ANNA CALLAHAN: My Ideal (2002)

ANNA CALLAHAN
Conheci Anna Callahan nos anos 90, quando morava nos USA. Foi assim: eu buscava livros instrucionais sobre arranjos vocais e deparei com o excelente "The Collegiate A Capella Arranging Manual", de sua autoria, uma obra fundamental sobre a matéria. Depois, frequentei um "workshop" ministrado por Anna na FIU, em Miami. Durante algum tempo - até ter em mãos seu primeiro CD, eu pensava em Anna apenas como uma grande professora e arranjadora. Mas seu talento a leva muito além disso, como se pode constatar nesta postagem, onde ela exibe o seu lado de cantora e instrumentista. Mas vejam bem: Anna não é uma "cantora que toca trumpete" ou "uma trumpetista que canta", porque não se pode definir onde começa ou termina cada uma dessas facetas. Eu prefiro dizer que ANNA é um CHET BAKER DE SAIAS...
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ANNA CALLAHAN
Anna Callahan is an award-winning arranger and a captivating performer. By the age of twenty-three Anna had established herself as a gifted arranger. At this point her drive to fully understand the jazz medium compelled her to immerse herself in the other dimension of jazz--improvisation. She learned from recordings of Clifford Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, and Chick Corea (along with many others). Without any formal jazz training, she was soon able to hold her own as a trumpeter with many accomplished musicians in the Ann Arbor area, including Paul Keller (bassist for Diana Krall) and Mark Hynes (saxophonist with the Rodney Whitaker Sextet).
She has played trumpet and sung in various ensembles ranging from small combos and big bands to tight-harmony vocal jazz groups. Hers is a lifelong dedication to jazz: she wrote and arranged her first jazz composition for big band in high school, where she also won state awards for both vocal jazz and classical trumpet playing. While getting her math degree at the University of Michigan, Anna became the leading force in the newly formed vocal group Amazin' Blue. Under her direction, the group began winning national awards for their recordings and for Anna's arrangements. Anna is the author of "The Collegiate A Cappella Arranging Manual", published by Hal Leonard and considered the standard text on the subject. She was also one of four arrangers in UAAS, an international service providing arrangements for both a cappella and accompanied vocal groups. By the age of twenty-three Anna had established herself as a gifted arranger. Anna taught Vocal Jazz at California State University at Long Beach where she led award-winning ensembles before she left to concentrate on performing. Anna's rich voice conveys the melody of a jazz standard so purely that you think you're hearing it for the first time; then she surprises you with a scat solo strongly reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald. While getting her math degree at the University of Michigan, Anna became the leading force in the newly formed vocal group Amazin’ Blue. Under her direction, the group began winning national awards for their recordings and for Anna’s arrangements. She was also one of four arrangers in UAAS, an international service providing arrangements for both a cappella and accompanied vocal groups.She toured Brazil with the Ray Conniff Orchestra.
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ALBUM REVIEW
Anna Callahan, jazz singer and trumpet player, swings in the tradition of Louis Armstrong and Chet Baker. "Rarely have I encountered a musician, male or female, vocalist or instrumentalist, who is as in-control of her music as Anna Callahan," says pianist, producer, and composer Mark Shilansky. "From each clever reharmonization to every in-the-pocket groove, Anna is responsible for it all. "Yet, for all this harmonic and rhythmic innovation, she uses these devices as means to an end; that is, it's never about the clever changes she makes; rather, they are in the service of the mood and her artistic ends. Speaking as a pianist who has shared the bandstand with Anna, I have seen and felt firsthand how she communicates this artistry to her bandmates, as well as to the audience, with intensity, uncompromising integrity, and pure joy. "This is a stunning CD from a truly exciting artist, knowledgable about the history of her music, but unafraid to take it into new territory."
(By Mark Shilansky).

Jazz reviewer Roger Crane writes:
"Singer-trumpeter Anna Callahan strikes gold with her debut CD, which includes songs by such noted composers as Rodgers & Hart, Irving Berlin, and Jobim as well as five superb originals. "If you love the great songs sung with warmth and panache, you will love Anna Callahan. Her uncomplicated phrasing and sunny timbre give the lyrics a clear-headed beauty and her soft-focus trumpet playing is right out of the Chet Baker school. "Her music, whether played or sung, is straight from the heart - without any detours."

She mixes intimate vocals with Chet Baker-esque trumpet solos and dazzling scat singing over a backdrop of her own arrangements of standards and original compositions. My Ideal is now played on dozens of jazz radio stations around the country, and was a featured album on United Airlines for three months.
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MINHA OPINIÃO: neste álbum - o primeiro por ela gravado - Anna Callahan exibe todo o seu talento de cantora e instrumentista. Os comentários acima transcritos resumem o que eu iria dizer a respeito da moça que - repito - pode ser definida como o "Chet Baker de saias". Uma curiosidade: Anna esteve no Brasil, como integrante da orquestra de Ray Connif. BELEZA PURA!.
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ANNA CALLAHAN: My Ideal (2002)

PERSONNEL:
Anna Callahan, voice, trumpet
Greg Gordon, piano
Joe Bagg, organ
Richard Shaw, bass
Jamey Tate, drums
Karen Hammack, piano
Barry Zweig, guitar

TRACKS/FAIXAS
1 My Ideal 6:23
2 I’ve Never Been in Love Before 3:25
3 I Knew 3:36
4 Say It Isn’t So 5:30
5 When Snow Falls 4:13
6 The Moon Looks Down and Laughs 3:51
7 O Woe Is Me 4:28
8 Triste 3:36
9 So Long Ago 6:05
10 My Romance 4:51
11 Adieu 3:51