Country : Canada Label : Justin Time Genres and styles : Jazz / latino / Vocal Jazz Year : 2020

Dance With Me

· by Steve Naud

Canadian jazz singer and pianist Carol Welsman’s excellent reputation is no accident. Album after album, the lady delivers quality product, tastefully executed by seasoned musicians. Each time, though, the element that stands out the most is her vocal performance. Warm timbre, affecting interpretation, accuracy… Her work is impeccable!

It’s still the case on Dance with Me, Welsman’s thirteenth album to date. This time, she opted for a resolutely Latin flavour and surrounded herself with a team of professionals in the field: director and arranger Oscar Hernández, saxophonist and flutist Justo Almario, bassist René Camacho, drummer Jimmy Branly, and percussionist Joey de Leon. Each of them performs with infectious enthusiasm. The program includes a few new pieces, including an unexpected composition by Canadian rocker Randy Bachman (of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive), but the majority of the program is made up of rereadings of songs from the Great American Songbook, and classics from the Cuban repertoire translated into English by Welsman and lyricist Jo Perry. 

It’s from this goldmine, which the singer discovered through Jimmy Branly, himself of Cuban origin, that the most beautiful moments of the record come from. “Yesterday” (originally “Como Fue”) and “I Think of You” (“Y Hoy Como Ayer”) are splendid ballads which, thanks to Ms. Welsman’s touching interpretations, go straight to the heart. The album isn’t stingy for spicier moments, but it’s these lulls that dazzle the most.

Latest 360 Content

FIMAV | Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, the museum of tremors

FIMAV | Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, the museum of tremors

Deerhoof – Noble and Godlike in Ruin

Deerhoof – Noble and Godlike in Ruin

A Place To Bury Strangers on Building Sonic Weapons and Playing Shows That Feel Like Car Crashes

A Place To Bury Strangers on Building Sonic Weapons and Playing Shows That Feel Like Car Crashes

Apolline Jesupret – Bleu ardent

Apolline Jesupret – Bleu ardent

Alison Luthmers – Johann Helmich Roman : Assaggi for solo violin

Alison Luthmers – Johann Helmich Roman : Assaggi for solo violin

Choses Sauvages – Choses Sauvages III

Choses Sauvages – Choses Sauvages III

A party with post-punk Brooklynites TVOD

A party with post-punk Brooklynites TVOD

FIRE! Orchestra at FIMAV: Power Trio Meets Canadian Community of Avant-Garde Players

FIRE! Orchestra at FIMAV: Power Trio Meets Canadian Community of Avant-Garde Players

Everything is Recorded – Temporary

Everything is Recorded – Temporary

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture

Hitting a Fever Pitch at the Ribbon Skirt LP Launch 

Hitting a Fever Pitch at the Ribbon Skirt LP Launch 

Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics – Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman.

Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics – Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman.

Jazz at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal explained by Modibo Keita

Jazz at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal explained by Modibo Keita

Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose – Sirens

Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose – Sirens

Howard Shore/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – Shore : Anthology

Howard Shore/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – Shore : Anthology

Quatuor Diotima – Boulez : Livre pour quatuor

Quatuor Diotima – Boulez : Livre pour quatuor

LMNL – Rainbow

LMNL – Rainbow

Strat Andriotis – Exits

Strat Andriotis – Exits

Richard Reed Parry – The Actor

Richard Reed Parry – The Actor

Tamara Stefanovich – Organised Delirium

Tamara Stefanovich – Organised Delirium

Galan Trio – Embrace

Galan Trio – Embrace

Jack Van Zandt – A Chaos of Light and Motion

Jack Van Zandt – A Chaos of Light and Motion

Tommy Crane – Reality Curated: Live at Ursa

Tommy Crane – Reality Curated: Live at Ursa

Subscribe to our newsletter