It's immediately obvious that Taeko has surrounded herself with quality talent. For instance, her vocal coach Juanita Fleming who has shapen this native of Japan, Kaeto was born on the outskirts of Kyoto and was raised speaking Japanese, into a creative singer whose voice yields few, if any, clues to her heritage.

VOICE - her second full length CD, like her debut One Love, offers a wide variety of tunes to help accent her impressive range from line to line. This is smoooooth contemporary jazz with crystal clear execution.  From songs of Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Marvin Gaye, and Duke Ellington Taeko adds traditional Japanese folk tunes all performed in her distinctive style.

Track listing:

Cantaloupe Island
I Mean You
Soochow Serenade
Inner City Blues
On A Clear Day
Spring Nocturne
Infant Eyes
Biwako
Sugar
I Didn't Know About You
Stand!
Biwako (English version)

That distinctive style of vocals works for me, I can picture enjoying Taeko either at an outdoor evening concert, or perhaps in an intimate lounge setting.   My favorite tracks are the funky Cantaloupe Island, her uptempo sassy rendition of On A Clear Day, and I Didn't Know About You.  The only shortcoming I can find is Spring Nocturne, not the piece or the delivery, but its shortness of length.  Taeko's website is http://www.songbirdtaeko.com where you can learn more about this New York based artist. Voice was just released this month on Flat Nine Records.

Comments

Add a Comment

Comments:



Please confirm the characters in the above image: