Album Review: This Year's Kisses by Danielle Reich

Danielle Reich
This Year's Kisses

Whether Danielle Reich is sinking her vocals into a lush ballad or soaring with a daydreamy uptempo, she sings with a smile on her face and the view of loving life in her mind. Her debut album This Year's Kisses features a selection of standards that accentuate the candlelight aesthetics in her timbres and the elegant stride of her intonations. Produced by her trumpet player Carol Morgan, This Year's Kisses rejuvenates the sensual grooves of nocturnal blues and the caressive strokes of cabaret swing.

The finger-snapping rhythm pulsating through the title track and "On The Street Where You Live" cushion the ambling gait of Reich's vocals and enhances the perky glow in her delivery. Her versing through Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas" recalls of the emotive inflections of Edith Piaf. The soft flickers illuminating "Crazy He Calls Me" and "Along Together" silhouette Reich's expressive voicing, and the velvety grip of her vocals in "All Or Nothing At All" steers the track with a sensual touch.

Unable to sing a single note wrong wherever she takes the verses, Reich is a paragon of suaveness. The calypso sway of "Sabor A Mi" produces a star-lit ambience as Reich's vocals wrap around the Spanish lyrics. The brisk flapping of Seth Paynter's saxophone in "Speak Low" brands the track with breaths of serenity, and his stirring solo in "At Seventeen" elevates a somber melody to a level of libation.

Danielle Reich treats pleasing melodies as an art form. The improvisations she imprints in her vocal nuances turn standards into fertile ground where verses become malleable in her buttery grip. She delivers every lyric with a caressive touch which escalates the appeal of cabaret-tinged tunes and bluesy nocturnes.

Musicians:
Danielle Reich - vocals, Seth Paynter - tenor saxophone, Carol Morgan - trumpet, Andrew Lienhard - piano, David Craig - bass, and Daleton Lee - drums

Tracklisting:
On The Street Where You Live, If I Loved You, How Long Has This Been Going On, Alone Together, Sabor A Mi, Crazy He Calls Me, Speak Low, This Year's Kisses, Ne Me Quitte Pas, All Or Nothing At All, At Seventeen, Green Chimneys/Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
www.daniellereich.com