Album Notes

Colleen Savage has been known and loved by Vancouver jazz audiences for over two decades. From concert stages to packed and sweaty rhythm and blues joints she has demonstrated versatility and durability in an ever-changing music market. “I am a veteran! I hope that shows.” Music writer have called her 'soulful and inventive,' 'dynamic,' and 'a standout.' In recent years, she been known to a large number of jazz fans across Canada as the singer in the Vancouver quintet 'Mother of Pearl.' These days she is a regular performer, a teacher and a vocal ensemble leader. Now - 'Hallelujah' – she presents her first, her own CD. For her rhythm section, Colleen teams up with three of Vancouver's most highly regarded jazz players – Ron Johnston on piano, Dave Guiney on bass, and Craig Scott on drums. Colleen's roots are showing in the choices she made about material for this project. “As a doo-wopping teenager in Winnipeg's North End, that joyful Rhythm and Blues feeling was an actual life force for me. I owe that music a lot of my joy.” From that late fifties to early sixties period come Jon Hendricks’s 'Yeh, Yeh' and Ray Charles's 'Hallelujah! I Love Him So,' with the fabulous vocal treatment created by the Double Six of Paris and arranged here by Ron Thompson, and beautifully executed by singers from Capilano College. Some favourite jazz standards including Harold Arlen's “Let's Fall in Love” and the evocative “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans” as well as a stirring shuffle-grooved blues “Someone Else is Steppin' In,” are all given a perky new treatment by legendary Vancouver bassist and arranger Paul Ruhland. Says Colleen “Paul has the taste and the authentic grasp of jazz to bring out all the beauty in a classic. So I asked him to create the Ellington medley as well.” Here pianist Ron Johnston and sax and clarinet man Mike Braverman bring their love of Ellington to the fore. Thelonius Monk's “Ask Me Now” restates that angular and unexpected beauty, here with Colleen's original lyric. Original completely is “From the Heart,” a klesmer flavoured, cabaret styled composition by friend, Canadian singer and songwriter Candace Carnie. “She must have been listening to Hildegard Knef, too,” says Colleen. “I discovered the wonderful tune “Music in the Air” through the fabulous Jon Hendricks.” He recorded several tunes by Gigi Gryce, aka Qusim Basheer. They all playful and brilliant (‘Social Call,’ ‘Minority’). “It's the challenging bebop one for me. I loved trading with Craig.” “I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry” and “Our Day will Come” are both tunes that simply keep calling. “ I think songs choose you. What a fate!”