Zan Gardner's CD "Here's My Heart", is a project with a lot of beginnings; self-produced, self-arranged and containing her first original song, "Metaphoric Heartbreak", a compelling self-explanatory story of a sad end and a new start. Come along and stand beside her as she shares the whimsy, passion, and wisdom of her perspective of life no matter what it deals you and a voice that will grab your heart and never let it go. Featuring Internationally known players, pianist Dave Posmontier, John Swana on trumpet, flugelhorn, and Evi, Chico Huff on four string, six string and fretless bass, drummer Steve Holloway and special guest, vibraphonist Tony Miceli on the first track. An ensemble that will surely enrich your life. As Nels Nelson, Jazz writer extraordinare for the Philadelphia Daily News wrote, "She is blessed as a dramatic mezzo..her voice swoops way down on command, and this toboggan ride combined with a stunning use of melisma and about 40 different ways of bending a note add to a marvelous intensity of raw passion all places her in a singular niche among her contemporaries!
Zan Gardner's CD Here's My Heart
voted 1 of 15 BEST of 2001
by Dr. Jack Buerkle.......
Temple University Jazz Radio, Phila., Pa. USA
CADENCE MAGAZINE REVIEW
by Frank Rubolino
To hear a unique twist on the singing of standard material,
check out the music of Gardner.
Although nearly all of the program consists of well-known Broadway and Tin Pan Alley tunes,
they are presented with an offbeat melody line that makes the session entirely Gardner.
She sings in a deep, sultry voice that exudes a smoky flavor filled with emotional drippings.
Gardner puts a slight Latin spin or a hip jazz beat into her work and takes the songs into
a different realm with her diverse interpretation of the composers.
Her singing style is reminiscent of Betty Carter's in the way she phrases.
Gardner delves into the lowest tonal range with smoldering expressions that ooze with sensuality;
then she swiftly lifts off with swinging vocal improvisations.
Her voice can be quite beguiling.
Gardner's quartet puts out a big supportive sound behind her.
Posmontier on piano and Swana on brass are responsive to Gardner's direction and
kick the program into high gear with excellent solos during the vocal breaks.
The rhythm team is also up-front-and-personal, filling in all the crevices with substance.
None of this interferes with Gardner's approach. She moves headlong into the program,
spitting out rounds of improvised melody lines while the band gets into her groove.
Gardner also presents one of her compositions, the love song "Metaphoric Heartbreak",
that has a haunting hint of "Angel Eyes" at its core.
It is a great vehicle for Gardner, allowing her to get emphatic with the unrequited love lyrics.
Gardner gets strong support
throughout from her band, but the strength of the recording comes from her style.
She has produced a first-rate first album that highlights her exceptional vocal talents very effectively.
All About Jazz Magazine
Here's My Heart...
Zan Gardner | Dreambox Media
Where do all of these remarkable new singers come from? For every Kurt Elling or Nnenna Freelon who captures the imagination of listeners through major-label promotion and sheer talent, dozens of other equally inspiring singers remain undiscovered, as might have Elling and Freelon but for the good fortune of their circumstances. It seems as if every time you turn around, another singer is recording a CD that reveals a distinctive voice expressing the feelings of a personality who sees things quite differently from any other singer. Even though the personalities within the universe are as diverse as the number of people those personalities inhabit, few singers seem to be able to discard influences and be themselves.
Zan Gardner is one of those singers who can absorb various influences, catalyze them and form an even newer sound that reminds the listener of other singers but that is entirely her own. Even though Gardner sings standards, she implies a Latin influence, even on "As Time Goes By," which builds upon a reggaed percussiveness and an African-influenced vibe--literally. Vibist Tony Miceli adds to the glimmering light released by the tune with the instrument's luminescence. Another of Gardner's associations seems to be a Betty Carter-ish approach to singing "How High The Moon" as she develops her own elastic phrasing that pulls apart the song like taffy into the lengthened thoughts bundling the tune's musical elements.
On this, her first album, Gardner has chosen her musicians wisely.
John Swana retains his melodic approach to the instrument as he backs Gardner sensitively and knowingly on trumpet or flugelhorn, their techniques converging in a unity of purpose. Even his solos remain within the moment, the horn's voice an extension of Gardner's vocal set-up. On "The Way You Look Tonight," Swana finally lets fly with an energetic solo, as if he were freed to shape the tune himself. Plus, pianist Dave Posmontier proves himself an accompanist who listens to the singer and expands upon her suggestions. His enlightening solos, like Swana's, stay within the attitude of each song while he explores the songs' harmonic implications.
Yet, it's Gardner's voice that represents the discovery ofHere's My Heart....Making each song her own, Gardner combines a huskiness with an understanding of the songs' meanings, such as when she's "breathing innnnnnnn and breathing ouuuuuut" on "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face." Her articulation is effective as well, the word "to" sung with a hard attack on the "t" and her "oo's" containing slight moans. Even in the swing of "Exactly Like You," Gardner attains a sultriness and understated attractiveness in her alto interpretation that draws the listener's attention. She teases when she starts "You Don't Know What Love Is" in what seems to be an impossibly low key, leaving one to wonder where she can go from there if an even lower note presents itself in the arrangement.
With an unconventional style and an ever-present knowing grace, Zan Gardner has released an album that deserves a wide audience and a high degree of attention.
http://www.dreamboxmedia.com
~ Don Williamson
Exact transcription of Dr. Jack Buerkle's review of the CD "Here's My Heart" by Zan Gardner on Dreambox Media. WRTI Temple University Jazz Radio, 90.1fm Philadelphia www.wrtijazz.org
Some of you have heard Zan Gardner's voice, you have her now on a magnificent CD. The lady I'm about to introduce, her songs that is, I think is just at the edge of approaching world class talent.
She is that, all she needs is a wider spread exposure to the publics out there. With Dreambox Media, a very fine recording company, she has done an album, just come out with an album, not very long ago at all, called "Here's My Heart". She's gonna do some things I haven't heard in a long time, I don't mean the pieces, I mean, essentially, the way she treats them. She has every single necessary talent for good jazz. She has timing,she has the quality of voice, she has a way with lyrics that you believe them. Now I'm giving her a big sell here and I think I'm very, very, correct about this though. This lady I'm very sure of. So here we go with Zan Gardner, the Dreambox Media album is "Here's My Heart", and we're going to hear four tunes, I'm just going to let them run: "Exactly Like You", old standard, then there's "Stolen Moments", another one and "The Way You Look Tonight" and "I've Grown Accustomed To His Face". Now notice the different personality in each if these songs.
(songs play)
Zan, Zan Gardner, let me spell that for you, Zan Gardner. The "Dreambox Media" album is "Here's My Heart", it certainly is. Zan just sang I've Grown accustomed to his face", prior to that was "The Way you Look Tonight", leading off from that was "Stolen Moments" and we began the set with "Exactly Like You", all great standards, but by the way, sung with incredible improvisation. Taking songs that, some of them are well maybe not close to being tired, the songs themselves, but she sings them a new way, the improvisation is out of sight. I don't know anybody, any woman, we're speaking of female vocal musicians, and certainly Zan Gardner is a musican, I don't know of anybody who touches her on the major labels at this time I think that anybody hearing this, and by the way there are nine tunes on here, each of that quality. So she is something I think, very, very, special and I can't figure out why she hasn't gone to the top. She's been around a while, but by the way, I think that's paid off. She has every move, in her voice, in tune, not something where somebody's says well they're sliding, glissing or whatever, and they're out of tune. Uh Uh, no, she does all that too but not out of tune. She is something special; the album is Zan Gardner, "Here's My Heart", from Dreambox Media. And let me say also about the wonderful musicians, I haven't heard a band that good in so long with Dave Posmontier on piano, John Swana, an old friend on trumpet and flugelhorn and evi horn, Chico Huff on bass, wonderful bass player, Steve Holloway on drums, percussion, wonderful and Tony Miceli on vibraphone, wonderful too. Tony wasn't on this particular piece, but oh my heaven's, what a wonderful,an wonderful combiation of the right band and the right person singing these wonderful tunes.
Philadelphia Folksong Society
by Mike MIller
I have no traditional music to report on, this month, but a few CDs are of such merit that they deserve mention and comment.
Some time ago, I reviewed two folk/jazz crossovers and wrote that the line between blues and jazz is no thicker than the line between Old Timey and Bluegrass. Once a traditional genre becomes commercial. its evolution is inevitable. If Robert Johnson's music was the father of Mississippi John Hurt, it also sired the slickness of Josh White, the tenderness of Joe Williams and the power of James Brown. Without the roots of Delta Blues, there would have been no Bessie Smith, no Ethel Waters, no Billie Holiday or Dinah Washington.
And, if a trad form can evolve into sophisticated art, it can transcend its racial and cultural borders. What was, in its raw folkiness, an expression of rural Southern Black poverty, is now the popular music that defines our society. Thus, there is something distinctly American about the revolutionary sounds of Chestnut Hill Jazz artist, Zan Gardner whose debut CD ("Here's My Heart") is exciting critics in her field and in mine.
Ms Gardner's approach is consciously non traditional. She is her own primary influence. Her strength is her daring and imagination. She never met a tune she couldn't cook or a lyric she couldn't expand. She understands that invention and creativity are as vital to jazz as taste and tone. I have listened to her cut of "How High The Moon" a dozen times and I swear it sounds different every time. The CD is available in stores, from Zan, Amazon.com, CDbaby and can be ordered from the label's website.
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