Songs of the Decades
DownBeat Review
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Rebekah Victoria: Songs of the Decades
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Warm voiced Rebekah Victoria not only comes up with the clever idea of singing a song from each decade of the 20th Century, but she arranges them in clever and original formats. She’s teamed with a core of Rick Vandivier/g with all of the other drummers, bassists, percussionists, horns and strings mixing and matching. She takes the Golden Age flapper “Whispering” and adds Dizzy Gillespie-inspired Afro Cuban grooves to swing’in affect, while the bebopper “Twisted” has Victoria sizzling through Third World percussion. A samba ish “It’s Too Late” and a clever R&B’d read of the 60s kitschy “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” are quite clever, and she’s upbeat and fun on the Swing Era classic “Opus One.” Her voice and attitude are both flexible on this winning combo.
jazzweekly.com/2019/09/rebekah-victoria-songs-of-the-decades/
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Quotes
“Every single track on this ten-track album is superb, beginning with the 1909 hit song, ‘Some of These Days.’” – Dee Dee McNeil/Jazz Journalist, July 16, 2019
“…Victoria applies a fresh patina to old chestnuts. Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald come to mind on her version of ‘After You’ve Gone,’ but her swing here is vintage ’20s, thanks to trombonist Wayne Wallace—who arranged the music on Songs. And Mary Fettig’s clarinet has just the right tone and flavor for that dynamic period… What is consistently true about Victoria is her musicality.” – Herb Boyd, DownBeat
“Songs of the Decades, is an investigation of the music from each decade of the 20th century but far from it being a nostalgic affair, she wanted to ‘make these songs different – I wanted them to sound very new and fresh.’ Here, she is backed by a group of two-dozen musicians, including Grammy-nominated trombonist Wayne Wallace.” – Matt Micucci, Jazziz, New Release Cheat Sheet
“The title of the album comes from the concept: to interpret a song from every decade of the twentieth century. If the concept is original, the rendering is perfect…. the arrangements of the famous trombonist Wayne Wallace beautifully define the aesthetics of the album. Rebekah Victoria’s versatility as a soprano is amazing… inspired….” – Yves Dorison, Culture Jazz (France)
“Every single track on this ten-track album is superb, beginning with the 1909 hit song, ‘Some of These Days.’” – Dee Dee McNeil, Musical Memoirs
“Most Highly Recommended…. Jazz vocals from the past that are the future…listen to Rebekah’s magical transformation of the ’70’s pop song ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’’ into a solid jazz hit….” – Dick Metcalf, Contemporary Fusion Reviews
“Rebekah Victoria not only comes up with the idea of singing a song from each decade of the 20th Century, but she arranges them in clever and original formats….A samba-ish ‘It’s Too Late’ and a R&B’d read of the 60s ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’’ are quite clever, and she’s upbeat and fun on the Swing Era classic ‘Opus One.’ Her voice and attitude are both flexible on this winning combo.” – George Harris, Jazz Weekly
“A very ambitious album, crowned with triumphant success.” – Phontas Troussas, Vinylmine (Greece)
REBEKAH VICTORIA/Songs of the Decades: Bay Area jazz thrush teams with Wayne Wallace for a nu take on the great American songbook, expanding the scope, the pages, as well as the sound. Pulling it off/together quite nicely, it doesn’t matter if some of these songs are too old for copyright protection, they all sound right together. Solid stuff for jazz vocal fans that want to hear it done right. – Chris Spector, Midwest Record
REBEKAH VICTORIA . Songs of the decades
Patois Records
And a very rough translation courtesy of Google:
We reassure you right away, if the line-up is plethoric, the musicians never play all at the same time! Only the voice of Rebekah Victoria is present on each standard. It’s his record after all. The title of the album comes from the concept: to interpret a song from every decade of the twentieth century. If the concept is original, the rendering is perfectly mainstream. No avant-garde then, but a plurality of combos that gives each title a particular color. If all is not lacking in musical cohesion, it is thanks to the arrangements of the famous trombonist Wayne Wallace that define the aesthetics of the album in a very beautiful way. Rebekah Victoria, her versatility soprano on the whole with an ease all the more amazing that she has long sung dilettante, preferring to raise his daughter than a career. Rather generally inspired, the disc benefits fully of the talent of the musicians present. It does not leave an imperishable memory. But this is a matter of taste first and foremost.
– Yves Dorison
Visit culturejazz.fr/spip.php?article3465#06 for original review.
#OLDFASHIONEDTWITTERTWIT
4 Star Review!
“With pleasant verve, Victoria’s album succeeds on many levels capturing her personality, featuring solid accompanists and guest instrumental soloists, and presenting a generous set of 16 songs from the Great American Songbook.” – Joe Ross, Roots Music Report
“The group of musicians around singer Rebekah Victoria reside in California in the Bay Area around San Francisco. I am no longer young, as the singer, and have played in many famous jazz formations and not come into contact daily with the standards, a natural approach for American musicians, not for European ones. The vocalist has a complete musical training, she studied piano and classical music, but in the end he found the jazz and standards as the best way to express his vocal style. Among the major influences cites Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett. Obviously the most important thing for her is the swing, as well as for the band consists of Chuck Mancini on guitar (of Our Day Will Come performs in a passionate duet with the leader), Bob Steele on bass and Bob Belanski on drums. After many performances in clubs and the conquest of their own public, it has come to this incision made at Fantasy Studios adding some guests between tunes l`altro. The result is a jazz inspired by tradition, done very professionally, between swing and bossa nova, represented here by Desafinado / One Note Samba. She is a warm singer who is most powerful of these standards, she internalized. Overall they describe a love story, by Taking a Chance on Love which opens the disc to We’ll Be Together Again that closes the album. With the band and the guests swinga passionately and gives new life to the most famous standards.” – Vittorio Lo Conte
“Tasty stuff that nicely puts a classic spin on classic tunes.” – Chris Spector, Midwest Record
REBEKAH VICTORIA:
OLD FASHIONED TWITTER TWIT
Jazzwest
by Dan Singer, Singer’s Singer
August, 2016
Rebekah Victoria really stands out here singing her brilliant 17 song program. Her voice has a lot of the highest sounds of Blossom Dearie. Plus you can tell she has a complete understanding of every word she sings. “Taking A Chance On Love” (Duke/La Touche/Fetter) gets things started in a swinging robust action filled take. Rebekah softly, smoothly, deliciously handles herself on “Alfie” (Bacharach/David). The lovely song “So Many Stars” (Mendez/Bergman’s) follows. It’s a real music treat. Her amazingly swift hard driving “I’m Old Fashioned” (Kern/Mercer) will take your breath away. Her drummer Bob Belanski gets a workout throughout this swinger. “Indian Summer” (Herbert/Dubin) is a polished relaxed treatment of a great oldie. Her thoroughly talented instrumental trio really assist her. Finally the familiar ballad “We’ll Be Together Again” (Laine/Fischer) receives a wonderful treatment. Rebekah seems so well suited to sing this emotionally charged song. I trust this also means we will be returning again to a new CD by Ms. Victoria.
“She has a large soprano range and her diction is right on.”
Herb Young, IAJRC Journal – Fall 2016