JULIET EWING

SIMPLY ‘S WONDERFUL, THE MAGIC OF GERSHWIN

HoneyDiva Music/ Lexicon Classics

Juliet Ewing, vocals; Ron Drotos & Tedd Firth, piano; David Finck, bass; Mark McLean, drums.

Juliet Ewing opens with a swinging rendition of “S Wonderful.”  I immediately know this is a lady whose voice has graced the stages of musical theater and possibly Broadway.  When I picked up her publicist’s ‘one-sheet’ I discovered I was correct.

Ms. Ewing is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater.  She has toured extensively with Broadway shows, often landing the lead roles in regional theaters for shows like Footloose, 42^nd Street, Crazy for You and Kiss Me Kate.

For nearly 300 international performances, Juliet Ewing performed the awesome music of George and Ira Gershwin in the musical Crazy for You.  That greatly influenced this current project where she celebrates the Gershwin’s legendary repertoire of unforgettable music.

Currently based in New York City, she’s a regular performer at prestigious venues such as Jazz on Main and Winnie’s Jazz Bar.

On this album, she performs songs we know and love like “Our Love is Here to stay” as a medley combined with “They Can’t Take that Away from Me.”   She adds the introductory verses to these Gershwin gems on tunes like “I’ve Got a Crush on You.”

She is accompanied by a trio of solid musicians with Ron Drotos accompanying her on piano for most of the album and Mark McLean pushing the music forward on his tasty trap drums.  Mark takes a brief solo on the up-tempo arrangement, “Oh, lady Be Good.”

David Finck opens the tune “Slap That Bass,” and accompanies the vocalist as a duet.

The one tune that deviates from the recognizable Gershwin standard is “Summertime” where the trio employs an arrangement and Ewing adds some improvised melody that differs slightly from the original.  All the arrangements are by Ron Drotos, except two songs arranged by Tedd Firth, “The Man I Love” and “The Lorelei.”  Juliet Ewing offers us a night at the theater on disc.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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