Album Notes

Review by Scott Yanow, LA Jazz Scene

Based in the San Francisco Bay area, Lori Carsillo has a simple and direct delivery, a coolly sensuous voice, and an improvising style that is quite subtle. Her choice of notes is excellent, she swings at all tempos and the ten songs that she picked for her debut recording are all superior.

For this set, Carsillo is joined by a variety of lesser-known but talented Bay Area musicians including guitarist Dave Mac Nab, keyboardist Michael Bluestein, cellist Robin Bonnell and Eric Crystal on tenor, with Robby Virus playing the spooky-sounding theremin on a couple numbers. Among the songs that the singer interprets are Nat Adderley's "The Old Country," "Where Flamingos Fly," Peggy Lee's "Some Cats Know" and Billie Holiday's "Left Alone" along with such standards as "Skylark," "Falling In Love With Love," "O Grande Amor" (sung in Portuguese) and "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To."

Although she studied for five years with the great Kitty Margolis, to Lori Carsillo's credit, she sounds nothing at all her like her teacher, developing a quiet and appealing style of her own. Her debut is highly recommended, and available from www.loricarsillo.com and www.amazon.com. One suspects that a lot more is going to be heard from Lori Carsillo in the future.

More about Lori Carsillo

Lori Carsillo is a talented vocalist who is fast becoming a noted presence on the Bay Area jazz scene. With a unique combination of sweetness, sauciness and soulfulness, Carsillo brings to jazz a colorful style that is distinctly her own. Her repertoire, which has been praised by musicians and non-musicians alike, consists of tunes we all know and love, and introduces us to songs that should not be forgotten. Through these songs, she evokes a world of beauty and pathos. This world entices her audience to discover, along with her, the sorrow of heartbreak, the joy of a new love, the hopefulness of springtime. Always genuine, always swinging, it's no wonder that she's quickly built up a devoted following.