We Had A Moment – Deborah Shulman

COMPOSERS: Stephen Sondheim, David Mann, Red Evans, Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu, Billy Joel/Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Richard Rudoph, Jeremy Lubbock, Randy Edleman, Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler, Cole Porter, Michel Legrand, Allan & Marilyn Bergman

Sometimes, music becomes more than an art – it becomes a way through. WE HAD A MOMENT was born in the quiet hours between radiation treatments, when jazz vocalist Deborah Shulman began putting together a set of songs that felt unusually personal. These are more than just standards, they are emotional expressions bearing the marks of devotion, irony, grief, grace – and always – love.

Together with longtime collaborators pianist/arranger Jeff Colella and engineer/producer Paul Tavenner, Deborah crafted an album that swings, sighs and surprises. The rhythm section is a who’s who of jazz mastery: pianists Jeff Colella and the legendary Terry Trotter (to whom is graciously honored on this album), bassists Kenny Wild and Chris Colangelo, drummers Joe LaBarbera and Kendall Kay, and guitarist Larry Koonse, all bring their subtle fire and deep empathy to every phrase.

There’s dark wit and social satire (Miss Otis Regrets), quiet perseverance and hope (Without a Song), the serenity of being home and the restless drive to make it (New York State of Mind / On Broadway), the bittersweet elegance of endings (Goodbye Love / Not Like This), and a bossa nova-tinged tenderness in With So Little To Be Sure Of, the Stephen Sondheim ballad whose lyric “we had a moment” gave the album its emotional center.

These are stories sung by someone who’s lived them, and who still finds time to laugh in the margins. Throughout the album, you’ll find tender reminiscing and wisdom that’s only attained through love, loss, hope and forgiveness – all bound by the profound acknowledgment of the little time we’re given.

REVIEW:

Vocalist Deborah Shulman invites music lovers into a world of reflection and quiet strength on We Had a Moment, with pianist/arranger Jeff Colella and pianist Terry Trotter, guitarist Larry Koonse, bassist Kenny Wild and Chris Colangelo, and drummers Joe LaBarbera and Kendall Kay. Drawing from composers including Stephen Sondheim, Harold Arlen, and Cole Porter, this collection transforms well-known songs and smartly selected rarities into a personal journey of love, loss, and hope. Shulman’s delivery is deeply intimate, and the album affirms that music can reflect life’s fragile moments and, at times, transcend them.

D. Glenn Daniels for The Jazz Page

REVIEW:

Deborah Shulman is an accomplished vocalist who is a mainstay on the Los Angeles scene.  We Had a Moment (Summit – 843) is her sixth album.  Her ten-track program is selected with great taste, and she sings each lyric with deep respect and understanding.  Her voice is smooth and welcoming.  The selections are “Anyone Can Whistle,” “No Moon at All,” “Without a Song,” “New York State of Mind/On Broadway,” “With So Little to Be Sure Of,” “Goodbye Love/Not Like This,” “The Laughter and the Tears,” “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” “Miss Otis Regrets” and “You Must Believe in Spring.”  To support her, she has excellent musicians with Jeff Colella or Terry Trotter on piano, Ken Wild or Chris Colangelo on bass and Joe LaBarbera or Kendall Kay on drums with occasional contributions from Larry Koonse on guitar.

-Joe Lang for Jersey Jazz 

REVIEW:

Known best as one of LA’s most popular vocal coaches, Deborah Shulman practices what she preaches on this album of standards with an all-star team of Jeff Colella-Terry Trotter/p, Ken Wild-Chris Colangelo/b, Joe LaBarbera-Kendall Kay/dr and Larry Koonse/g. She does a wondrous and graceful “Goodbye Love/Not Like This” with the sensitive Colella, while the medley of “New York State Of Mind/On Broadway” features streetwise expressionism. She gets husky on “The Laughter and the Tears” and is relaxed around the Spartan support of Colella and Wild on ”Anyone Can Whistle”, samba-ing with style for “ With So Little To Be Sure”.  A dash of Broadway and sprinkle of after hours.

-George Harris for Jazz Weekly

REVIEW:

Presented as a reflection of the longing she always had to be on Broadway, it’s perfectly in line with Shulman’s overall theme of creating fresh, passionately and beautifully arranged interpretations of thoughtful standards and amazing relative obscurities connected to her personal life in the wake of rounds of successful cancer treatments. Considering that the last project she and Colella collaborated on was the ultra-ambitious The Shakespeare Project, we shouldn’t be surprised that a woman whose range and pristine voice could create sultry, swinging excitement of any random assembling of great tunes chose instead to methodically choose just the right ones to convey her innermost longings, sorrows and joys while leaving us with a sliver of hope.

While the majority of the tracks were recorded over the past few years with Colella, she reached back into her catalog of previously unreleased tracks she recorded in the past with another L.A. powerhouse pianist/arranger, Terry Trotter for three songs that fit the storyline perfectly. These Trotter gems include the plucky, easy swingin’ romance “No Moon at All” (reflecting on her relationship with her husband) and the even more essential, subtly hope filled closer “You Must Believe in Spring,” a Michel Legrand/Alan and Marilyn Bergman classic that finds Shulman affirming that life is worth living despite its travails and tragedies.

Along the way, Shulman mines the magic of two masterful, melodic/poetic think pieces from Stephen Sondheim’s 1964 musical Anyone Can Whistle, Cole Porter’s searing social commentary on race, “Miss Otis Regrets,” a criminally overlooked Randy Edelmen ballad of  love and loss (“The Laughter & The Tears”) and the achingly melancholic mashup of Richard Rudolph and Jeremy Lubbock’s “Goodbye Love/Not Like This.”

For all the multi-faceted, stylistically diverse musical narratives on the collection, Shulman’s truest heart emerges on the soulful centerpiece of “Without A Song,” a lesser-known tune from a short lived 1929 musical which was her father’s favorite song and one she listened to often to help her get through her treatment process. Helping bring Shulman’s extraordinary vision to life are a virtual who’s who of jazz mastery, including bassists Kenny Wild and Chris Colangelo, drummers Joe LaBarbera and Kendall Kay and guitarist Larry Koonse.

As transcendent as the songs and arrangements are, the most significant aspect of the We Had a Moment experience is the way it draws us into Shulman’s own life experiences while prompting us to reflect upon our own loves and losses.

-Jonathan Widran for JW VIBE

REVIEW:

…We Had a Moment is a splendid way to spend moments exploring and reflecting on the interpersonal dynamics and the ups and downfalls of love via song; all this presented by an extraordinary, and highly evocative artist who honors song and love…Across six fine albums including this one, she has consistently demonstrated a special, almost devotional reverence for song…Shulman has an inviting voice. Her interpretive and dynamics palette ranges across a splendid spectrum. One can easily discern that she is an artist with vibrant musical theatre DNA, while simultaneously being able to pump out fine jazz and contemporary stylings.

-Nick Mondello for Bebop Spoken Here

REVIEW:

…Shulman possesses a soft, sophisticated voice and knows how to interpret love songs with great sensitivity and honesty. “We Had a Moment” is an album, full of melancholy, that invites reflection and hope…

Jose Ramon for La Habitacion del Jazz (Spain, The Jazz Room)