Tag: Carol Kidd

Title: Carol Kidd – Debut (1984) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Carol Kidd is widely considered to be a singer’s singer. She has been described by Frank Sinatra as “the best kept secret in British Jazz”. While Tony Bennett was prompted to say “you should be world-famous, where’ve you been?” Cleo Laine, who should know about these things, has commented, “her control is thrilling…. She is world class”. This re-issue debut album, originally recorded in 1984, is ample proof that Carol Kidd is indeed an exceptional talent. She has a voice of outstanding beauty, marvellous diction and perfect pitch combined with impeccable jazz feeling.

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Title: Carol Kidd – All My Tomorrows (1985) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

For over a decade, jazz singer Carol Kidd has managed to consistently pull in accolades, “Best Awards,” and honors from an arena consisting of all-time greats such as Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan. Carol Kidd proves her star potential on her second album, “All My Tomorrows”. Now re-mastered for Super Audio CD, this is one of the most popular titles recorded on Linn Records. Carol Kidd and her quartet explore and interpret some classic material from the Great American Songbook.

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Title: Carol Kidd – Nice Work (1987) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Carol Kidd is one of Britain’s best loved jazz singers, and one of her most respected ambassadors in the field worldwide. She has received favourable comparisons with Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee and has had continued praise from modern and traditional performers. These 1987 recordings, are typical of her work, features a spectrum of standards from the Great American Songbook interpreted by a legendary UK singer.
The now-legendary Carol Kidd covers several American Songbook recordings from the likes of Gershwin, Rogers & Hart and Ellington & Strayhorn on Nice Work. On an album of such quality material, Kidd proves that she knows her way around a song, recording with both an ease and flair that never seems forced.

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Title: Carol Kidd – Dreamsville (2008)
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Dreamsville marks the long-awaited return of a UK jazz legend. Dreamsville showcases American Songbook favourites as well as previously unrecorded original songs. Carol Kidd is renowned for her impeccable phrasing and delivery along with an innate ability to breathe fresh life into jazz standards. Dreamsville places a great singer, at the top of her form, back where she belongs – in the upper echelons of world class vocal jazz.

Carol Kidd is well known for her impeccable phrasing and delivery and for her innate ability to breathe fresh life into jazz standards. A Linn Records artist since 1984, Kidd celebrates the 25 year relationship with a hand-picked selection of standards. After the studden death of her partner in 2003, Carol took a complete break from singing for a few years. However, she found therapy in writing the lyrics and penning two songs, co-written with guitarist Nigel Clark, which appear on the album – ‘Do You Believe’ and ‘There Goes My Heart’. The album also features a delightful new version of her signature song ‘When I Dream’. Carol Kidd’s first album in eight years also marks the 25th anniversary of her relationship with the Glasgow-based Linn Records. And what a partnership it has been – Kidd a faultless vocalist of impeccable stylistic credentials, and Linn a beacon of artist and audiophile quality for independent British labels. A tellingly bittersweet and plangent affair, “Dreamsville” is a long overdue return to the fray after the death of her partner in 2003 and subsequent trauma-induced loss of voice. Although now into her 60s, Kidd’s voice remains full of character and colour, an emotionally alert and expressive instrument she puts to perfectly-phrased, beautifully-pitched use with a crafted, lightly-worn elegance that continues to astound as it delights. Two songs are new and self-penned (with guitarist Nigel Clark): There Goes My Heart is a soft, lilting leave-taking, and Do You Believe a hymning lullaby to love and second chances. A heartfelt cover of Harold Arlen’s Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe is offered as a tribute to the late Humphrey Lyttelton and benefits from Paul Harrison’s softly measured piano accompaniment. Indeed the four-piece band assembled here – Mario Caribe on double bass and Alyn Cosker on drums ably partnering Clark and Harrison – prove to be a crack outfit who seize a fabulous opportunity in Cole Porter’s adrenalin-fuelled It’s Alright With Me to show off their virtuosic wares. Illustrating a more sensitive side, Stars Fell on Alabama glints and sparkles with a hushed loveliness that makes much of Kidd’s eloquent ability to hold and extend a note. Familiar standards How Deep is the Ocean?, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square and Can’t We Be Friends? are set down with consummate and engaging ease while Kidd’s signature song, When I Dream, newly arranged by Nigel Clark and producer Graeme Duffin, brings things to a glowing, finely delivered conclusion.

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