Welsman

Internationally acclaimed singer and pianist Carol Welsman teamed with multi-Grammy winning Latin Producer and arranger, Oscar Hernandez on her latest album “Dance with Me” featuring the powerful duet with Latin Superstar Juan Luis Guerra - an English adaptation of Juan Luis’ hit song “Si tú no bailas conmigo”. The All-Star band includes drummer Jimmy Branly, Rene Camacho on bass, Justo Almario on saxophone and flute, and Joey de Leon on percussion. Album highlights include English versions of famous Cuban boleros, Cha Cha Chas that have never before been adapted for English audiences, plus great American Songbook standards with salsa and mambo rhythms.

Although Carol Welsman has moved to the Los Angeles area, she is best known in her native Canada. While frequently identified with smooth jazz, she has also recorded vintage standards and can swing in straight-ahead jazz settings, too. Her father was a big jazz fan with a large record collection, introducing his daughter to jazz. Not only did she hear his records, but from the age of 12 she often accompanied him to concerts, developing a love for the singing of Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, and Mel Tormé. Welsman played guitar from the age of ten, accompanying her singing of bossa novas and folk music. She began to perform jazz more in her late teens. Welsman attended the Berklee College of Music during 1980-1981 and studied voice in France with Christiane Legrand…

The success of Carol Welsman's I Like Men: Reflections of Miss Peggy Lee defies the odds. The idea of doing "tribute" albums to more famous performers in the jazz genre is as commercially enticing as it is artistically dicey. It's hard to gain a footing in jazz, and associating oneself with a well-known name is an obvious way to get attention. But the jazz section of record stores (brick-and-mortar and in cyberspace) is strewn with failed efforts in which performers were saddled with material unsuited to them, and with which they were unfamiliar before the call came from their managers. Then, too, the tribute concept works better in a live setting than on disc, since the question always comes up, why not just listen to a recording actually by the original artist?…

Carol Welsman sings an easy, airy, romantic set with hints of passion and sensuality immersed in a savory palate of impressive nuance on The Language of Love. With three Juno Award nominations as well as the 2002 Vocalist of the Year award, the internationally acclaimed vocalist and pianist is appreciated more than ever. Welsman immaculately captures the unique expressions of love with elongated phrasings, lite scats, and endearing vocal techniques delectably mirrored in her bluesy rendition of Gershwin's "The Man I Love" and through the gentle swing of the French version of "Chanson de Maxence."