“The overall idea of this recording was to be more intimate... more vulnerable. By vulnerable I mean exposing more of myself. That's why I used sparser combinations rather than always having the support of the full trio."
Sparser in number, maybe, but not in depth, as Carla's accompanying musicians each rose to the challenge brilliantly. Calling on musicians with whom she's had lengthy collaborative relationships, Peter Madsen on piano, Dean Johnson on bass, Tom Rainey on drums and Lew Tabackin on tenor sax have worked with her on and off for varying lengths of 8-20 years. And the excellent percussionist Steve Berrios sounds as if he has as well.
Producing the date on her own, the diverse and well-programmed assortment of 11 tracks includes two lesser-known works by Ellington and Strayhorn - Duke's I Didn't Know About You and Billy's Bittersweet (with lyrics written by Roger Schore) - as well as three tunes by Richard Rodgers -- This Can't Be Love, It's Easy To Remember, and the title track -- Adler and Ross' Two Lost Souls (from Damn Yankees), and an original, But I Was Wrong.
Although only Bittersweet (bass and piano only) and the Dietz and Schwartz classic Alone Together (just bass) abandon the trio format entirely, Carla's arrangements allow for many variations within. Her percussive scatting with Berrios to open Bloom and Mercer's Day In - Day Out, the verse of I Didn't Know About You in duet with Tabackin, and the drum and voice opening chorus on This Can't Be Love are just three examples, but many more occur with a fluid and uncontrived spontaneity throughout the album.
“Lyrics are especially important to me," says Carla, which is why noted critics, such as the Los Angeles Times
For more information contact All About Jazz.
