Bass & Face • Duets with Ten Premier Vocalists – Chuck Bergeron

Ten top vocalists on Duos with the sought-after, critically acclaimed bassist, Chuck Bergeron, one of the most active and innovative musicians working in the field of Jazz today!

The vocalists:
Janis Siegel
Pete McGuinness
Kate Reid
George Rabbai
Kevin Mahogany
Lisanne Lyons
Nicole Yarling
Sheila Jordan
Roseanna Vitro
Deborah Silver

Renowned bassist, Chuck Bergeron has been very fortunate in his career to have worked with some incredible vocalists in various settings, and he has wanted to do this project for a very long time. As a bass player, he had often been envious of pianists or guitarists who typically get the opportunity to share the intimacy of a duet with a singer. Those instruments provide a full range of harmony that can blend effortlessly in a duo format. The bass is a little more limited, so a bit more challenging. What he believes makes this project work is the incredible talent and skill the vocalists on this recording possess (as well as their patience with him!), and he is very grateful that they all agreed to participate. All of the tracks were recorded “live,” not overdubbed – the vocalist in one room and Bergeron in the other.

…also on Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West
Charles Pillow – saxophone
Phil Strange – piano
John Riley – drums

…and on Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love, and Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans:
Phil Strange – piano

REVIEW:

What a unique twist, to pair vocalists with a prolific bassist and record an entire album with the original instrument of voice aligned with Chuck Bergeron’s awesome double bass!  … Here is a wonderful celebration of bass and voice. It also shines a bright light on Chuck Bergeron’s exceptional talents as a bass master, both soloist and accompanist.

-Dee Dee McNeil for Musical Memoirs

REVIEW:

Summary: Bassist Chuck Bergeron brings together Janis Siegel, Sheila Jordan, Pete McGuinness and other standout vocalists for “Bass and Face,” a strikingly intimate jazz album of bass and voice duos that highlights vulnerability, precision and musical conversation at its purest.

When a musician like bassist Chuck Bergeron invites artists such as Janis Siegel from the legendary The Manhattan Transfer, it becomes almost impossible not to pay attention. For listeners who have cherished that group for years, the promise alone is enough to spark curiosity. Add names such as Sheila Jordan, Kevin Mahogany, Pete McGuinness, Roseanna Vitro, George Rabbai, Deborah Silver, Lisanne Lyons, Kate Reid and Nicole Yarling, and expectations naturally rise toward something rare: an album built not on excess or production tricks, but on trust, intimacy and musical honesty…

…“Bass and Face” may sound like a modest title, but it belongs to an album of remarkable emotional depth, one that feels destined to leave a lasting mark on contemporary vocal jazz. What lingers after the final track is not technical brilliance alone, although there is plenty of that. It is the sense of humanity running through the record, the simplicity, the vulnerability and the unmistakable love for music present in every performance.

-Thierry De Clemensat for Paris Move

REVIEW:

Chuck Bergeron has performed with many vocalists during his forty year career as a jazz bassist.   During a brief time living in Seattle, he worked with vocalist Kendra Shank, and during their gigs, they always did a song with just voice and bass that Shank referred to as their “bass and face” moment in their set.  This led Bergeron to his latest undertaking, an album titled Bass & Face (Summit – 852), a program of twelve tracks with jazz vocalists, Janis Siegel (“An Occasional Man” and “When I Drink”), Pete McGuinness (“Emily”), Kate Reid (“Devil May Care”), George Rabbai (“I Thought About You”), Kevin Mahogany (“Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West” and “Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love”), Lissane Lyons (“Detour Ahead”), Nicole Yarling (“Audubon Zoo”/“Iko-Iko”), Sheila Jordan (“Fair Weather”), Roseanna Vitro (“Take the Wrinkles Out of Your Birthday Suit”) and Deborah Silver (“Analog”).On some tracks, there were other instruments, percussionist Richie Bravo on the Siegel tracks, guitarist John Hart on the Jordan track, Rabbai playing trumpet on his track, saxophonist Charles Pillow, pianist Phil Strange and drummer John Riley on “Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West,” and Strange on “Duke Ellington’s Sound of Love.”  Bergeron and Strange also play a piano/bass duo on “DoYou Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans,” a nod to Bergeron’s hometown, to conclude the program.  It is interesting to hear the different styles of each vocalist, all jazz-influenced in different ways.  Bergeron took on a unique project and the results are fascinating.

-Joseph Lang for Jersey Jazz