JazzTimes
Connie Evingson
"
Let It Be Jazz" (Summit Records)
The closest Chris Connor
ever came to investigating the Beatles' songbook was on Chris
Connor Now! , her 1965 collection of contemporary covers
(recently
reissued on CD as a pricey Japanese import), which included
a misty "Nowhere
Man" among its dozen tracks. If, however, you'd like to know what a full-length
Connor sojourn through Lennon-McCartney material might sound like, all you
have to do is pick up a copy of Minneapolis chanteuse Connie Evingson's latest,
Let it Be Jazz (Summit). The vocal similarity between Evingson and the
mid-60's Connor is downright spooky. You'd swear it was Chris navigating the
soaring trajectory of "Blackbird" and adding an unexpected, but decidedly appealing
sultriness to "From Me to You". Which is not to say that there's nothing
original about Evingson. Her range is significantly wider than Connor's, her
style steeped more in the pop-jazz tradition of, say, Joanie Sommers or Stacey
Kent than the cooler jazz lineage of Connor and her sister canaries from the Stan
Kenton school. The differences between the two are most evident on peppier
numbers like "When I'm 64" (deliciously reheated as a simmering samba) and
"Good Day Sunshine", where Evingson's fizzy boisterousness (never a Connor
trademark) sparkles best. Let it Be Jazz ably proves that Evingson is another
Midwesterner (Connor originally from Kansas City) deserving of widespread
popularity.
by Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes
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