The intimate style of Ann Burton
Roel Abels | Groningen, Netherlands | 09/19/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Dutch jazz singer Ann Burton (1933-89) still has a big name in Japan today. In 1974 she topped the music polls overthere, sharing a first place with Ella Fitzgerald. She still belongs to the Top three of Dutch jazz vocalists, together with Greetje Kauffeld and of course Rita Reys. Ann began her career in the 1950s, singing with the combo`s of Ted Powder and that of Pia Beck. Her influences at that time were first Doris Day and later on Billie Holiday. In 1965 she made her first recordings, soon followed by an album for Dutch CBS, titled `Blue Burton`(1967), which became an early masterpiece. She had a very warm, intimate way of phrasing the songs and her feeling for chordal structures of songs was outstanding. The album `Blue Burton` got very big attention in Japan and from the early seventies on she became very busy with performing at concerts and she recorded quite a few marvelous albums overthere. This album, `Skylark`, is an absolute masterpiece she recorded in Japan with Dutch jazz-pianist Frans Elsen and the Dutch Victor Kaihatu on bass(1980). Because of the informal piano and bass accompaniment, she can use her intimate and tender style up to its limits. Musically speaking, Ann was not an easy person to cope with. Like tenorist Lucky Thompson, she had her own way of looking in a different way at the musical scene and only the highest possible standards of performing and recording were good enough for her. You can hear all these qualities shine through on this album. A real treat is that she alway used relatively unknown standards on her albums to perform and pianist Frans Elsen does a wonderful job here, intelligently modulating the changes all the time. The last five tracks on this cd were performed with the aid of the Ken McCarthy Trio and are from the session, she made for the `Burton Is Certain` album from 1977. It`s a shame that I can give this recording only five stars. If you are becoming interested in what Ann Burton was like, you can visit her new website at annburton.com. Dutch writer Anneke Muller also made a book about her life, called `Blue Burton`."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1