Joyce Moreno - Cool (2016)

JOYCE'S TRANSFORMS NORTH AMERICAN JAZZ STANDARS INTO AN ALBUM OF ENCHANTING BRAZILAN STORYTELLING. Throughout her illustrious and iconic career - now over the 50 year mark - Joyce Moreno has thrived as an artist by undertaking new challenges, ranging from teaching herself to master the guitar, to releasing music that defied the censorship attempts of the Brazilian military dictatorship in the 1970s. After something of an epiphany, with Cool Joyce has finally agreed to take on a challenge repeatedly asked of her for many years. In her own words: "For over 20 years I've been requested to make an album with North American jazz standards. Nothing against it, but I always said no. I had the strange feeling that such an album would look weird in my discography, too commercial - like I didn't have any new tricks up my sleeve, and yes, I always have plenty. Music has never ceased to bless me with new ideas and new tunes. So why on Earth should I embark on such a trip? The answer came to me during a soundcheck when I started playing, just for fun, a Cole Porter song in a different way. The song was 'Love For Sale' - a song about a demimondaine, a hooker, in short. But then this afoxe groove came up, and, all of a sudden, Cole Porter's call girl became a hooker from Bahia. And I thought, 'man, these tunes can be rearranged and be really fun!'" On Cool Joyce digs deep to find the intrinsic qualities of each standard, while keeping them true to their essence, she has crafted each track in such a way that makes them equally true to herself and her Brazilian heritage: "To play these tunes with my guitar, re-harmonize them, find their possible different grooves, and make them mine. Not just turn them into 'Brazilian bossas' - which would be the obvious thing to do - but find the personality of each one of these songs, and dress them differently. This was how the hooker from 'Love For Sale' moved on to the streets of Salvador. 'Let's Do It', also a Cole Porter standard, with its percussive lyrics, turned into a syncopated samba. 'Fever' was re-harmonized as a typical 'Joycean' tune, with a different guitar tuning and drums played with Tutty Moreno's bare hands. 'Banana Boat', always treated as a happy work chant, had its profound sadness exposed (what can be more sad than people who 'work all night on a drink of rum'?). 'Invitation', of course, had to be a very sensual tango. And so on." Being a composer at heart, a Joyce album couldn't be complete without at least one original, and with her signatory scat Joyce formulates a beautiful homage to her idols of American jazz: "There is also one original tune only here: my jazzy samba 'Mingus, Miles & Coltrane', a tribute to three of my personal jazz heroes, who inspired me a lot since I was a kid. Coltrane is also remembered here in my arrangement for 'My Favourite Things', inspired by his classic recording, but mixed with an improvised Jobim quote in the end." In 'typical Joycean' style Cool emits immense dexterity and humanity, bringing an entirely original spirit to these canonical standards you could never have imagined to quite sound this way. "This album was my own arranger's approach to these jazz standards. I had a lot of fun doing it. I Hope listeners will feel the same."

Tracklist:

01. Love for Sale 04:57
02. Fever 03:19
03. Cool 03:22
04. Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) 03:58
05. Let's Do It 02:48
06. Round Midnight 03:36
07. Invitation 03:39
08. The Shadow of Your Smile 05:24
09. Mingus, Miles & Coltrane 03:38
10. You Do Something to Me 02:59
11. Nature Boy 02:52
12. My Favourite Things 03:48
13. Moon River 02:46