magic_karl
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A great jazz musician who sings to your heart
It is really my fortunate for me that i by occationally heard her songs of Blackberry Winter, for many many years that i never get myself touched to tears by a song, especially a jazz song, you won't find how amazing a single song can just bring to you.
And the song Afro Blue is just like a naughty girl bring you back to smile again. Relaxing and enjoyble, i will say all music lovers, don't miss them all.
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Rick Jamm
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A Genuine Gem In Today's Musical Spectrum
Recently we ran into her latest single release, “Touching The Sky” and followed it up by browsing through some of the songs from her CD “People Are Talking”. The album contains 6 covers, 3 original songs and 1 prayer. We discovered that Mercedes is a genuine gem amongst the clutter composing today’s musical spectrum. Thank goodness she’s faithful to her remarkable vocal stylings.
Talent aplenty, Ms. Nicole’s voice and delivery strikes your memory in familiar ways. Comparison to world-famous blues and jazz females are tempting, perhaps justified. Nonetheless, Ms. Nicole is never derivative but rather refreshingly comfortable in an all-new manner. Mercedes Nicole is also smart enough to work superb material. On her CD “People Are Talking”, she easily interprets standards by such great tunesmiths as Van Morrison, Vernon Duke, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and George Gershwin into her own repertoire.
The first time you hear Ms. Nicole you make the assumption: this is some legendary great from the past in some glorious newly re-mastered recording you have never heard before. You’re a little surprised when you’re wrong and more than a little intrigued – this is Mercedes Nicole, who in her own quiet, unassuming way is as much bigger than life as any of her peers.
I have a passion for female jazz vocalists and track hundreds of them, known and unknown. Simply put, Mercedes Nicole is a superb and moving singer, the real deal, with her own voice, which is as smooth and rich as aged single-malt scotch over ice. Her phrasing is dead-on and there isn’t a single clunker in her catalog.
Her songs are arranged and performed with a subtlety, restraint and intelligence that throw into marked prominence the deficiencies of modern-day poseurs who sing a variety of songs in a jazz-inflected style but embody disingenuousness with every breath. Listen beyond the superficial similarities, to Holiday, Fitzgerald and Vaughn, and you’ll hear in Mercedes Nicole a singer who is plugged into the essence of what elevates the jazz art form: simple, direct expression, and no reliance on overtly forced technique.
Ms. Nicole’s husky mellow tone elicits a tender blend of romance, vulnerability and sensuality, giving her a style of her own. And it is most evident on her original compositions like “People Are Talking”, accompanied beautifully by Alexey Nikolaev’s saxophone, and the melancholic, yet uplifting “Touching The Sky”. She has an effortless palette of notes she moves through with a pitch perfect and low resonant delectability, which can be admired on the bluesy “Chicken Biscuits & Gravy”, another original composition.
Ms. Nicole is also ably assisted by some talent musicians, including Piano – Darin Clendenin – Gregory Smith, Bass – Clipper Anderson, Drums – D’Vonne Lewis – Jamael Nance – Don Gunn, Cello – William Smith, Guitar – Steve Peterson, Vibes – Susan Pascal.
From classic standards to original compositions, Mercedes Nicole’s voice and timing of her words and music brings us a fresh clear view of life and takes us to an earlier time. If you love great female vocals, singing great songs, this lady and her CD “People Are Talking”, will stand up to anything you have ever heard…by anyone. Trust me, I know from experience.
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