Black Coffee

Nicki Parrott is a great musician. Her bass playing is wonderful, and the opening of the first cut has some gorgeous deep bass that will test your speakers. She is also a wonderful singer. My only concern with this album is the reverb in the recording of her voice--it's distracting and completely unnecessary. Perhaps it was done on purpose, or perhaps a second microphone picked up her voice with a slight delay. Too bad--but buy it anyway!

Excellent sound quality. Did not enjoy some interpretations but overall I enjoyed my first listening. I would have liked a booklet with notes in English.

The artist

Nicki Parrott - Black CoffeeNicki is without doubt the best of the pantheon of modern female singers. A superb CD which has found a regular place on my 5 disc player.The quality of the sound on this cd produced in Japan is stunning.

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I stumbled across this quite by accident and was drawn from the first note on the first track. Most female vocalists covering standards opt for backing by a piano trio, or a quartet that adds a guitar. Parrott is backed by those plus her sister Lisa on wind instruments and an additional tenor saxophonist. This ensemble brings a deeper level or richness to the sound.The music swings like crazy on every track, and Nicki's bass work is as superb as her vocals in my opinion. Unfortunately there are no sound samples on this page, but you can find entire tracks from this album in Youtube. Any of them will give you a flavor of the music on this album. My personal favorite is Dark Eyes, although she did an excellent job with Black Coffee and Fever.Indeed, the choice of songs is another reason why I awarded this album five stars. It has the obligatory standards, but also some pop tunes like Our Day Will Come and jump blues like Alright, Okay, You Win. The track list is not provided on this page at the time of this review so I am including it in a comment.This album was recorded for the Japanese label Venus Records at Avatar Studio in NYC on December 17 through 19, 2009 and released Apr 21, 2010. Nicki's bass and vocals are accompanied (and backed) by her sister lisa on baritone and soprano saxophones, and bass clarinet, Harry Allen on tenor sax, John Di Martino on piano, Paul Myers on guitar and Dion Parson on drums.

Another great album from the unheralded but incredibly fantastic Ms. Parrott. Great bassist too, and wonderful sultry vocals. Small minus isthat much of the material is VERY familiar: but that doesn't take away from the performance. And I think admirers of Rebecca Kilgore will also dig Parrott. Good support too from the wonderful Harry Allen on tenor, her sister Lisa on on baritone, soprano & clarinet, and everyone else. Great mainstream jazz for anyone wondering if any singerscan still do this stuff well today.

Wonderful songs, great voice and new delivery.Every jazz buff should have this in their collection.Excellent. Highly recommended.More, please.

どの歌も素敵ですが、自分としては「Dark Eyes」「Black Coffee」「 Why Don't You Do Right」「Fever」が特に好みです。小気味よいスゥイング感のあるニッキのボーカルはもちろんですが、バックの演奏が素晴らしいです（もちろんベースも）。仮に、ボーカル抜きだとしても、JAZZ演奏として十分楽しませてくれるレベルかと思います。そこに来てニッキのボーカルが絡んでくるわけですから、もうたまりません。「Why Don't You Do Right」はヘレン メリルのアルバム「Parolee Musica」の中で良く聴いていましたが、ヘレンとはまた異なったこのニッキの表現も新鮮で引き付けられます。　それから、近年の録音なので音質が良いだけでなく、臨場感、空気感が伝わって来ます。とにかく、ジャズ風味の、或いはジャズとは程遠いような“ジャズボーカル”を耳にすることが多いような気のする昨今、ジャズファンなら必聴のアルバムかと思います。

彼女の大ファンを自認しております。これはあくまで私の好みの感想になりますが、本日届いたばかりの「ブラックコーヒー」をワクワクしながら聴きはじめました。しかし変にジャズ風？に崩した歌い方で彼女らしさは全くありませんでした。特有の「みずみずしさ」「透明感」「素直」に歌い上げる、そんなアルバムを期待していましたが、他のジャズシンガーと何ら変わらず期待が大きかった分、残念な気持ちの方が強かったです。

これ凄くいい。オーディオでいつもボーカルが楽器に打ち消されないよう配置など気を使ってるが、これは録音そのものがボーカルが浮きだってる。なんて言うか、クリーンなCDの声を聴いているんじゃなくて、JAZZ BARとかでマイクを通して部屋に反響した声を聴いてる感じだ。自分的にはこの上なく心地よい。

素晴らしい音質です！大満足です！