Jeannette Lambert
Sand Underfoot
© 2006 Jazz from Rant (634479202889)
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Montréal-based poet/jazz vocalist Jeannette Lambert's seventh recording as a leader, Sand Underfoot features longtime collaborators, bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Michel Lambert, and special guest, pianist Paul Bley.
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Sand Underfoot
I chose the title of this recording to reflect our tenuous relationship with nature, slip-sliding along, never sure of our footing. Is the ground solid or ever-changing? The poems here all look at our links to earthly places; forests, deserts, beaches, snowy plains, and the rim of fire. Performed with great masters of their instruments, Paul Bley on piano, Barre Phillips on bass and Michel Lambert on drums.
I dedicate the Rim of Fire suite to all of the victims of the Boxing Day 2004 earthquake and tsunami. The central poem of the suite was written several years ago, inspired by my father's family history and their impassioned relationship with Indonesia. We recorded the music a few months before the disaster but somehow it seems as if the danger of that event was already in the air, like a ripple in time reaching back.
So now, take these offerings and twirl them around in your hand, like multi-faceted pebbles on a warm, safe, windswept beach. Never mind what I've just said - simply close your eyes and listen. And enjoy.
Jeannette Lambert
Biography
Inspired by her jazz-loving parents and childhood addresses that spanned the globe, Jeannette Lambert began singing professionally in coffee shops at the age of 12. Mentored by veterans of the Montreal jazz scene, including trumpeter Herbie Spanier, and influenced by the diverse vocal traditions of flamenco, fado, and jaipong, she grew up playing in professional jam sessions with visiting artists such as vocalist Jon Hendricks. She would go on to further refine her musical style studying with vocalist Jay Clayton, the legendary Cecil Taylor and others at the Banff Jazz Workshop. Geoff Chapman of the Toronto Star wrote that "unadorned elegance is the keynote of Jeannette Lambert's singing" and she was named one of the 500 best jazz vocalists of all time by author Scott Yanow in his book, Jazz Singers. She has performed around the world, written lyrics for music recorded by a number of other jazz vocalists, and co-founded the artist collective/record label Jazz From Rant with her brother, guitarist Reg Schwager, and her husband, drummer Michel Lambert, in 1991. In addition to her music career, she is an Internet filmmaker and soundtrack composer for a variety of film projects.
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a refreshing alternative to the usual sound manipulators
author: Justin Glick, WNURAmidst a crowded room of experimental female jazz vocalists, Jeannette Lambert comes across as a refreshing alternative to the usual sound manipulators. Her style is more reminiscent of avant-psych-folk from the 1960s than any jazz vocalist; think of her as a cross between ESP-Disk folk, Fairport Convention, and Patty Waters. Her voice has a sing-song quality that buoys up even the compellingly dark musical atmospheres created here by Phillips, Bley, and Michel Lambert ... This fascinating disc is also further proof of the vitality of Quebec’s jazz scene.
a top-notch session
author: Francois Couture, All-Music GuideSand Underfoot is a top notch session … The undisputable stand-out track is "Sand Underfoot," … It sums up all of this album's delicateness, creativity and telepathic interaction ... Sand Underfoot remains firmly anchored in jazz, if only by Jeannette's deep understanding of jazz singing and Michel's flexible free swing, so there is no need to be afraid.
Free Jazz in the best sense.
author: J. W. JarvisJeanette Lambert's "Sand Underfoot is free jazz in the best sense: music filled with complicated simplicity and dense with light. The elder-but-never-old masters Paul Bley and Barre Phillips meld seamlessly with the playfully serious energies of the younger Jeanette and Michel Lambert. The words and music here are part of an ancient tradition that is always new: the artist's poetic call and response with the natural world. The beachcombing metaphor of the title is just right for someone like me who lives close to beaches that feature the occassional chunk of sand-smoothed volcanic glass. Walking along the shore in search of nothing in particular and being surprised by that unique flash of light from an agate shining among all the other stones is a fine, medatative way for all the assumptions, delusions and preconceptions that inevitably clutter up the mind to just drop away. There is much that gleams on Jeanette Lambert's beach.