Chantal Chamberlan

New York improvising guitarist Bill Frisell recording with Dutch/Belgian chanteuse Chantal Acda (Sleepingdog) at the 2017 Jazz Middelheim Fest, in Antwerp, Belgium, which they agreed to do based on mutual satisfaction of their collaboration on Acda's studio album "Bounce Back" that year, resulting in a wonderfully compatible concert of rich and beautiful music.

The mythical life of Stradella, murdered on a Genoese piazza at the age of forty-two on the orders of a jealous rival in love, has inspired several novels and operas.

While Chantal's three previous solo albums were immaculately produced by two luminaries of the so-called "post-classical" scene (Nils Frahm, Peter Broderick and Phill Brown respectively), Saturday Moon is a more feral child and is all the stronger for it. The album spins and turns and upends preconceptions throughout its length. There are sonic surprises like Alan from Low's guitar synth on "Disappear," a song that ends in a tornado of electricity and also features backing vocals from Low bandmate Mimi. Atmospheric guitar legend Bill Frisell delicately converses with two tracks. Shahzad Ismaily of Tom Waits and Marc Ribot fame plays haunted six string fractures on one of the album's darkest songs "Conflict of Minds", together with Borgar Magnason (Sigur Rós, Björk). There are eighteen musicians in total on the album. Strings, horns, contrabass and piano are also woven into the kaleidoscopic, eclectic mesh. It is a human-all-too-human balance of things. Clarity and randomness. Anger and elation. Loss and awakening. The personal and the communal.

This excellent disc brings together, as far as I know, all of Ravel's chamber music for the violin with various one-instrument accompaniment (and in the case of the sonata for violin and cello not merely accompaniment). It is, quite simply, a delight from beginning to end. To start with the shorter works, the Kaddisch and Berceuse are poignantly played and the Habanera is lightly and subtly varied in texture and color. Juillet's singing, smooth tone is as deliciously perfect as I could possibly imagine, and the playing is, even more importantly, exquisitely phrased.

Slow burning passion and world-weary grit coalesce in the sultry, urban nightclub-style vocals of Chantal Chamberland. The Canadian singer/songwriter mines the depths of emotion once again with her album THIS IS OUR TIME, a collection of original compositions, pop covers and classic torch songs. With her mature, aggressive vocal delivery, Chamberland turns each of these songs into an intense display of soul-searching poignancy.Included is a lusciously smoky rendition of the Peggy Lee classic "Fever,"an already sensual song that Chamberland makes even more potent.

French Canadian singer Chantal Chamberland strikes a perfect balance between the soul of the classic singer/songwriter and the dynamic verve of a jazz chanteuse. She can swing with the best of them, then capture your heart with a soft torch song. Her sixth album, SOIREE, captures both of those components - lively and tender, with a beautiful collection of songs mostly sung in French.

Fall in love with jazz all over again. Those familiar with this stunning Canadian talent will not believe their ears. Just when you thought the voice could not get any smoother, stronger or sexier, Chantal serves up her latest release, the Other Woman.