Eden Atwood - Turn Me Loose (2009)

1.Home (4:01)
2.Don't Fence Me In (3:17)
3.I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good (5:41)
4.Ain't Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again (3:21)
5.Miss Celie's Blues (Sister) (4:15)
6.Pure Imaginattion (5:29)
7.Ill Wind (4:20)
8.True North (Bonus Track) (4:20)
9.Girl Talk (4:14)
10.Don't Get Around Much Anymore (4:12)
11.The Best Is Yet To Come (3:40)
12.I'll Close My Eyes (4:53)
13.Lazy River (3:09)

Eden Atwood - vocal
David Morgenroth - piano
Chris Colangelo - bass
Joe LaBarbera - drums

Missoula Jazz maven Eden Atwood has just released an album that speaks from her heart. It’s a medley of jazz diamonds rendered in pure Atwood style, and features incomparable sidemen David Morgenroth on piano, Chris Colangelo on bass, and Joe LaBarbera on drums.

It’s not so much Atwood’s vocal sound as her distinctive delivery that grabs the listener. She floats over and around the tunes with superb inflection and command of the jazz lexicon, letting her unparalleled ear lead the way.

Yet something has changed. Her voice is lower, huskier, and it imprints this soulful collection with almost world-weary maturity, lending credence to the songs’ story lines.

Liner notes reveal that Atwood had surgery on her vocal cords in 2007, after overusing and damaging them from singing, teaching, and the demands of raising a child. It was a life-altering experience for her, and this, her first album since then, is a release from the remnants of a previous fast-paced life lived in the jazz worlds of New York, Chicago, and L.A.

She says the musical freedom in Montana has allowed her to stretch out (“no jazz police”), and that “the music isn’t so much in my voice as it is between my ears.” Boy howdy. Check out her cool-breeze take on “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good” by Webster and Ellington; it morphs into a rockin’ barnburner with Morgenroth’s piano pyrotechnics. There’s her bluesy rendition of Cole Porter’s “Don’t Fence Me In.” And there’s the Latin-esque high-hat, rappin’tappin’ rhythm of “Ill Wind” by Koehler and Arlen, with its contrasting sleepy-eyed vocals. The final tune is Carmichael and Arodin’s “Lazy River,” a rump-wiggling train ride with lots of high wailin’ oohs, flyin’ ivories, and kickin’ percussion.

This album showcases the comfort level Atwood brings to her music. You’ll find it mighty comfy to slip into as well. Visit the artist at www.edenatwood.com. ---Mariss McTucker

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

uploaded yandex 4shared mediafire mega solidfiles zalivalka cloudmailru filecloudio oboom

back