Friday, March 24, 2017

Rebecca Kilgore "Moonshadow Dance"

Portland singing star Rebecca Kilgore enjoys a reputation of honoring American songbook standards and finding charming obscurities mostly overlooked by others. But with this classy CD, Rebecca concentrates exclusively on new material of her own creation along with collaborations with Portland songwriter Ellen Vanderslice and pianist/vibist Mike Horsfall. There are sixteen tunes in all, and they're witty, solid, real melodies. Space won't allow us to cover all, but let's take a look at a few favorites. For example, consider "The Day I Learned French". Fluent in twenty-four hours---what a cool accomplishment. And a cool tune as well. Or how about the title tune "Moonshadow Dance"? With Vanderslice at the controls on both music and lyrics, it sounds like something Hoagy Carmichael might have written. "Birthday Song, Generic" is all Becky, words and music. A cute tune to be sure, and one with a surprise ending. "I'm Not Susceptible To Love" is a medium tempo delight that sounds like it could have been, say, a 1958 creation of Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. On these and the remainder of the bill, Rebecca is accompanied by PDX stalwarts Randy Porter, piano; Tom Wakeling, bass; and Todd Strait, drums. A host of Portland cats are found here and there as guests. All three of these creators of fresh new songs, Becky, Ellen and Mike, have succeeded in bringing us a real breath of fresh air. Highly recommended!Cherry Pie Music; 2016; appx. 55 min.

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