| Links | Philadelphia Folksong Society by Mike MIller 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 and can be ordered from the label's website.
www.zangardner.com |
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Zan Gardner
Contact info:
Phone: 610 664 3896
Email: zanniepie@aol.com
PO Box 253
Narberth. PA 19072
USA