TAKE Me HOME
RELEASED APRIL 2005, 33 JAZZ RECORDS
Debut album Take Me Home features Kaz’s own arrangements of jazz standards (Old Devil Moon, Cheek to Cheek) as well as Tom Waits’ Take Me Home and Nick Drake’s Day Is Done. She brought together the outstanding talents of Gwilym Simcock on piano and French horn, Matt Dungey on piano, as well as regular band Sam Crockatt, Simon Thorpe and Dave Smith.
QUOTES
“Absolute clarity of diction, a nice line in scat, an exuberant vocal quality and an inventive arranger – Take Me Home perfectly encapsulates the enormous potential of singer Kaz Simmons” – Peter Quinn, Jazzwise
“A commendable achievement…her bright chirpy optimistic approach is very enjoyable” – In Tune International
“The UK’s Jazz singer, Kaz Simmons is a young vocal bomb waiting to explode onto the Jazz Idiom” – George W. Carroll, www.ejazznews.com
“She takes the music in new and wonderful directions” – Bruce Pulver, www.jazzreview.com
FULL REVIEWS
Absolute clarity of diction, a nice line in scat, an exuberant vocal quality and an inventive arranger – Take Me Home perfectly encapsulates the enormous potential of singer Kaz Simmons. In terms of arranging skills it’s the opener ‘Old Devil Moon’ which grabs the attention, its rhythmic games and nicely reworked harmonies breathing welcome new life into this tired old warhorse. Providing a still centerpiece to the album is the sole/vocal track ‘Take Me Home’ from Tom Waits’ classic soundtrack to Coppola’s One From The Heart. This apparently made the cut just a week before recording was due to start – and it’s an inspired choice both in its placement and execution. Gwilym Simcock’s one arranging credit, ‘I Didn’t Know What Time It Was’, is a superbly imaginative reworking of the Rodgers and Hart tune, its opening syncopated solo piano riff merely hinting at the treasures that lie within. Interestingly, ‘Day Is Done; is an arrangement of an arrangement, Simmons name-checking Charlie Hunter’s version of this Nick Drake Song (from the guitarist’s 2001 album Songs From The Analog Playground) as her source of inspiration. It’s a classy cut, with Matt Dungey’s tasty work on Fender Rhodes adding just the right amount of retro chic” – Peter Quinn, Jazzwise
Sussex-raised jazz singer Kaz claims on her Myspace page to sound like ‘chocolate mousse with green grapes’. Others disagree, simply calling her voice ‘exuberant’ and declaring that she ‘breathes new life’ into jazz classics from artists such as Tom Waits and Rodgers and Hart. The chirpy optimism of her powerfully emotional ballads compiled on 2005 album Take Me Home will make you want to do just that. – Metro