DEEP SOUTH JAZZ SINGER’S RELEASE OF “BRAND NEW WOMAN” CD

REFLECTS WHO SHE HAS BECOME

Jane Drake, an Alabama-born singer, who once withdrew from music because of the death of her musical partner, has come back with a passion. She has just released her first CD, “Brand New Woman,” which has already gone “global” with airplay on 75 plus jazz radio stations including The Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Luxembourg. In 2006, it was the #1 jazz CD of the Week at WCFM in MA, and placed in The Top 10 eighteen times at various other stations. Now this jazz singer is looking to find the wider attention her talent deserves, starting with a recent live performance/interview for Georgia Public Broadcasting’s “The Jazz Spot with Masani.”

Drake is accompanied on her CD by a fittingly first-rate rhythm section, all but one from nearby Birmingham, AL. Drummer Sonny Harris is highly experienced and respected musician and a candidate for the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Chris Wendle is one of the best bassists in the state. Pianist/arranger/conductor J. Hatch – a long time friend of Drake – came from Germany to record with her.

A professional touring vocalist since her university days, Drake grew up in the tiny town of Daviston, Alabama, and started winning local and regional talent shows early on. However, at Auburn University, her musical direction changed forever. At a dance one evening she witnessed a performance by the highly regarded Auburn Knights Orchestra featuring a young singer named Toni Tennille, later of Captain and Tennille fame. Drake admits to having been “blown away” by the performance. From then on, using the seasoned artistry of Ella Fitzgerald and the bold brilliance of a young Nancy Wilson for inspiration, jazz became her only musical focus.

Later following Tennille as the “girl singer” with the same band, Drake embarked on her first tour. After college she sang with the Tommy Martin band before honing her craft with various combos throughout the southeast for the next 15 years, from Bourbon Street in New Orleans to the prestigious Piedmont Driving Club in Atlanta.

Drake freely admits to suffering from stage fright during most of her career. But through years of deep spiritual examination and study, which helped her recover the joy of music after the loss of her musical partner, she experienced a miraculous transformation. Her fear left, instantly, as she walked on stage to deliver the most demanding solo performance of her life.

That performance was in 2004, when Drake was invited to deliver a part lecture/part performance show on the subject of women in jazz for Auburn University’s Women’s Leadership Institute. She developed a show called “Six Legendary Jazz Vocalists, their Lives and Music.” The six were Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Carmen McRae, and Betty Carter. The Institute was international in scope; young women leaders from all over the world attended. The show was well received with two standing ovations.

Critics are resounding in their praise of Drake’s CD. "Jane's an assertive singer,” writes Bart Grooms, columnist for Alabama’s entertainment magazine Black and White, “capable of alternating between silky legato slides and a punctuated, bluesy delivery, as she does on her improbable-but-boy-does-she-pull-it-off medley of Thelonious Monk's ‘Round Midnight’ and Sarah Vaughan's hit ‘Black Coffee. And she can scat like nobody’s business too.”

"I enjoyed this CD very much, especially "Midnight/Black Coffee," declares Dave Frishberg, pianist/songwriter for Concord Records and long time sideman for the legendary Zoot Sims, “and I like the King Cole trio references on "Frim Fram Sauce" – I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. Jane's a wonderful singer and deliverer of material. Thoughtful, clever charts too, full of surprises."

And now the world needs to turn its attention to Jane Drake, beginning with the CD, “Brand New Woman.” She has become the living embodiment of her title by finally having the courage to reach for what she has always wanted. No, it’s never too late to follow your dreams. This “Brand New Woman” is the proof.

I'm New Here!

posted August 25th at 4:27pm

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