Search - Meredith D'Ambrosio :: Out of Nowhere

Musical Reference Point

Samuel Chell | Kenosha,, WI United States | 12/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It took me 30 years to discover Meredith D'Ambrosio, so perhaps I shouldn't be shocked that my normally knowledgable musical colleagues show no sign of recognition at the mention of her name. I hope to change that--which should not be too difficult, given the generous supply of albums under her name and their uniformly excellent quality. In fact, Meredith is so consistent, so close to perfection, that a listener couldn't go wrong simply selecting any of her recordings based on song selection.



And what a repertory! Short of Ella, I can't think of any other singer who has covered so many of the quality tunes--familiar and rare--making up the American Songbook. Whether she's performing a warhorse like "Out of Nowhere" or a neglected gem like "All This and Heaven Too," Meredith makes performance seem as natural as breathing--or a meditative sigh. It's as though she were determined to remove any potential obstruction between the song and its listener. There are so few boundaries between the medium and the message, the singer and the song, that even someone who has heard these songs many times over is likely to feel closer to the composer's original intent than ever before--the reason that Berlin, Kern, Gershwin, and Porter preferred to all other singers Fred Astaire!



At the same time, I can't help but wonder if some of the tunes would "grab" the listener more effectively if they were pitched a bit higher. Some singers will deliberately sing slightly out of their range in order to create that extra bit of tension that translates into "excitement." But that's not Meredith's style. Moreover, her exquisite accompaniment commands attention all by itself. The pianist on this session--Lee Musiker--is new to me, but his playing is shimmering, sparkling, scintillating, a perfect complement to the understated calm of the vocals. (Since Bill Evans is no longer with us, I hope Tony Bennett has this guy's phone number.)



The painting on the cover (which makes me wish LP's were still in vogue) is by Meredith, a truly Renaissance woman."