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Bird(S)wing
Verena McBee
Label: LadyBee Music
Released: 2025
Duration: 42:47
Views: 236
Tracks
1 Oh,LadyBeGood - George & Ira Gershwin (Arr. John Colianni) 1:48 2 It’s Alright with Me - Cole Porter 2:29 3 Bird(s)wing/Lullaby of Birdland - Verena McBee/ George Shearing, G.D.Weiss 5:28 4 City Life - MoK, Joe Benjamin, Patricia White (Arr. Verena McBee) 4:46 5 Mutima - Cecil and Verena McBee 5:13 6 One Note Samba - Antonio Carlos Jobim (Arr. John Colianni) 1:59 7 Spain (I can recall)- Chick Corea, Al Jarreau 6:01 8 So In Love - Cole Porter 3:15 9 Wouldn’t it be Loverly- Frederick Loewe, A.J. Lerner 1:35 10 Surabaya Johnny Kurt Weill, Bert Brecht 2:39 11 September Song Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson 3:15 12 Luxury- Verena McBee 4:19
Personnel
Verena McBee
vocals
John di Martino
piano
John Colianni
piano
Alberto Pibiri
piano
Paul Beaudry
bass
Wayne D. Henderson
drums
Craig Holiday Haynes
drumsAlbum Description
Bird(S)Wing is a collection of recordings that mark steps I made over the past 10 years in my life singing in NYC. “So in love”, September Song”, “It’s Alright with me” and “Surabaya Johnny” are the oldest recordings included here from fall of 2018, recorded at Big Orange Sheep Studios in Brooklyn with sound engineer Chris Benham, John diMartino on piano and Paul Beaudry on bass. “Wouldn’t it be Loverly?”, “One Note Samba”, ”Oh, Lady Be Good” and “Luxury” were recorded in 2020 for professional reels now included on this album. This recording was completed close to the lockdown in late February and it had been indeed a challenge: A run against time and not knowing what would happen next. Yet, these recording days remain an unforgettable adventure. The tracks were done at Conveyor Studio in Brooklyn with sound engineer Peter Karl, John Colianni on piano, Paul Beaudry on bass and Wayne Henderson on drums. The remaining 4 tunes on this album were recorded at the end of October 2024 once again at Conveyor Studio in Brooklyn with Peter Karl. “City Life” has a very personal meaning to me. I was performing in a new musical (“Hearts of the Hollow”) in upstate NY during the summer of 2022, . “City Life” was not only a duet with my stage partner Jessica Tocci but also a big ensemble closing number of the first act. I simply loved this song so much that the idea to record it with my jazz trio came up pretty soon and is a perfect fit for “Bird(S)Wing”. It expresses the yearning of a woman craving to move away from the country side to the big city of New York, which is also part of my own story as a German small town girl ending up singing in NYC. “Bird(S)wing” is an original of mine and goes all the way back to 2010. Over the years I changed the lyrics a million times and I guess, that’s the reason, why it didn’t end up on an earlier album. It is a love story to jazz itself, to NYC jazz as I experienced it, when I arrived here in my first years in the States. Both, NYC & jazz have become my life now. The lyrics are also a love story between two people flying through the world of jazz, using the jazz language to express their attraction to one another. Of course “Bird” - Charlie Parker - was another element in my thoughts, but one too much if I wanted a clear direction for the story even though one can’t avoid thinking of “Bird” while listening. In a medley “Bird(S)wing” is followed by “Lullaby of Birdland” arranged in 7/4, and the medley closes with the vamp of “Bird(S)wing” to put a period at the end of the sentence. As a songbird myself and with my obvious love for birds, a bird in my eyes is a symbol for freedom, music, love and liberty. I added “Spain” after being inspired by hearing it sung while out and about. Its romantic and haunting lyrics resonated with me as well as the driving melody. A story of re-found love in the beautiful, ancient scenery of Spain spoke to me. It is a country I visited often as a child and now with this tune, became a passionate project for me to master and record. Lastly, “Mutima” is the title track from the debut album my husband bassist Cecil McBee released in 1974. In my vocal interpretation it is presented as a dreamy ballad ending on a happy Latin vamp with a dance groove. My story is about fundamental love. “Mutima” is Kiswahili spoken by Swahili people in pri- marily in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, and means ‘From the Heart’. My lyrics see the world from the heart and with the understanding, that all that comes from the heart and is seen with the heart is a gift; A hint to meaningful, enchanted and loving existence. Verena McBee
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