Label: Galaxy Girl Records

Producer: Randy Foster

Release Date: 2005

It’s very hard to find a good Jazz album coming out of today’s music scene. Now this is simply because the present generation seems to be becoming a little further and further removed from the roots that initially poured the foundation for what shaped the music that they listen to today. As of right now, I have only heard a glimpse of this album so I am going to share my experience of the journey through this album review. I have a feeling this is going to be one for the books...

The track that kicks off the album is When the Lights are Low. Not only do Mitzi’s vocals send those spine-tingling chills up your spine, her accompaniment is enough to astonish the un-astonishable. The sheer skill and graceful talent of everyone who put forth there contributions to this track makes a very suitable tray of appetizers to sustain the appetite of anxiously anticipating audience while they wait for the 'other' main courses to arrive.

You smiled at me (Blue Bossa) is a representation of what Mitzi can do with her vocals as well as her lyrical styling. She has taken a classic track and metamorphasized it into her own rendition. I particularly enjoyed the classic touch of dual-language verses that give the track a touch of nostalgia.

The way that Mitzi sings in Something Good reminds me of how much talent and control is involved in being a jazz vocalist. It doesn't really compare with any other genre in its intensity and vigor and Mitzi Zilka makes comparisons very difficult to draw upon. Any one who can pull this kind of thing off with the seemingly effortless handlement that Mitzi uses, deserves widely unanimous commendation.

I Don’t Mean a thing if I ain’t Got that Swing. The perfectly attired musical gentlemen that donate their skill to enhance the health and longevity of this album are of stellar calibre and they radiate a tightness in their ‘tracular flow’ that would snap louder than a shark fin hitting a chubby face if it were any tighter.

Social Call can not possible be discussed in any capacity without mention of Ro Davis and trusty Saxophone. He must have either been thrust right out of the womb into the shiny bell of a saxophone that just so happened to be propped up against a chair in the delivery room, or he just simply forged it out of what ever he could get his hands on while floating around in the amniotic fluid of his mother’s uterus!

Bring me Love (Lady Bird)! Reinhardt? Reinhardt? Reinhardt?... How do I love thee let me count the beating of those drums that you play so immaculately well. Along side Reinhardt we have Randy Foster with his gracefully possessed fingertips that could heal the terminally ill, Mitzi’s lyrics that are the kiss that is blown from the red lips from the ship that sails into the sunset, and the vocals that are caressed by a black satin dress flowing in the nights sea breeze.

Tain’t no Body’s Bizness if I do. Dick Titterington certainly needs some shine control on those brass instruments of his, if he doesn’t do anything about the glare that is caused when he plays, that very glare, my dears, could be liable for the blinding of an entire audience with potential law suits to follow. John Wiitala needs to propose marriage to the bass that he is using or at least take her out for dinner before a show just in case her father is seated in the audience. He may get a bit 'anxious' if someone were man-handling his little girl in such a way without having the proper intentions.

Introduce me to your Friend is the perfect set design for that scene in that movie where the lonely single girl who hasn’t been romantically involved with anyone for ages, spots her tall dark dream lover across the room. When she gets up the nerve to ask him for a dance she sees that he has disappeared and gives up hope. He then appears behind her to ask her the very question she had planned to ask him. She accepts. Everyone else on the dance floor is compelled to step aside so that this beautiful pair have free reign over the dimly lit dance floor. As their twirling is spun out of focus, the camera moves toward the spot lit Zilka as she casts her angelic voice over the lovers with the great power that makes them the only two in the room for those beautiful serenading moments. It's the bit where they imagine what their entire lives together would be like from beginning to end and so we have Mitzi at the mic, the band to her side, and the couple entwined.

Short People may well be Dan Balmer’s normal everyday guitar playing at its best but to listeners it’s far more than ordinary, its Eric Clapton and BB King in a boxing match that’s refereed by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Even though these greats may at first appear to be the main attraction, not one soul can take there eyes or ears off of Mitzi and her sassy approach to the song's vocal requirements. 
 
You Stepped out of a Dream has a sort of soul bossa nova-like essence to it as John Stowell works his magic deep into the grains of the stained wood of his acoustic guitar. His playing reminds me of an amalgamation of Don Juan romancing on a sexy Mexican beach and a New York roof top performance for an elite crowd of jazz lovers.      

This is the second ‘presentatitive’ rendition of I Don’t Mean a thing if I ain’t Got that Swing, marking the conclusion of this wonderful piece of art that is an essential jazz album. The track illustrates the outstanding musicianship held by its contributors. It is the pinnacle of how much effort obviously went into this album. It is the beautiful silver lining of the faint clouds that adorn the sun as it passes to leave the day to make way for what the night has to bring.

And so on to the overall synopsis... this album of Mitzi Zilka's was such a pleasure to enjoy. The girl's a saint and the album houses some of the best musicians I have heard appearing together on one jazz album in recent years. Everyone who was involved in its composition, production, arrangement, engineering, and mastering should consider this accomplishment a highlight in life. These guys take everything great and spread that greatness to the world with a kind of creative selflessness. I am drooling at the thought of a second helping so I would sincerely hope that the opportunity to feast on more Mitzi Zilka magic comes in the very near due time…       

 

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