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CD: May I Come In?
Cadence Magazine
Review by Alan Bargebuhr
"May I Come In?" brings to light the hitherto recondite vocal gifts of Gail Pettis. Despite having established herself in and around her Seattle base, and in various foreign ports of call, such as The Netherlands, where she was recently artist-in-residence at the Amersfoort Jazz Festival, and in Japan where she was guest artist at the Kobe Annual Jazz Vocal Queen Competition, here at home she remains more or less unknown east of the Cascades. This CD, if it gets any sort of distribution and notice, should help to rectify that, and this is my contribution to setting things right. Happily, she's made it easy, for here, on her initial release, we find her with all her vocal plucks in town, and one is only left wondering, why this is only her first recording. She has a lovely contralto voice, with depth of texture and tone, and breadth of range. She phrases beautifully, enunciates clearly, and obviously understands the necessity of conveying the song stories convincingly. She sings in tune and makes it sound as natural a breathing.
This recording is the result of at least two separate sessions, as there are two distinctly different trios in support, albeit with an overlapping drummer. Halberstadt and Johnson are two thirds of the trio backing her for six tracks, Clendedin and Anderson for another five. Ivester is at the drum kit for both. Bassist Jeff Johnson is Ms. P's sole support on a stunningly nuanced "Accustomed," and pianist Halberstadt her only assistant on "Before," which, incidentally, is his own tune: both music as lyric, as his is the only credit listed. Unfortunately, it's not a very strong vehicle for such an accomplished singer as Pettis, but let's not question its inclusion on the program. It may be about the regard with which each views the other. The song is one of those you're-the-love-I-waited-for celebrations, and contains far too many cliched lines, if not ideas. The performance, however, is all but rhapsodic and comes close to redemption. But the track, positioned as it is near the end of the program, is part of the album's final four flaw, in that these last tracks are, from the point of view of repertoire, a considerable let down when measured against the first nine. "If I Were You," is not the song Billie recorded in 1938, nor is it the Rodgers & Hart song of identical title, nor-finally-the song Maria Muldaur sings on her Southland CD. It is, as far as I can determine, a song Ray Charles "used" on one of his country & western digressions. Strange that Ms. P. chose to resurrect it for her initial recording. "Dream" is a disposable Bobby Caldwell tune, but I'm relieved to be able to report that Ms. P. sings it as "The Guy I Dream About," just as she corrects the gender on the final track, when she sings, "He Spoke To Me," which, if anyone's terribly interested, is no the Prince tune of similar (but not identical) title. Still, the first nine tracks are more than enough to carry the session(s). Gail is deliciously soulful on "Come in," seductively playful on "Good Girl," as she stirs memories of Ruth Brown, rhythmically sure footed in accelerated waltz time on "Show Me," and happily scatfull on "Just Found Out." The first nine tracks, then, are all that's needed for a most formidable recorded debut.
CD: May I Come In?
Earshot Jazz
Review by Peter Monaghan
Gail Pettis's May I Come In (Oa2 Records) won't disappoint anyone who has found the vocalist one of the finest in the region. And if you have a surpassing-fine voice and want to do it full justice, you can hardly go wrong having Randy Halberstadt accompany you on piano, among other able sidemen including pianist Darin Clendenin, bassists Jeff Johnson and Clipper Anderson, and drummer Mark Ivester. Their maturity and subtlety of sentiment match Pettis's vocal expression. She shows that sometime-anodyne lyrics need not obscure feeling, and may even at times dutifully keep out of the way of the affect that is vocally conveyed.
CD: May I Come In?
Platter Chatter
Review by George Fendel Maybe a few of you remember a very talented, generally unheralded singer named Ethel Ennis. Well, Gail Pettis reminded me a bit of Ms. Ennis, and that's to say, she's very good and sings effortlessly and with no "frosting." Great tunes here like Black Coffee, Desafinado, Show Me and lots more. Ms. Pettis' trio accompaniment includes Randy Halberstadt and former Portlander Darin Clendenin, both of whom are classy piano practitioners. |
CD: May I Come In?
Rifftides.com
Review by Doug Ramsey
On her recording debut, the Seattle singer chooses a mixture of familiar standards and less well-known songs, delivering them with warmth and intelligent interpretation. Pettis concentrates on serving songwriters' intentions, but her delighted treatment of Jimmy McHugh's "I Just Found Out Sbout Love" includes one of two scatting episodes in the collection. She scats with musicianly understanding of harmony. There is not of lot of that going around among singers. Pettis gives "Black Coffee its bluesy due but avoids the affected emotion with which many singers are tempted to smother the song. In "Ive Grown Accustomed to Your Face", bassist Jeff Johnson, with his customary strength and sensitivitiy, is the singer's sole accompanist. "We've Met Before" is a duet between Pettis and pianist Randy Halberstadt. With this lovely song, Halberstadt may have composed a new standard. He and Johnson are on half of the tracks. On the other half, Darin Clendenin is the pianist, Clipper Anderson the bassist, Pacific Northwest stalwarts in good form, as is Mark Ivester, who plays drums throughout. Pettis keeps her considerable vocal power in reserve, using it with restraint and taste. In the burgeoning populaiton of new singers, she is a standout.
CD: May I Come In?
Allmusic.com
Review by Adam Greenberg
On her debut recording, Gail Pettis shows off a nice sensitivity to her music. The songs, a mix of standards, originals, and lost classics, are given a touching respect. Maybe more importantly though, Pettis is singing along with the band, as opposed to singing in front of a backing group. The piano (alternately played by Randy Halberstadt and Darin Clendenin) comes out front nearly as often as Pettis does, and when the time is right other instruments come to join it (in particular, Marco de Carvalho's guitar on the classic "Desafinado"). Pettis has a nice quality to her vocals that goes along with those sensitivities as well. Her tone is more relaxed than that of many singers, with a natural touch to it. The songs sound like they're simply part of her day, not overpracticed or overdone. There's interplay between her vocals and each instrument individually (even a bit of a duet with the bass in "I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face"). This has the feel of catching an underappreciated songstress at a small club -- the romantic ideal of the jazz hole-in-the-wall. There's passion in her singing, and the execution is excellent on the part of Pettis as well as her two trios. Definitely worth a spin.
Dappere Pettis geeft Jazzfestijn glans
maandag 15 mei 2006
'Ondanks jetlag zingt
Gail Pettis over
De Liefde
met hoofdletters'
(full article opens in new window)
Evermore, with Feeling:
Jazz Vocalist Gail Pettis
Touches the Essence
and Soul of Song
Article by Todd Matthews, Earshot Jazz
For vocalist Gail Pettis, it isn't enough to simply know how to sing the jazz standards. Crooning ballads and familiar tunes is nice, but Pettis is a vocalist searching for more. If you've seen her recent performances at Bake's Place in Redmond, the Fireside Room at the Sorrento Hotel in Seattle, or La Spiga on Capitol Hill, then you've probably witnessed that exploration. A performance provides Pettis the opportunity to process, learn, reflect, and quite often unpack a tune in search of its core feeling and emotion. It's a goal that Pettis frequently achieves, and with a soulful grace that makes the process seem almost effortless.
It's remarkable, really. And it's something I asked Pettis about in May, when we met at a Broadway coffee shop, on what happened to be her forty-seventh birthday. "Having coffee, which I love, and talking about music, which I love, is a great start to my birthday," she said. During our interview, Pettis exhibited a quiet assurance as she explained what she was looking for through music. "As I experience it, the currency of jazz is emotion," she explained. "That's what you give and hopefully get back. Many of my song selections are a result of how I feel after listening to a particular song for the first time. Several of the tunes I perform were chosen after hearing only an instrumental version and discovering the lyrics much later."
That's how Pettis settled on tunes such as "In the Wee Small Hours" and "The Touch of your Lips," two songs, when performed by the Randy Halberstadt Trio several years ago, resonated for her — and that she performs quite well. "But it's about more than just the song choices. I like to share with people what I experience when I sing. So far, people have responded positively, and that has been very gratifying."
The journey leading to that experience traces back to Gary, Indiana, where Pettis grew up. Her parents were music fans: Ray Charles, Nancy Wilson, Gloria Lynne, and Maxine Brown records filled the home. Pettis's mom, Evelyn, and dad, Arthur, sang casually around the house, and her grandfather was a blues guitarist in Chicago during the late-1920s and early-1930s. Pettis and her sister, Terre, sang in church, school choirs, and musical theatre productions. As a young person, Pettis joined the high school band. Initially, she wanted to play the tuba. The director, however, needed a French horn player. If Pettis could learn to play it, she could join the band. "I became fairly proficient and grew to really love it," she said. "One of these days, I would like to pick it up again and see if there is room in the world for jazz French horn."
Two years out of high school, though, and Pettis had stopped playing the horn. She occasionally performed choral work, but music was not the priority that it is today. "I lived in Memphis for about ten years," she recalled, "and I don't know if I stepped foot in any place on Beale Street the whole time. That was blues territory, but I wasn't into blues or jazz at all. Can you believe that?"
She arrived at music again through dance. When Pettis moved to Seattle in 1996, she learned West Coast swing: a style of swing dance that is less about the jitterbug and ponytails and big skirts, and more about communication and improvisation. "I was dancing heavily," she said. "It was the kind of thing where if you did it enough, there was kind of a Zen that you got into and really enjoyed. West Coast swing really lends itself to improvisation. Mastering the fundamentals gives you the freedom to respond to anything happening in the music. For example, if there is an interesting bass line, you can interrupt or replace part of the basic dance pattern to mirror what you hear in your footwork. Meanwhile, your partner is either joining in or responding to a different component of the music — but it all works."
Pettis danced for about three years before a knee injury permanently kept her off the dance floor. So she turned to jazz. In 2002, she enrolled in a jazz performance ensemble workshop at MusicWorks Northwest taught by Darren Motamedy. It was her first formal music course since leaving high school in 1976. "I was the only adult and the only vocalist in a room full of middle school and high school horn players," she recalled. "It was interesting because they were so conversant in music theory and musical terminology, and I knew very little. Whatever I had learned in 1976 had long since been forgotten. Darren would ask the class a basic theory question, and I wouldn't have an idea. I taped the classes so that I could learn because I couldn't take notes using the terminology that was being used."
The following year, Pettis enrolled in jazz workshops taught by Dee Daniels (at the Experience Music Project) and Greta Matassa.
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"[I]t's about more than just the song choices," says Pettis. "I like to share with people what I experience when I sing. So far, people have responded positively, and that has been very gratifying." |
Looking back, Pettis can see that her past experience with West Coast swing actually informed her new experience with jazz. "I feel like jazz is a pretty natural transition from West Coast swing because there are a lot of similarities — mostly listening and responding," she explained. "And you can dance with the same partner to the same song, but no dance is ever the same. You hear something different and you feel something different each time."
Perhaps the records her parents played while she was a growing up influenced her decision to sing. She recently opened a box of her father's old records, and she is currently fixing her turntable so she can listen to the them and, perhaps, identify some influences. "As I was unpacking these records," she said. "I started to wonder how many people may have been an influence byond the ones I actually remember hearing. I'm anxious to find out if music from the more unfamiliar artists resonates on some level."
To be sure, Pettis has found inspiration and influences from varying sources.
She adores the work of Bobby Caldwell and Kevin Mahogany. "I love the way I feel when I listen to them," she said. In particular, a Caldwell album of standards continues to inspire. "When I heard him sing those standards," she recalled, "I fell in love with every song."
And jazz singer Greta Matassa, with whom Pettis studies, has also provided inspiration. "Greta is a wonderful and generous," said Pettis. "She has a natural gift for teaching and she knows how to zero in on exactly what needs attention."
She also finds inspiration and support within the Pacific Northwest jazz community. She networked early with some of the region's top jazz musicians — pianists Randy Halberstadt and Darin Clendenin, and bassists Jeff Johnson and Clipper Anderson — with whom she continues to perform today. "I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to play with musicians of this caliber," she said. "I have grown so much by working with them and being influenced by their musicianship, professionalism, and the sheer love of what they do." |
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