalist tackles the challenging Thelonious Monk composition, “Round Midnight” with only her vocals and the Joe Policastro bass grounding her voice. This is a challenging arrangement for any vocalist. I applaud Isabella’s singing this beautiful song with only bass accompaniment.

They close with the swinging, bluesy “I Love Being here With You” where the band kicks into high gear. Since blues is the root of jazz, every true jazz singer needs to be able to sing the blues. This song was a good choice to end Isabella’s album.  Being a multi-talented individual, the potential is definitely here for this talented vocalist to blossom into a very fine jazz artist.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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