JAMIE SHEW

SPICY CLASSY AND A LITTLE SASSY

Independent label

Jamie Shew, vocals/melodica; Jeremy Siskind, piano; Kait Dunton, Hammond B3/Fender Rhodes; Mike Scott, guitar; Lyman Medeiros, bass/vocals; Mark Ferber, drums; Mario Jose, background vocals.

Vocalist Jamie Shew understands the healing power of music.  When her husband, Roger Shew, passed away from cancer, she became a young widow with a small child to raise.  The grief-stricken woman turned to music and began recording an album.

Jamie Shew earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Washington State University and a master’s degree in vocal performance and jazz studies from Western Michigan University.  She relocated to California accepting a teaching position at Fullerton College for 22 years, conducting courses in vocal jazz styling, improvisation and music theory.

I enjoyed Jeremy Siskind’s original song titled “Each Time” where Shew vocally duets with bassist, Lyman Medeiros.  They have chemistry together. Perhaps they should consider recording an entire album. His warm tones is perfect with hers.  Siskind’s original song is well-written with cute lyrics and a memorable melody.  Shew arranged all the songs on this album and is also a songwriter.

“Enough” is one of her original songs. It’s commercial and funk driven, straying from the mood of this jazz album.  Shew is not an R&B or funk singer, so the vocals were disappointing, but the bass solo by Lyman Medeiros is interesting and jazzy.  Her other self-composed song is called “Letters From You.”  This tune reminds me of a song that Bobbie Gentry might have recorded.  She’s the vocalist who had that big 1968 pop hit record called “Ode to Billie Joe.”  That song was very pop/ country and not jazz.  Shew’s original music confused me, because all the standards that she sings on this album are familiarly arranged in a jazzy way. These songs are outside that genre.

Some of her repertoire includes “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”  She covers Gloria Lynn’s big hit record, “I’m Glad There is You.”  She and the group open with her delightful arrangement of “Invitation” where Jeremy Siskind’s piano accompaniment lays down a groove that’s a little funky and certainly allows Shew to interpret this familiar tune in a very sassy way.   I like the bass line on “All or Nothing at All.”  It makes the tune spicy.  When she doubles the time, it’s a nice surprise. Both of these tunes show off her album’s title, “Spicy Classy and a little Sassy.”  Jamie Shew arranges these songs with consistent groove changes, modulations, and tempo surprises, like on “Ghost of a Chance” when she adds a 6/8 time to the arrangement.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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