LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ By Rick Scott/ Great Scott Productions) - Mary Talbot Fee is going for it.
On Tuesday (March 3), Sketchin' Records released the jazz vocalist's debut disc, Midwinter Night's Dream. For the veteran San Diego-based chanteuse who became enraptured with jazz at just 6 years-old, the album is a mesmerizing 15-track love letter that has been ruminating within her spirit for decades. After years of jazz vocal study under the tutelage of Kevyn Lettau and
Amber Whitlock, Talbot Fee shares her passion on the intimate collection produced by
Amber & Rob Whitlock. It's a sweeping showcase of jazzstandards, international songs sung in four languages, theatrical tunes, and contemporary compositions, many that unfold amidst a winter backdrop.
To Talbot Fee, who was raised in New England, winter is a period of renewal, a time to still the mind, rest and rejuvenate for what lays ahead. For her audacious and ambitious inaugural CD, she collaborated with The Whitlock's in the writing of the album's title track, while the couple composed two additional originals for the album - "Winter Snow Ballet" and "Inverno Di Gielo" - which promulgate the album's winter motif despite an array of styles, moods and languages. Talbot Fee uses song to reveal personal thoughts, experiences and emotions. The vivid lyrical poetry fosters pensive reflection, creates poignant scenarios that linger, and sets the tone for romance. To animate the recording, an accomplished ensemble was assembled in the studio consisting of keyboardist Rob Whitlock (Jazz Crusaders, Eddie Harris), bassist Trey Henry (Tierney Sutton), drummer Cliff Almond (Michele Camillo), guitarist Pat Kelley (George Benson), percussionist Luis Conte (James Taylor), violinist Charlie Bisharat (John Tesh) and flutist John Rekevics (Checkfield) along with a gifted singers such as Amber Whitlock (Max Bennett) and Kleber Jorge (Sergio Mendes).
The press and radio has warmly embraced Talbot Fee's curtain raiser. The Smooth-Jazz.de website wrote "Midwinter Night's Dream is a superb collection.for all jazz aficionados and lovers of jazz ballades." Breakfast with Bubba host Bubba Jackson of KKJZ-FM in Los Angeles-Long Beach concurred declaring, "I love this CD. The music is outside of the box and Mary delivers... this is totally in the pocket for me. They did everything right on this (album). There are 4 or 5 cuts that I want to play. I'm totally impressed with the complete package and what a great voice!"
Talbot Fee was introduced to opera, show tunes, jazz and singing in church at a young age. Her mother, Angela, for whom the album is dedicated, was an opera singer and a musical comedy actress who performed at Carnegie Hall. The album cut "Angela" was sung in Portuguese to symbolize the inability the singer had communicating with her mother when the matriarch was afflicted with Alzheimer's disease.
Despite Talbot Fee's affinity for jazz, she chose to focus on dance, figure skating and teaching. Not wanting to leave anything undone in a full and complete life, she decided to finally realize the dream of recording the album that has long been waiting to emerge from her heart. Additional information is available at www.marytalbotfee.com and www.sketchinrecords.com.
