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CD Review - All About Jazz NY December 2007
by Ken Dryden
With a flood of new CDs by female jazz vocalists released in 2007, it is a challenge for them to get a fair hearing. Louise Rogers, a veteran jazz educator who has performed in a variety of settings and worked
extensively with children, is a breath of fresh air. She has quite a resumé, including studies with tenorist Jerry Bergonzi and New York Voices singer Kim Nazarian. Blessed with an unpretentious, very expressive voice and
crystal clear intonation, along with gifts as a lyricist, composer and interpreter, Rogers’ immense talent is immediately apparent. Her main foil is husband Rick Strong on bass, with pianist Matthew Fries, guitarist Paul
Meyers, saxophonist Gottfried Stoger and drummer Mathias Kunzli making guest appearances on a several tracks. Together with Strong, she sets poet Nikki Giovanni’s “Be My Baby” to music, sounding very hip, initially backed
solely by Kunzli’s hand percussion, with the bassist making a delayed entrance. She co-wrote lyrics for Mike Manieri’s Latin-flavored “Islands”, scatting up a storm and discretely overdubbing a backing line at one point. Her
haunting lyrics to Jerry Bergonzi’s moody “Conjunction” provide a ray of hope, with Fries and Stoger adding powerful solos. Rogers penned the subtle bossa nova “Shadows of Yesterday” on her own and Stoger contributed the
challenging “Poetic Song”. Rogers is equally at home with standards like “The Song is You” (with Stoger guesting on soprano sax) and Richard Whiting’s forgotten gem “Louise”, a playful duet with Strong. Her choice of the
traditional Celtic song “Lass From the Low Countree” provides a poignant closing number, a moving duet with Strong on electric bass.
For more information, visit louiserogers.org.
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