Album Notes

Reviews for Melissa Collard and 'Old Fashioned Love':

"Melissa Collard is a delightful singer with a wonderful manner to match her fine voice." Phil Elwood

"If you ask to be directed to the “jazz singing” section of your local mega-music emporium, you will find the latest Diana Krall or Jane Monheit issue among the CDs featuring lovely women singers. Unfortunately, wonderfully photographed cleavage, long legs, and pouty lips do not an artist make. Sadly, the paper cover emits no sound when inserted in the CD player. Melissa Collard is a refreshing rebuke to this trend, for she is an exceptionally fine singer, her self-produced CD rewarding indeed. Readers have every right to be suspicious of an opening paragraph that ends with such claims, but what seems hyperbole will be revealed as fact in the first minutes of “Old Fashioned Love.”
What’s special about Melissa Collard? For one thing, she can truly sing; she’s no retro hipster trying to lip-synch. (That’s not a small claim: many well-publicized warblers cannot hold notes, stay on key, or understand the lyrics.) Melissa’s warm yet understated voice is instantly ingratiating, her approach free from self-dramatizing exaggeration and affectation. She is an old-fashioned artist who puts her talent at the service of the song, rather than insisting that she is the star. Of course, she has a natural swing and harmonic sensitivity (she is a first-rate guitarist, although choosing the underrated Eddie Erickson to handle those musical chores), as well as a superb improviser ...quot; note the quietly engaging turns of phrase and rubato in her second choruses. Best of all, she has chosen material obviously meaningful to her. Melissa is no “actress,” creating four-minute dramas, but it’s clear in every phrase, rueful or jubilant, that she knows what the words mean. Her feeling and intelligence transform even the songs listeners might think they know by heart: Melissa knows the pleasures of being back in her own backyard, of the reassuring joys of old-fashioned ways, and these feelings are conveyed memorably, without strain. What makes her so different from capable singers in this idiom is a deep emotional intuitiveness, reminiscent of later Mildred Bailey, which touches us on every track. In addition, the repertoire she has chosen is deliciously varied and refreshing, evoking Louis (in his Hawaiian phase), Bing, Fats, Duke, Helen Humes, Jimmy Rushing, and Django. She is also willing to share the spotlight with her gifted band ...quot; Dan Barrett (often on cornet), Ray Skjelbred, Richard Hadlock, Steven Strauss, “Fiddle Ray” Landsberg, among others, with guest appearances by venerable West Coast trombone masters Bob Mielke and Bill Bardin. Thus, the overall ambiance suggests the best Teddy Wilson sessions of the Thirties, but Melissa is no Billie-clone.
I had not heard of Melissa before this CD, but I find myself terribly jealous of Californians who have seen her in person. My only consolation is the portable, inspiring pleasure of this CD. I think it’s a technological miracle that I can hear her sing “When Somebody Thinks You’re Wonderful,” perform a wordless “Warm Valley,” or do a perfectly realized, hilarious duet with the engaging Erickson, on “Why Don’t We Do This More Often?” any time I choose, even if it’s 7 AM in traffic, on the way to work. Although she may be a new name to many listeners, I can only urge them to put down that familiar CD whose purchase they were considering. Melissa Collard has a rare talent and the CD grows more precious on each replaying."
Michael Steinman

"This is a CD that is impossible not to love. Melissa Collard, who is based in the San Francisco Bay area and has sung regularly with Dick Oxtot’s Golden Age Jazz Band and a Western Swing big band (Lost Weekend), has a very inviting and cheerful voice. She clearly loves interpreting swing standards. Her choice of notes is flawless, as is her enunciation and her sense of swing. Add to that an impeccable repertoire for this CD and one has the potential for a memorable set.
Putting this release over the top is the backup band which is arranged inventively by trombonist Dan Barrett, who doubles on cornet. With guitarist Eddie Erickson (who, like Barrett, is with the Rebecca Kilgore group B.E.D.), pianist Ray Skjelbred (who recalls Jess Stacy), bassist Steven Strauss and the occasional reeds of Richard Hadlock (who is strongest on alto) as the core group, Ms. Collard is joined by very sympathetic musicians. Three songs have a trombone trio consisting of Barrett, Bill Bardin and Bob Mielke, and a couple guests give a Hawaiian flavor to “On A Coconut Island” and a Django Reinhardt-Stephane Grappelly interpretation to “I’ll See You In My Dreams.”
Melissa Collard sounds quite wonderful on such numbers as “I’ve Had My Moments,” “Old Fashioned Love,” “Nevertheless I’m In Love With You,” “Warm Valley” (which she takes wordlessly, harmonizing with Barrett), “Street Of Dreams,” “Stardust,” and virtually all 14 selections. Suffice it to say that this disc (available from www.melissacollard.com) is a must for swing fans, and that lovers of superior jazz vocalists should make themselves aware of Melissa Collard."
Scott Yanow