Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Sara Bielanski: From the Heart

Sara Bielanski: From the Heart

By Victor L. Schermer
December 20, 2016
View read count

This is vocalist Sara Bielanski's debut album, and for it she brought together a group of fine musicians with connections to the Berklee School of Music and The New England Conservatory, institutions where for well over more than a half-century many of our most outstanding players have gotten their jump start. Bielanski herself is a fine crossover singer and vocal teacher based in Cambridge, so the album has a touch of the sophisticated New England Back Bay feeling of those Boston Brahmin families and their Victorian homes. Gastronomically speaking, the album could be compared with a meal of salad, oysters, and steak which whet appetites in that neck of the woods.

According to the liner notes, the music is loosely based on Bielanski's personal experience with heart surgery, which must have acquainted her with mortality and darkness, although she is upbeat and optimistic on most of the tracks. Certainly, the lyrics of the ballad, "Night Lights" confess to fear and loneliness, and the singer demonstrates her ability to express subtle emotions with a dark coloration "to face the lonely night." A short improvised original song, "Scars," evokes a disturbing, dramatic, risk-taking situation like major surgery. But overall, what you experience is what you might hear in a good mainstream jazz set in a small club: great standards that cover a gamut of intimate stories and feelings.

The guiding presence at the recording sessions of up and coming vocalist, composer, and arranger Steven Santoro was an inspiration for the parsimonious and authentic approach taken by Bielanski. Pianist

Mark Shilansky

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Mark Shilansky, bassist

Chris Rathbun

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Chris Rathbun, and drummer

Austin McMahon

drums
b.1981

" data-original-title="" title="">Austin McMahon provide finely-tuned accompaniment and a well-crafted backdrop, allowing the singer ample room to show her wares. Pianist Shilansky does some great work on "East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)" that is reminiscent of

Alan Broadbent

piano
b.1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Alan Broadbent's and

Junior Mance

piano
1928 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Junior Mance's backing of

Irene Kral

vocals
1932 - 1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Irene Kral in her iconic recordings of the 1970s. Bassist

Chris Rathbun

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Chris Rathbun and drummer

Austin McMahon

drums
b.1981

" data-original-title="" title="">Austin McMahon deliver a near-perfect rhythmic pulse throughout the album.

Bielanski's interpretation of "Sweet Georgia Brown," begins with a time marking duet with bassist Rathbun and works its way up to a red-light district invitation to the boudoir. It is sung with southern inflections and flirtatious filigree that leads you to speculate that Georgia Brown, with her "too left feet but oh so sweet" is the singer herself. By thematic and stylistic contrast, the Sergio Mendez standard "So Many Stars" is done with subtlety of expression, and there is a hearfelt interlude where the singer simply speaks the words against a beautiful trio backdrop. And the rhythm section gives a Brazilian rhythmic accent to "East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)," a "just right" move which makes it seem that it could have been composed by Jobim, although it is an American songbook classic by Brooks Bowman.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Night Lights; Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise; Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year; East of the Sun (And West of the Moon); Sweet Georgia Brown; So Many Stars; Scars (Bielanski); Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love).

Personnel

Sara Bielanski

vocals

Sara Bielanski: vocals; Mark Shilansky: piano; Chris Rathbun: bass; Austin McMahon: drums; Steven Santoro (arrangements: tracks 1-6).

Album information

Title: From the Heart | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Self Produced

PREVIOUS / NEXT

The Beast
< Previous

All These Hands
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.