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MATCHMAKER Sheena Davis Group JAZZIZIT RECORDS JITCD 0539

 

1. Jamie’s Grin
2. You don’t Know Me
3. Close Your Eyes
4. Matchmaker, Matchmaker
5. Cheek to Cheek
6. At The Start
7. Just for a Thrill
8. Almost like Being in Love
9. Let’s face the Music
10. Perfidia
11. Spring in My step
12. Shboom

Sheena Davis – vocals

Robert Rickenberg – Double Bass

Tom Pilling – Piano, Keyboard

Stephen Rushton – Drums

Guests

Nigel Price – Guitar

Derek Nash – Tenor

Steve Vintner – Vibes

Another fine album from the Sheena Davis Group, Sheena and Robert Rickenberg deserve a great deal of respect for the way they have promoted their excellent group throughout the UK. The radio and television usually has it’s back turned to jazz artists and they have gone out there and created a rapturous audience throughout the country.

Sheena has a good voice, with an identifiable style. She works with Robert to produce excellent arrangements and compose originals, worthy of inclusion on an album of quality standards.

Jamie’s Grin is a wordless original for voice and rhythm section, which works very well and gets the album off to a good start. Close Your Eyes is a nice tune well sung and played by the whole group. Cheek to Cheek is an excellent Irving Berlin standard, but the problem for Sheena with scat singing, is the one that confronts all female singers, how to do it as well as Ella? An enormous challenge!

Matchmaker is not an obvious choice for a jazz based vocal album, but Sheena and the group produce a stunning version.

It is probably just a matter of taste, but although it is beautifully performed, I can’t see the point of turning a joyful song like Almost Being in love into a sad sounding ballad. After all the second line is about ‘smiles on faces’! This is a very minor criticism however of what is an n excellent album but I do like to be honest with my comments.

Let’s Face the Music is beautifully done, enabling us to hear the full quality of Sheena’s voice and the excellence of her diction; it comes with a fine bass solo from Robert. I was not sure how Perfidia would fit in with the rest of the album, but there is no problem. Having Sheena sing the first part over a bass figure from Robert was a touch of genius.

Spring in My Step is in ¾ and turns out to be a fine original composition, with a good solo from Tom Pilling and an excellent vocal from Sheena.

Shboom, which started as a ‘pop’ hit, has the benefit of guest stars Derek Nash and Steve Vintner. It works very well for the group showing Sheena’s great voice off to good effect and proving to be a better vehicle for improvisation than I would have imagined.

This is another fine album from Sheena and the group, which I recommend. I would also recommend the band to anyone who books jazz groups, this group are terrific live and really know how to entertain an audience with their great music.

Don Mather

 

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