Eternal (Palmetto)
Chris McNulty
Released March 23, 2015
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mLPLzfc3tus8nhZMpkbwfOMFX9U3k4Vek
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0p9FEU4o4k3dfD27YnRcCf?si=AXsiaawGR2Wr-FHQXmQoVQ
About:
Chris McNulty in collaboration with gifted Australian orchestrator, Steve Newcomb celebrates the life of her son, Sam in this breathtaking new release. “Eternal” exquisitely melds the sound of chamber ensemble (strings & woodwinds) and jazz quintet. McNulty asserts that she never sings a song unless she can connect with it personally and make it truly her own. The selection of repertoire for her seventh CD, Eternal, carried an even more deeply personal requirement, however: celebrating the life of McNulty’s cherished son Sam, who passed away in 2011. The gorgeously heartfelt and emotionally moving album, released in 2015 on Palmetto Records, is a sublime love letter expressing the ineradicable bond between mother and child, with an exquisite blend of jazz quintet and chamber ensemble.
Track Listing:
1. The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers (Sherrill Craig / Steve Kuhn) 04:38 (solo Paul Bollenback)
2. A Flower is a Lovesome Thing (Billy Strayhorn) 06:50 (solo Ben Wendel)
3. What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life (Alan Bergman / Marilyn Bergman / Michel Legrand) 06:13 (solo Matthew Jodrell)
4. Where Is Love (Lionel Bart) 05:16
5. You Are There (Chris McNulty) 03:07
6. Star Dust (Hoagy Carmichael) 02:49
7. Nature Boy (Eden Ahbez) 05:42
8. Yesterday I Heard the Rain (Armando Manzanero Canche / Gene Lees) 03:48
9. Love Came On Stealthy Fingers (Bob Dorough) 05:07 (solo Matthew Jodrell)
10. On a Clear Day (Burton Lane / Alan Jay Lerner) 06:03 (solo Paul Bollenback)
11. With Every Breath I Take (Cy Coleman / David Joel Zippel) 05:35
12. Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Al Dubin / Harry Warren) 03:38 (solo Ivan Barenboim)
Personnel:
Chris McNulty: vocals
John Di Martino: piano, trio arrangements
Ugonna Okegwo: bass
Gregory Hutchinson: drums
Paul Bollenback: guitar (1, 10)
Chamber Ensemble – Mazz Swift, Josh Henderson, Amanda Lo: violins; Trevor New: viola; Meaghan Burke, Marika Hughes: cellos
Jodie Rottle: flue, alto flute
Ivan Barenboim: clarinet, bass clarinet
John Morgan-Bush: French horn
Ben Wendel: bassoon
Matthew Jodrell: flugelhorn (3, 9)
Recorded January 2013, at Water Sound, Hoboken
Produced by Chris McNulty & Steve Newcomb
Session engineer: Sean Kelly
Mixed and Mastered by Dave Darlington
Photography: John Abbott
Graphic Design: Chris Conole
Review:
The heartbreak of losing one’s child is almost unfathomable. Singer Chris McNulty lost her son Sam McNulty—a.k.a. Chap One, a promising, jazz-influenced hip-hop artist—suddenly and tragically in 2011 at age 30. McNulty has put all she has learned over half a lifetime of jazz singing and songwriting into this exquisite chamber jazz CD. The Australianborn, New York City-based singer, well-known in her native country and a veteran performer on the international jazz scene, has many gifts as a performer: a rich warm tone, an adventurous spirit and a direct channel to the emotional core of a lyric. The very essence of the album is best expressed in McNulty’s one original, the intensely moving “You Are There” (not to be confused with Dave Frishberg’s song of the same name), which includes the lines, “Wherever I go, you are there / The scent of your soul, it will always be there.” On this CD, McNulty bares her soul, and one doesn’t dare look away.
Allen Morrison (DownBeat)
