Album Notes

Katie Bull
The Story So Far
Corn Hill Indie 1004
Street Date November 1, 2007
Katie Bull, vocals, Frank Kimbrough, piano, Michael Jefry Stevens, piano, Joe Fonda, bass
Matt Wilson, drums, Harvey Sorgen, drums, Jeff Lederer, Saxophones, David CasT, Saxophones,
David Phelps, guitar


The Story So Far, the latest chapter in the exciting tale of multitalented vocalist/ lyricist/composer Katie Bull, chronicles the evolution of one of the most individual and exciting singers in music today - a truly unique artist whose widely acclaimed authoritative and attractive voice is but one component of her far reaching creative spirit. Exquisitely packaged, The Story So Far, includes a CD of Bull’s latest musical creations, an accompanying fourteen page booklet with artwork drawn from ancient story books and gothic fairy tales and lyrics to each of her original pieces, paired with a DVD with the Bull Family Orchestra, an inter-arts theatre ensemble, performing a freely structured improvisational ”happening” on a cobblestoned Soho street, that documents Bull’s role as a leading member of New York City’s downtown avant garde arts scene.

Bull is first and foremost a “jazz singer” and The Story So Far places her squarely in the forefront of the tradition of improvising vocalists that extends from Billie Holiday and Betty Carter to Sheila Jordan and Jay Clayton. Joined by a revolving cast of sympathetic players that includes pianists Frank Kimbrough and Michael Jefrey Stevens, bassist Joe Fonda, drummers Matt Wilson and Harvey Sorgen, saxophonists Jeff Lederer and David CasT and guitarist David Phelps, Bull demonstrates a free spirited approach to singing that winds her voice around the players’ music, making her colleagues more collaborators than mere accompanists.

The disc opens dramatically with Bull’s Which?, a raucous straight ahead romp through the standard AABA song form featuring Lederer’s tenor saxophone with the Kimbrough-Fonda-Wilson rhythms section. Katie proves that she can swing with the best of them in her commanding reading of her inquisitive lyric on the subject of dichotomous personalities and her cooing scatting on the piece’s appealing bridge. The music confirms her status as a talented composer and arranger – hearkening to the spirit of Charles Mingus with Lederer’s guttural sax leaping out of ensemble a la Eric Dolphy and Booker Ervin, while the band shouts out encouragement in a manner recalling the great bassist’s exhortations.

A Song For Hudson’s Heart smoothly segues in over the strangely soothing thunderous sound of Nick Brough’s ultra harmonizer, setting the scene for this beautiful lullaby. A duet with pianist Michael Jeffrey Stevens, the music is at times reminiscent of Thad Jones’ classic “A Child Is Born,” an appropriate setting for Bull’s tender recitation of a mother’s comforting words for her drowsy son.

Katie delivers a fresh, intimate reading of the classic of For All We Know, interacting with the trio of Stevens, Fonda and Sorgen in a daring fashion that recalls the remarkable rapport that Betty Carter developed with her bands. Bull’s reimagining of the standard demonstrates her status as a forward thinking traditionalist who is not afraid to take chances and move the music into the future.

Twisted, the popular Annie Ross/Wardell Gray page out of the Lambert, Hendricks and Ross songbook that was later revived by Joni Mitchell is given a clever treatment here, with Bull overdubbing her vocal in deference to the song lyric’s subject of dual personality. Bull and the band swing like mad here with Kimbrough and Lederer sharing solo space with the singer.

Bull’s original Half Full begins ominously with David CasT’s baritone sax and Joe Fonda’s bass setting the tone for the singer’s portentous reading of her mysterious imagistic lyric and her extraordinary ethereal scatting.

Next Generation’s Doodlin’ is Bull’s version of vocalese, a tribute to Annie Ross, whose original Doodlin’ is one of her all time favorite pieces. Like Hudson’s Heart, the lyrics tell a story inspired by one of Katie’s children – this one by her precocious daughter Hannajane. Like the wandering mind of a young child, the song is full of mood changes, moving from the silly to the serious and back at the jump of a hat.

Guitarist David Phelps joins Bull for an atmospheric duet on her Paleontology. The incongruously titled love song showcases the composer’s flair for metaphor, reflecting her insightful outlook into everyday occurrences. Phelps’ spare background creates an absorbing environment in which the beauty and expressiveness of Katie’s voice comes to the fore.

I Should Have Noticed brings back the Kimbrough-Fonda-Wilson trio with Lederer’s wailing soprano sax for a powerful piece that showcases the strength of Bull’s full bodied instrument. Her words recount the uncanny clarity with which previously overlooked details of a decaying romance are seen come to light in hindsight.

The Bull-Fonda Duo, previously heard on Katie’s release Cup Of Joe, No Bull, is heard again here on Go Ahead. The song, which the singer was prompted to compose by her experience of witnessing Donald Trump build along the Hudson River on New York City’s west side, blocking the beautiful view of the water for thousands of citizens, is another indication of Bull’s proclivity for addressing socio-political issues in her music.

Topanga Canyon is one of the date’s true high points. Inspired by the natural beauty of the Santa Monica Mountains’ peaceful oasis, it begins with Bull intoning a long low Ohm over Fonda’s bowed bass as a contrasting introduction to the memorable melody that she sings with joyous abandon. Stevens gets a chance to stretch with a powerful piano solo driven by Sorgen’s insistent rhythms before Bull’s vocal spirals out into space and returns to the opening Ohm.

Lederer begins Harry Warren’s There Will Never Be Another You with an inventive soprano solo that introduces Bull’s swinging interpretation of the classic that includes some impressive scatting and an imaginative dialogue with saxophonist, placing her squarely at the forefront of the lineage of creative vocalists.

Bull’s Jack is a new composition on which she recalls the sultry songbird stylings of singers like Peggy Lee and Anita O’Day. Cool and commanding, Katie moves freely between an earthy classic sound and spacey avant garde explorations, with CasT’s wailing tenor and Phelps’ fuzz toned guitar reinforcing the respective approaches.

The date’s regular program concludes with Wake Up Time, a message for America’s president sung, inspired by a New York Times article about a brain damaged GI returned from Iraq, in a theatrical style reminiscent of the work of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht with CasT’s polka influenced baritone line creating the circus like atmosphere that is appropriate to the song’s ludicrous subject and Bull’s closing ranting chant of “no weapons of mass destruction.”

Four bonus tracks comprising Katie’s “Dream Cycle” end the disc. Accompanied by pianist Theo Hill and a string quartet arranged by Jeff Lederer, the suite offers a contrasting and complementary view to the songs of Bull’s waking life and sets up the listener for viewing the release’s accompanying DVD documenting a sixties styled happening enacted by the Bull Family Orchestra on the streets of Soho. The film by Peter Richards, who was once a dancer in Bull’s father company and has filmed Trisha Brown, Urban Bush Women and the Dance Theatre Workshop's many productions, was improvised guerilla style to cinematically capture the multimedia Downtown Happening that flowed out of the truncated tale written by Bull that gives the CD’s title, to the soundtrack of Bull singing Richard Rodgers’ “Lover” and “Some Enchanted Evening.”

The Story So Far is the newest installment in the ever growing body of work developed by Katie Bull during her years performing around New York. Jazz singer, avant garde vocalist, musician, dancer, story teller, actor and writer, Bull herself is an ever growing work in progress making an important statement on the arts scene that is informed by a philosophy best embodied by the words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s Remaining Awake recited on the DVD and reprinted in the CD booklet: “We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” Katie Bull’s art is an important component in that network; beautiful fabric in the garment of destiny. She is a woman with a story to tell that reaches so far. Listen and watch her and she’ll take you to familiar places you’ve never been to before.