Singer-songwriter Raya Yarbrough's debut eponymous debut album will be released by Telarc Records on February 26th. The songs on the album layer jazz, pop, and blues beneath Raya's soulful vocals. Her voice has an impressive range that runs the gamut from the rough velvet of classic Etta James and the soaring robustness of Shirley Bassey to the smoother tones of modern jazz singers with the occasional angelic falsetto.
The album opens with sultry blues in "Lord Knows I Would". The song is a new original by Yarbrough, but has an old soul. Some of the notes she hits toward the end of the song recall Relish era Joan Osborne. A dash of Reggae then spices up "You're So Bad For Me".
Raya's vocals dip down into Patricia Barber territory in the seductively subdued cover of Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring" and again on her own "Sorrow's Eyes" before her voice rises up with the piano and strings in the second half of each song.
She transforms Queen's "Dreamer's Ball" into a vintage jazz tune with doo-wop backing harmonies, and delivers a lovely rendition of Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo". Though her voice is just as pretty while singing "Early Autumn", it's the beautiful string arrangement that steals the spotlight of the Johnny Mercer cover.
if it holds true that love's eyes are blind, sorrow's eyes are wide open
Raya Yarbrough Official Site
Buy the CD
The album opens with sultry blues in "Lord Knows I Would". The song is a new original by Yarbrough, but has an old soul. Some of the notes she hits toward the end of the song recall Relish era Joan Osborne. A dash of Reggae then spices up "You're So Bad For Me".
Raya's vocals dip down into Patricia Barber territory in the seductively subdued cover of Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring" and again on her own "Sorrow's Eyes" before her voice rises up with the piano and strings in the second half of each song.
She transforms Queen's "Dreamer's Ball" into a vintage jazz tune with doo-wop backing harmonies, and delivers a lovely rendition of Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo". Though her voice is just as pretty while singing "Early Autumn", it's the beautiful string arrangement that steals the spotlight of the Johnny Mercer cover.
Raya Yarbrough Official Site
Buy the CD
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