This recording reinvents compositions written by the beloved, if somewhat unknown by name, composer of such oft-heard classics as “Bein' Green" and “Sing", as well as thousands of other lesser-known pieces.
Critics have called Imagination “one of the best jazz vocal CDs of the year" (Ted Gioia, Jazz.com) and “a sophisticated reworking of the memorable melodies and lyrics that many of us first heard on children's shows like The Electric Company and Sesame Street...leaving us with grown-up versions of the songs that inspired our childhood dreams" (Suzanne Lorge, AllAboutJazz-New York).
“The most striking track on the album is 'Bein' Green', writes The Wire's Philip Clark, “which, in its original incarnation, was Kermit's protest ballad about green pigmentation that makes frogs 'blend in with so many ordinary things'. Choi's deadpan delivery of the whimsical lyric is underpinned by a dense carpet of chromatic harmony, and the tune inhabits unexpectedly disturbing dimensions as the dislocation between voice and piano symbolises a profound sense of isolation."
The Ottawa Citizen's Peter Hum adds, “they take consistently personal, at times revisionist and occasionally radical, approaches to each track. Choi has a wonderful and at times startling voice, mixing grunts, yips and other extreme effects with more conventional and, indeed, beautiful singing. I like and even admire this CD a lot, for its adventurous spirit and fearless integrity."
For more information contact Improvised Communications.
