RON DAVIS + LORI CULLEN: So Much

Ron Davis + Lori Cullen

So Much

© 2002 Ron Davis / Lori Cullen (629256022729)

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The amazing Lori Cullen serves up hot jazz vocals in every mood you could possibly conjure up. Ron Davis' trio smokes. If you like jazz you'll LOVE this cd.

tracks

1 The Best Is Yet To Come (C. Coleman & C. Leigh)
2 Eleanor Rigby (J. Lennon & P. McCartney)
3 The Folks Who Live On The Hill (J. Kern & O. Hammerstein)
4 Cherokee (C. Barnet)
5 At 17 (J. Ian)
6 Every Day I Have The Blues (P. Chatman)
7 Little Things (J. Raposo)
8 Gentle Rain (L. Bonfa & M. Dubey)
9 So Much Larger Than Life (Jory Nash)
10 Don't Get Around Much Anymore (D. Ellington & B. Russell)
11 If I Only Had A Brain (H. Arlen & E. Y. Harburg)
12 Two Sleepy People (H. Carmichael & F. Loesser)
13 My Cherie Amour (H. Cosby, S. Moy & S. Wonder)

notes

This album is currently not available on CD BABY.
We suggest you visit www.maplemusic.ca

LORI CULLEN (www.loricullen.com)has been called “one of the local scene's most luminous voices” by The Toronto Sun's John Sakamoto. Lori has been performing and writing her own and other songs since 1992. Sitting somewhere between jazz, folk and pop, echoes of Rickie Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell and Jane Siberry can sometimes be heard, but it all comes out as Lori Cullen. She soaks up everything and gives herself the freedom to be unique.

Lori released her jazz cd So Much with the Ron Davis Trio in the fall of 2002. Lori's first cd of her own songs "Garden Path" (also available at CD Baby)has been received with acclaim by critics and fans. Her talents have been recognized by the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.

The RON DAVIS TRIO (www.rddavis.com) has been called “One of Canada's best undiscovered jazz groups”(CBC's www.dreamstream.ca). The Ron Davis Trio is a piano/ bass/ drum group that moves from hard swing to lyrical balladry in an accessible and crowd-pleasing way. They are a tight-knit unit dedicated to keeping the music fresh and swinging.

Ron Davis (www.rddavis.com) is active on the Toronto jazz scene as a solo and group pianist. Drew Birston is a brilliant bass player with great feel and stage presence. He is in great demand by all kinds of musicians. Drew has toured and played with Chantal Kreviazuk, Kurt Swinghammer and many others. Mark Mariash is well-known for the deeply musical, subtle and infectious drumming. He is always working, as he has worked with the likes of Sara Slean and Patricia O'Callahan.

You can check out Ron's debut CD "Solo Duo Trio" here at CD Baby.

reviews

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  • Warm and intimate
    author: Diane Campbell

    First heard Lori Cullen's rendition of At 17 played on CBC radio about a week ago and had to order the CD from which it came. Love the vocal arrangements throughout this album as well as the Ron Davis Trio's musical stylings. Lori Cullen's voice is both powerful and delicate in all the right places. Listening to this CD gives me the feeling of being in a warm and intimate jazz bar. I hear something new each time I play it.

  • author: CD Baby

    Hot diggety! If I didn't know better, I'd say this is Bjork herself singing hot jazz vocals in every mood you could possibly conjure up to feature that distinctive smoky, sweet and ever-so-delightfully poignant voice. This album caught my attention immediately and held it for the entire duration while I scrambled to pick my jaw up off the floor. If you like Jazz, and especially if you fancy Bjork, you're going to fall in love. Did I mention that the jazz trio is on fire too?

  • Loved it!
    author: Joann Gustafson

    Love this CD! Lori's Cullens' vocals are haunting and Ron Davis provides great solid jazz!

  • Lori Cullen's voice is remarkable-warm and resonant
    author: Monica de Jersey

    Highly recommended. Every aspect is excellent, from Lori Cullen's gorgeous voice to Ron Davis' accomplished piano stylings. I'd recommend it to jazz fans and to those thinking about trying out some jazz.

  • Truely Elegant!
    author: Tobi Gannon

    I first heard Lori Cullen and Ron Davis's version of "Two Sleepy People" on FM 91.1 and I fell in love. I scrambled for paper and pen while driving, to catch the artists names. Lori's voice reminds me of Audrey Hepburn singing "Moon River". A truely elegant album all the way! I'll be looking forward to the next Lori Cullen and Ron Davis Trio album, hopefully soon! I can't get enough!

  • Deceptively Seductive
    author: Martin Mc - Glasgow, Scotland

    I bought this CD on a whim - I didn't know the artists, but the samples sounded pretty good. When it arrived I put it on as background music, not really listening, whilst I worked. Then when the CD finished I felt I'd missed something, so I played it again and *listened*! For most of this album the instruments and vocals are low-key and subtle, smooth and warm, and truely delightful. I'm looking forward to the winter returning so that I can listen to this on a wild night sat by the fire with a good whisky to hand...perfect.

  • A standout album - fresh, innovative, exciting, rewarding.
    author: Baruch Jansch

    So Much is an apt title. This is one excellent CD. It is also one of those recordings that makes a good impression on first hearing and then improves with each listening. The combined talents of The Ron Davis Trio and singer Lori Cullen have come together to produce music of a very high calibre. The talent level is well distributed among all the musicians on this recording. In particular, Ms. Cullen is a gifted singer with a style well suited to jazz singing. Ron Davis is an exciting piano player with loads of ability and musical depth. There is much to recommend here. Ron Davis and friends have now released two CDs in the past year, both with admirable results. All that remains to be said is: Well done. Did I say that this CD is highly recommended?

  • all I can say is wow...
    author: Sarah John

    I've just discovered Lori Cullen the jazz singer and what I've heard so far has amazed me. On "So Much" she has the most exquisitely buttery delivery of these songs and yet there is solid richness in her tone. The chemistry between her and Ron Davis' trio is incredible. I've not heard such an interesting and innovative combination of musicians in a long, long time. Congratulations!

  • Gorgeous!
    author: Toronto Downtown Jazz

    “Gorgeous… exquisitely recorded by Keith Mariash.”

  • Sophisticated and Delicious Performance!
    author: "Mike" Parrot-New London CT

    I got this CD as a fan of Lori Cullen, and am now also a fan of Ron Davis Trio. The perfomance on this CD in a word is Superb. There are not many performances where a high quality Jazz band compliments a sultry, highly talented singer in such a way that both groups end up sounding better than they would alone. It must have something to do with magic in the air. This is in the same league as Dianna Krall's "Live in Paris," Natalie Cole's "Unforgetable With Love," Linda Ronstadt's "'Round Midnight" (with Nelson Riddle), etc. This really suprised me how great it was. It reminds me of sitting in my leather recliner on a snowy day in front of the fireplace sipping on my Fonseca '77 Vintage Port.

  • An inventive aural pleasure.
    author: Steve Baylin - Ottawa Express

    XXXX - Ethereal folk singer/songwriter Lori Cullen and razor sharp swing merchants The Ron Davis Trio get formally acquainted on So Much -- a collection of fresh jazz morsels that soothe and surprise the senses. Packaged smartly in a Brubeck Time Out-like jacket, the crafty Toronto quartet gently massages old standards and unusual fare with style, finesse and poise. And it all seems perfectly natural. Janis Ian’s delicate At 17 takes flight wfth help from guitarist Kevin Barrett; Lennon and McCartney’s Eleanor Rigby is sparse and angular drifting in and out of despair; and Duke Ellington’s Don’t Get Around Much Anymore comes to life as a tasteful, slow-burning piano blues, lightly caressed by Cullen’s sultry voice. An inventive aural pleasure.

  • A significant new voice. Davis is an impressive talent. My only complaint is tha
    author: Shaun Dale

    I first heard Lori Cullen as a guest artists on pianist Ron Davis' album SoloDuoTrio. While I was impressed by the entire album, the two tracks featuring Cullen particularly caught my ear, both for the quality of her vocal performance and for Davis' skill and sensitivity as an accompanist. At the time, I expressed the wish that there was an entire album of the combination available. Sometimes wishes come true in a way that provides even more than you might have wished for. This turns out to be one of those times. So Much provides 13 Lori Cullen vocal performances, a dozen of which include Ron Davis leading his trio (Drew Birston, bass, and Mark Mariash, drums). The exceptions are her interpretation of Janis Ian's "At 17," which features the solo guitar of Kevin Barrett, guitarist Jesse Barksdale's addition to the Trio to accompany "Every Day I Have The Blues" and Davis' solo accompaniment on "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." While the entire supporting cast provides rich reward to the listener, the interaction of Cullen and Davis, either in a duo or group setting, provides most of the album's brightest highlights. Cullen is a relative newcomer to jazz, having spent most of the last decade establishing herself as a singer/songwriter on the Toronto pop and folk circuit. Comparisons to Rickie Lee Jones and Joni Mitchell, though, indicate that there have been 'jazzy' elements of her other performing life as well. At any rate, with the release of So Much she establishes herself as a significant new voice in vocal jazz. Her style avoids the too-common trend for brassy, belting performances, demonstrating an understanding of the value of understatement in the interpretive arsenal. When the material calls for power, Cullen tends to derive it from emotional depth rather than vocal histrionics, which puts her far ahead of the pack, in my view. Davis is an impressive talent in his own right, comfortable in a variety of styles and settings, capable of some inventive and enjoyable solos, but here, as on his last album, he demonstrates remarkable ability as an accompanist, with an unerring sense of time and the ability to say in the brief space of a singer's pause for breath what many players need several bars on their own to express. His approach is an impeccable match for Cullen's style. My only complaint about So Much is that it ends. I wish there were more (hey, it worked the last time...).

  • A totally delightful CD!
    author: Louise Peacock

    This is a delightful CD with wonderful performances all around. Definitely a must have for jazz vocal afficionados....Lori Cullen has a unique voice and is a breath of fresh air in a genre (to my mind) innundated with sultry siren types...the jazz trio is comprised of extremely talented performers, not the least of which is Ron Davis on piano, adding a very special depth to this CD. Makes a great gift for the music lover on your list......

  • Hot diggety!
    author: Tamara Turner, CD Baby

    If I didn't know better, I'd say this is Bjork herself singing hot jazz vocals in every mood you could possibly conjure up to feature that distinctive smoky, sweet and ever-so-delightfully poignant voice. This album caught my attention immediately and held it for the entire duration while I scrambled to pick my jaw up off the floor. If you like Jazz, and especially if you fancy Bjork, you're going to fall in love. Did I mention that the jazz trio is on fire too?

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