Janine Gastineau - All My Wildest Dreams (2015)

Jazz, standards & bossa nova. Dreamy vocals. Groovy arrangements. Swinging vibe.

ALL MY WILDEST DREAMS - with Eric Gunnison & Jeff Jenkins (piano); Eduardo "Bijoux" Barbosa (bass); Bill Kopper (guitar); Jill Fredericksen & Raoul Rossiter (percussion). Special guest Mitchell Long (vocals & guitar) appears on tracks 1 & 9. Album arrangements: M. Long (1,9), E. Barbosa (4, 5, 6, 7), J. Jenkins (10, 12) & J. Gastineau (2, 8, 13).

Multi-genre vocalist Janine Gastineau sings jazz, Brazilian MPB, French chanson & other music from Denver, Colorado. ALL MY WILDEST DREAMS, her first solo album, reflects her gift for investing emotion and soul in everything she sings. "I adore the music of the Great American Songbook as well as the tunes of great jazz composers like Thelonious Monk," Gastineau says. "On ALL MY WILDEST DREAMS, I wanted to include at least one tune by my very favorites among the many in the jazz pantheon: Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Rodgers & Hart, Monk, Hoagy Carmichael. Adding the two Jobim tunes was a no-brainer, because of my love for bossa nova & samba. Incorporating Brazilian rhythms in several tracks - thanks to bassist & arranger Eduardo "Bijoux" Barbosa - also reflects this growing passion of mine."

"I made this album with six musicians who are both my friends and frequent collaborators. Stellar sidemen all, they've performed and recorded with myriad jazz artists of national & international fame, so I'm honored to have them playing on my CD. These thirteen songs contain our collective joy for the music and a respect & affection for one another that I cherish."

"How did I get here? Well, I grew up listening to a bit of everything: Beethoven, Chopin & Tchaikovsky, Johnny Cash, Peter Paul & Mary, Barbra Streisand, the Ink Spots, the Beach Boys and the Mamas & Papas, Smokey & Stevie & Sly & Marvin, plus every Motown group on Top 40 radio. I studied classical voice in college, where I began singing in foreign languages: French, Italian, Latin & German, and in 2006 began my solo singing career. Singing, for me, is kinesthetic, intellectual, emotional and spiritual. The elements of a song - melody, lyrics, harmonics, rhythm - are all vehicles that connect you with the human condition. I try to bring that expression, that emotion, to every performance."

A gifted writer and cabaret performer, Gastineau has also created several original musical revues, including 3 that celebrate the music of Stephen Sondheim (with actor/singer Paula Jayne Friedland): ART ISN’T EASY (2008), OUR TIME (2013) and the critically acclaimed LOVE, MARRIAGE & OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS (2014). She also wrote and performed THOU SWELL, THOU WITTY: An Evening with Rodgers & Hart in 2011 (music arranged by Barbosa), and in 2014 created BOTH SIDES NOW: The Songs of Joni Mitchell, with vocalist Terri Jo Jenkins.

But jazz and Brazilian music remain Gastineau’s first and best loves, and make up much of what she performs year-round. “These two genres contain the most poetic, intricately constructed, and beautifully melodic songs ever written," she says. "Songs that demand strong musical chops, great technique AND the emotional honesty to bring them to fullest fruition. That’s why I never tire of singing them, and will forever consider myself a student of both genres. It's my biggest hope that hearing the songs on ALL MY WILDEST DREAMS will inspire others to fall in love with them, too."

Tracklist:

1. The Nearness of You
2. Blue Skies / In Walked Bud
3. Fragile
4. Take Five
5. It Never Entered My Mind
6. My Funny Valentine
7. Caravan
8. Summertime
9. Vivo Sonhando
10. Blame It On My Youth
11. Blue River
12. Insensatez
13. God Bless the Child