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Ada Rovatti: The Hidden World Of Piloo
by Katchie Cartwright
Ada Rovatti's curiously titled album, The Hidden World of Piloo, has a tale attached (and a tail). Piloo is an affectionate name Rovatti's father has called her since childhood, after a “naughty" cat in a favorite children's book. She adopted it for her label as well (Piloo Records). Rovatti grew up in Mortara, Italy, outside of Milan, in an unusual household. Her mother was a semi-pro softball player and her dad a geologist, professional hunter and purveyor of cars. The ...
Continue ReadingFay Claassen: Luck Child
by C. Michael Bailey
Dutch singer Fay Claassen has taken her sweet time releasing a follow-up to her 2010 big band release, Sing (Challenge). Her most recent recordings before sing include Red, Hot & Blue: The Music of Cole Porter (Challenge, 2009), and the uniformly excellent Two Portraits Of Chet Baker (Munich, 2006), all uniquely their own works of art. On Luck Child, Claassen steps out of the standard's-heavy arena, devoting her attention to more contemporary fare like the funky blues of ...
Continue ReadingFay Claassen: Sing!
by C. Michael Bailey
Dutch singer Fay Claassen doesn't necessarily push beyond the musical house, but she does occasionally rearrange the furniture. Her surveys of the Chet Baker catalog Two Portraits of Chet Baker (Jazz'n Pulz, 2006) revealed an abiding respect for the jazz canon, while also giving hint to a playful and creative attitude toward the music. This is never in more evidence than on her cover of Bj?rk's “Cover Me," from the Icelandic pop singer's Post (Elektra, 1995). Under the ...
Continue ReadingFay Claassen with WDR Big Band Cologne: Sing!
by Edward Blanco
Internationally recognized Dutch vocalist Fay Claassen joins forces with the Grammy Award-winning WDR Big Band from Cologne, Germany and Berlin's Rundfunk Orchester, for her sixth album as leader with Sing!. Paying tribute to iconic female vocalists, the repertoire contains songs associated with jazz divas from Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington to singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell and Icelandic pop star Bj?rk. Claassen tips her hat to these singers, voicing each song with such conviction that her interpretation becomes unique and ...
Continue ReadingFay Claassen: Red Hot & Blue: The Music of Cole Porter
by Ken Dryden
With a virtual flood of female jazz vocalists seemingly appearing every year, it is a challenge to separate the wheat from the chaff. But anyway you slice it, Fay Claassen, one of European jazz's top singers, makes the cut. Graduating from the Conservatory of The Hague in 1997, she had a host of great teachers, including renowned jazz vocalist Judy Niemack. The rich-voiced alto learned her lessons well, with clear articulation and terrific tone to complement her urbane, sophisticated approach ...
Continue ReadingFay Claassen and the Millennium Jazz Orchestra: Specially Arranged for Fay
by Jack Bowers
Not only was Frank Sinatra an incomparable singer, he was a smart one too, employing only the finest arrangers (Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Gordon Jenkins, Axel Stordahl) and musicians to bring out the best in every note he sang. On her third album for Jazz Impuls, Fay Claassen takes a cue from Ol’ Blue Eyes, using as her back-up crew the world-class Millennium Jazz Orchestra and commissioning superlative charts by conductor / music director Joan Reinders. Claassen has a handsome ...
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