Search - Chris Connor :: I Walk With Music

Doesn't get better than this

10/12/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My first Chris Connor record goes back to 1952, "Wish You Were Here," a radio check with the Claude Thornill band. I've gotten everything issued since. She's been through quite a musical voyage, beginning as basically a misty-voiced pop singer of great ease and polish, then becoming a jazz stylist of great sophistication, then moving on in the Atlantic years into a far-out jazz singer (as in "Portrait of Chris"), then slowly coming back to where she started. A lot of the improvisation, startling effects and out-of-this-world interpretations are gone and we're back to a smooth singer of great ease and polish. Which, as we all know, doesn't mean she won't yet go somewhere else musically. This album blends superb song selection, top-of-the-line arrangements and accompaniment and superb production with Chris' ever-intelligent, sensitive, insightful and above all emotionally honest viewpoints on challenging material. What I love about her work is that everything she turns out makes the listener think. And nothing she turns out is predictable. The album notes are great, too; I've always lamented the fact that Chris has never, by design or otherwise, been much for the public eye so few listeners are familiar with her totally honest, upbeat, positive personality. She's still very much a girl from the heartland (coming, as she does, from Missouri) and that heart is very big. She is also extremely nice to her fans, totally approachable and clearly a classy lady. You will play this album over and over and discover new diamonds in it each time. To you, Chris: Thanks for a half-century of a glorious walk through music with us so far."

Chris Connor: 49 years of great recordings

Steve Emerine | Tucson, AZ United States | 10/02/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Chris Connor's second HighNote CD, "I Walk With Music," demonstrates once again that the one-time Stan Kenton singer can still turn out fine material. Her recording career began in 1953, and too many of the vocalists who were her competition then are either retired or no longer with us. Connor, however, is still active and does a fine job on "Route 66," "Where Can I Go Without You," "Quiet Nights," "That Old Black Magic," "How High the Moon," "Serenade in Blue," "Shall We Dance," "This Heart of Mine," "On the Road Again" and the album's title tune by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer. Chris' long-time pianist and arranger, Michael Abene, does his usual excellent job. The only flaw with this CD is the same as her first HighNote CD: It's too short. Chris Connor is a jazz treasure, and another song or two would have made this album even better."

SORRY CHRIS BUT U ARE WAY OFF KEY AND OUT OF TUNE

Mr. Anthony W. Harden | JOONDANNA, PERTH Australia | 01/05/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I LOVE CHRIS CONNOR ESPECIALLY RIGHT UP TO HER LATER CONTEMPORARY RELEASES SUCH A CLASSIC AND NEW AGAIN.



HOWEVER WITH THIS RELEASE UNFORTUNATLEY THE GLORIOUS VOICE HAS LONG GONE. MORE OFTEN THAN NOT SHE IS FLAT AND SLIGHTLY OFF KEY. I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT SOMEONE WITH HER GREAT STYLE AND IMPECCABLE TASTE WOULD HAVE KNOWN WHEN THE VOICE WAS GONE.



I AM SAD TO SAY THAT THIS RELEASE IS ONLY FOR THE VERY VERY VERY DIE HARD FANS WHO PERHAPS CAN OVERLOOK THE NOTICABLE SLIGHTLY OFF PITCH TONE.



I PREFER TO LISTEN TO CHRIS AS A CLASSIC AND AMAZING JAZZ DIVA.



IF YOU WANT TO HEAR HER LATTER RECORDINGS SUCH AS I DO GO AND SEARCH FOR CLASSIC AND NEW AGAIN....TWO AMAZING RECORDINGS."