Annie - vocals and piano;
Wes Smith - tenor saxophone;
Phil Marshall - guitar;
Ed Marris - accordion;
Jessie Breheney - upright bass;
Dave Tedeschi - drums
Influences
Keith Jarrett; Billie Holiday; Miles Davis; Gil Evans; John Coltrane; Dave Pivnik; Bill Zules; Miche' Fambro; Aretha Franklin; Gershwin; Joan Armatrading; Judy Garland; Nat King Cole; Laura Nyro; Cheryl Chester; Phillip Marshall; Neko Case; Rickie Lee Jones; Rufus Wainwright; Sly and The Family Stone; Tom Waits; Frank Sinatra; Johnny Hartman; Duke Ellington; Billy Strayhorn
Sounds Like
Wells’ evocative piano accompaniment complements perfectly her reflective lyrics and expressive singing … She’s got a warm breathy delivery and she’s able to move easily from full deep notes to delicate ethereal highs. Her voice is amazing.”
— Chuck Cuminale, City Newspaper, Rochester, NY **********
“ … with passionate singing and honest, gospel tinged vocals, her sophisticated music echos that of Laura Nyro …”
— Greg Haymes, The Albany Times-Union
From Gannett news by Jeff Spevak • Staff music critic • July 2, 2009.
'Tell Me' CD is compilation of heartfelt stories.
Annie Wells dwells on three songs near the end of her new CD, Tell Me, including one written by her guitar-guru friend, Phil Marshall. "I told Phil," she says, "I'm the queen of grief and loss."
Maybe so, but she does it so beautifully. Wells celebrates the release of Tell Me at the first of four straight Monday-night appearances at The Little Theatre Café. It is — to borrow a title from one of her previous three albums — sad and beautiful.
Wells' songs like "Beautiful Voice" and "Rosary," and one written by Marshall, "I'll Guide Your Sweetest Dreams," all explore the idea that you can continue to speak with loved ones you've lost through prayer and remembrance.
It's not all grief and loss, of course. In "Perfect," the pianist scoffs at "the idea that someone says, 'It's hard to live with you, because you're too perfect,'" she says, dropping the slightest of hints that that's how one of her own relationships came to an end. "Perfection, I think, doesn't exist."
And cynicism creeps in with "Ice Age" — Wes Smith's cool tenor sax is a real treat throughout the record — when Wells sings, "I think it's an Ice Age, there are so many cool cats." It's easy to buy the look, she says. But, "It's important when you're playing music and when you're writing music that it's coming from your heart. Some musicians and some people don't always approach their music with sincerity and with heart."
Tell Me ends on a light note. "Be" is a seven-line poem from the children's magazine Highlights, brought to Wells by one of the developmentally disabled patients that she works with. "I thought, 'Wow, that is beautiful, I could definitely put music to that,'" Wells says. Written by an 8-year-old girl, Wells went through the magazine to track down now 12-year-old Megan Hall in Maine to get permission to use her words.
But perhaps Wells' finest moment is "Little Sparrow," a tribute to the waifish French chanteuse, Edith Piaf. Wells played it for Marshall, saying she needed an accordion player for the right mood. Marshall immediately thought of Ed Marris, who played an 1958 Sonola accordion with Lumiere, the local trio that specializes in that Django Reinhardt style of accordion with Lumiere, the local trio that specializes in that Django Reinhardt style of Parisian café jazz.
"When we rehearsed that song in my house, on the night before we recorded it, it was magic," Wells says. "It sounded so beautiful that I couldn't come in on my vocals. My jaw dropped, my mouth hung open. It was so exciting to see that song go from something I plinked out on my piano to that beautiful accordion part." Drummer Dave Tedeschi and bassist Jesse Breheney were similarly impressed, says Wells. "They were, like 'Wow, instant band.'"
For more, check www.anniewells.com.
I am so digging the new recordings. The sax is perfect on everything you used it on but Solstice! OMG it's like it was written for it! Wonderful wonderful wonderful!
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Annie, how's it been? Tracks still sound as fresh as the day they got recorded. Except that sax player, what's up with that guy? Haha! Let me know what's good. Take care!!!
Hey Annie, thanks for the kind words...HB is still my all time favorite reviewer of City. Your talents are an inspiration! yeah! Hope to see you on the 7th! C
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