There is something of Mark Murphy in the melodic audacity of Katie Bull. Joni Mitchell too, in the singer-songwriter tradition applied to jazz. Here is an artist nurtured in the great tradition of improvisation by her father, as well as in athletic vocal deployment by her mother (an opera singer). Bull has integrated into her entire being, both physically and psychologically, the rare duality of being completely at ease in the often wild improv freedom while remaining perfectly in control of her creative universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Hope Etudes<\/em> offers six original compositions and three covers that soar far above the ordinariness of a certain vocal jazz moulded from the same all-purpose plastic. Katie Bull stands tall in the tradition, but she unabashedly undresses it to adorn herself in an extravagant and impressive manner. Her powerful voice, perfectly centred, sometimes airy, but more often almost earthy in its bass grain, flits through, around, above, and below the elegant lines of the songs chosen with a keen intuition, evoking both astonishment and aesthetic satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n