Personnel on "Genie Walker: not from concentrate":
Jeff Jarvis (trumpet/flugelhorn)
Nelson Harrison (trombone)
Lou Stellute (tenor saxophone/flute)
Tim Jenkins (piano)
Jeff Grubbs (bass)
Roger Humphries (drums)
"Harmonique":
Genie Walker (lead vocals, background vocals)
Bonnie Yeager (contralto vocals)
Irenda Gates (soprano vocals)
Tiffany Harris (soprano background voice on "Out of this World")
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Billie Holiday, Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughn, Astrid Gilberto, Johnny Hartman, Joe Lee Wilson, Sheila Jordan, Jeanne Lee, Jay Clayton, Ellen Christi, Lotte Lenya, Lambert Hendrichs & Ross, Barbara Streisand, Etta Jones, Lorez Alexandria, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Oliver Nelson, to name a few...
Sounds Like
I can't say who I "sound like", but some contemporary singers that I love to listen to and feel a stylistic kinship with are Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Rosanna Vitro, Kurt Elling, Ruth Naomi Floyd, Judy Bady, Andy Bey, Phyllis Chapell, Theresa Russell, Natalie Cole, for starters......
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"...a riveting voice of purest conviction." That's how critic Fred Brouchard of Downbeat Magazine describes jazz vocalist Genie Walker. Her sound is warm and personal and at the same time innovative and cutting edge. Ms. Walker delivers standards and originals in the true jazz tradition, that is, to make them her own. In the Rolling Stone Guide to Jazz Records, John Swenson states her "vocal pyrotechnics are both challenging and entertaining." Richard Sudhalter of the NY Post wrote of her "command, timing, and faultless intonation," while Robert Palmer of the NY Times noted that she has her own "style and vocabulary."
Genie Walker has toured the U.S. and Europe and has been active in the New York jazz and new music scene, as well as in Philadelphia, where she performed regularly with her jazz vocal trio "Harmonique."
Following is a review of her debut CD "not from concentrate" by John Swenson (Editor, Rolling Stone Guide to Jazz/Blues Records):
I first encountered Genie Walker's remarkable voice back in the 1970's when I reviewed the band she sang with at the time, the A1 Art Band (a 5-star effort), for the original Rolling Stone Record Guide. Over the years, I have had rare opportunities to hear her sing again, so it is a singular pleasure to encounter an album's worth of newly recorded material. As usual, Walker is working with top caliber musicians and her voice soars majestically into the highest registers. Her soulful reading of Horace Silver's "Senor Blues" is well supported by pianist Tim Jenkins and an excellent trumpet solo from Jeff Jarvis. Walker always had a sure sense of phrasing and the innate ability to swing a vocal, qualities heard to best effort on "Funk in Deep Freeze," "Sermonette" and her terrific reading of "Got a Lot of Living to Do," with its great bass accompaniment from Jeff Grubbs.
Walker is also adept at delivering ballads, as her beautiful renditions of "Something to Live For" and "Dedicated to You" demonstrate. Perhaps her best work comes on jazz standards, where her creativity in orchestrating for voices comes into play on "Honeysuckle Rose" and her ability to convey complex emotions emerges on Duke Ellington's classic "Mood Indigo." Walker's jazz instincts work well in translating other genres as well, as on her excellent work singing the blues standard "Goin' to Chicago," which she embellishes with a rap-style intro and writes new lyrics for.
And then there is Genie being her own surprising self, as on "Out of This World," which opens with a brooding statement and moves through exquisite changes until Walker is practically celebratory on the final choruses; and the eccentric, almost show tune harmonies of "Croquet Ballet" with its spritely Lou Stellute tenor saxophone solo. Whatever she is singing, you can be sure you're listening to great jazz vocals with Genie Walker takes the microphone.
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