The Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra capped its socially-distanced 2020-21 season at Artis-Naples on Wednesday, May 12 with a concert that featured singer Denise Donatelli. With strong support from the venue’s resident jazz sextet (with an added special guest), it showcased the Los Angeles-based singer’s superb no-frills vocal artistry.

“Thanks for bringing me to Naples. Thanks for getting me out of the house,” Donatelli told band and the masked audience scattered throughout Hayes Hall. This was her first live concert gig in more than a year, but there was no rust in evidence. None at all.

Donatelli sings in service to the song and the lyrics. No vocal gymnastics. No needless scatting. None of the artifice or theatrics sometimes found in the cabaret world. This is a good thing. Her timing, her phrasing and her innate sense of swing were on full display and fit hand-in-glove with the band’s instrumental support.

The NPJO includes tenor saxophonist and artistic director Lew Del Gatto, trumpeter Dan Miller, violinist Glenn Basham, pianist Jerry Stawski, bassist Kevin Mauldin and drummer Mike Harvey. For this performance, because several of Donatelli’s recent recordings have included a guitarist, they were joined by John Hart. A New York jazz scene mainstay for several decades with extensive experience backing singers, Hart is now a guitar lecturer at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. He fit right in with this high-powered band.

They swung hard right out of the gate with a 10-tune program that included “That Old Devil Moon,” “All or Nothing At All,” “When Lights Are Low,” “You Stepped Out of a Dream” (Donatelli remarking that singing in front of a live audience again indeed felt like a dream), Burt Bacharach’s “A House is not a Home” and “My Shining Hour.” Other fine choices scattered through the program from Donatelli’s wide-ranging repertoire included Gigi Gryce’s “Social Call” (with Jon Hendricks lyrics), The Crusaders/Bill Withers hit “Soul Shadows,” and jazz arrangements of Sting’s 2013 song “Practical Arrangement” (with the horns sitting out), and Joni Mitchell’s most appropriate “Be Cool.” 

The instrumentalists were featured with strong solo moments throughout the evening. Basham was showcased on “Social Call,” Hart on “When Lights are Low,” Miller on the poignant “You Stepped Out of a Dream.” Del Gatto, a thoughtful soloist who never plays an unnecessary note, was featured on “That Old Devil Moon” and “A House is not a Home.”

Because of the pandemic, the NPJO moved its series from the cozier 275-seat Daniels Pavilion to the 1,700-seat Hayes Hall performance hall next door, with limited seating and mandatory masking. Next season, they hope to bring in several scheduled special guests who were unable to make the series this year. They include alto saxophonist Charles McPherson and singer Kenny Washington.

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The Recording Academy asked this year’s first-time GRAMMY nominees to collect their thoughts and share what it feels like to be nominated for a GRAMMY. Tune in to the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards on Sunday, Feb. 13 on the CBS Television Network from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).

I was on my way to meet up with friends for dinner, and just as I was walking into the restaurant I received a text from my producer/arranger/pianist and dear friend, Geoffrey Keezer. Geoffrey told me he had been nominated for his arrangement of “Don’t Explain,” a cut on my album When Lights Are Low. My friends and I were toasting his nomination along with Bill Cunliffe’s nomination for Best Instrumental Composition, who was also having dinner with us, when I got another text from Geoffrey saying, “You got a nom too, for Best Jazz Vocal Album.”

I’ve saved the text and haven’t been able to delete it yet. I’m still in shock! I’ve been fortunate to have released three albums, but a GRAMMY nomination was not only a goal, it is now a dream fulfilled. To be acknowledged in this way by The Academy is beyond my wildest expectations — especially given that I am in the company of such great artists who I have admired over the years.

Having been nominated also opens many doors, including the fashion ones. What do I wear to the GRAMMYs? To my pleasant surprise, I was contacted by an extraordinary designer, Sherri Hill (whose dresses have been worn by the likes of Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood), to see if I would be interested in checking out her collection, which I did. Not only did I get to try on fabulous designer clothes that I am definitely considering for the GRAMMYs, I got to have my hair and makeup done by Paul Anthony, and photos taken looking red carpet-ready by famed photographer Fadil Berisha, who was there for a photo shoot with former Los Angeles Lakers star Rick Fox and his girlfriend Eliza Dushku.

I’m so looking forward to GRAMMY Weekend and attending the GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 13. It doesn’t get any better than this! Well, maybe a win.

(Denise Donatelli is nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album for When Lights Are Low at the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards. Donatelli released her debut album, In The Company Of Friends, in 2005, and her sophomore release, 2008’s What Lies Within, reached No. 11 on the JazzWeek national radio airplay chart.)

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Even though jazz vocalist Denise Donatelli is a graduate of Allentown’s Parkland High School, Sunday marked the first time she performed in Allentown’s Miller Symphony Hall. Moving to Los Angeles was a good idea, though, since she has received Grammy nominations for her last three albums.

The third floor Rodale room was filled with fans, members of Donatelli’s family and a table of students from El Sistema of the Lehigh Valley. The concert was a benefit for El Sistema, a program that provides music education to underserved and special needs youth.

Smoothness was the key to Donatelli’s sound with her band of four New York City musicians. The band used a number of rhythms, like an Afro-Caribbean take on “All or Nothing At All” and the South American “Spaced Out (En Babia).” But everything was perfectly played and fit right into place, led by Donatelli’s strong but relaxed vocals.

Don Braden on tenor and soprano sax and flute and Dave Kikoski on grand piano varied from lightning runs to gentle melodic solos. Ed Howard on standup bass and Clarence Penn on drums gave an insistent but subtle push.

Donatelli began with “Old Devil Moon.” Although she also sang “Skylark,” the two-hour show was notable for having wonderful songs taken from her albums that are not overly familiar in a jazz setting. They included Joni Mitchell’s “Be Cool,” Donald Fagan’s “Big Noise New York,” and Sting’s “Practical Arrangement,” the latter written for the Broadway play “The Last Ship.”

The many love songs were generally upbeat, not dealing with heartbreak. “Two hearts revealing/music hath charms” were the words that led off “When Lights Are Low,” the title track of her 2010 album. “I trip over stepping stones/that lead to the deep unknown,” on “Love and Paris Rain” from her 2015 album “Find a Heart,” gently looked forward.

The one negative was Donatelli’s mike, which was too loud at the beginning in relation to her band, with too much treble and having a slight echo that made her difficult to understand at times. This was less noticeable in the second half.

Hopefully the Lehigh Valley will not have to wait so long for her to return for a concert.

Dave Howell is a freelance writer.

Original Review

In last month’s five-night engagement—at five different venues—Denise Donatelli made it clear that she is on a determined quest to expand the parameters of the jazz cabaret songbook. In “Big Noise/New York,” her eleven-number set, which I saw at the Metropolitan Room, she found new gold, especially in the adult contemporary world of Sting, Beck, David Crosby, Joni Mitchell, Brenda Russell, Steely Dan, Journey, and the Yellowjackets. Donatelli is solidly grounded in traditional jazz and swings with the best of them; six of her songs came from latest CD, “Find a Heart,” for which she was celebrating her third consecutive Grammy nomination for Best Vocal Jazz Album. But she was happy to experiment with tempos and lyrics. In this she was abetted by her able quartet—Laurence Hobgood, piano, Lage Lund, guitar, Ed Howard, bass, Jon Wikan, drums—plus Don Braden on alto- and soprano saxophones and flute.

Donatelli performed a couple of standards: “All or Nothing at All” (Jack Lawrence, Arthur Altman); and “My Shining Hour” (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer). But these were more up-tempo and swingier than as usually heard. Both up-tempo and upbeat lyrically, “Spaced Out” (Geoffrey Keezer, Susan Marder, who doubled as a backup singer for this set) opined “I am lighter than a cloud…happy just to be in love” On the other hand, Sting’s “Practical Arrangement,” from his concept album “The Last Ship” (but unaccountably missing from the Broadway musical adapted from it), offered a more practical tone: “Am I asking for the moon? Is it really so impossible?…I’ve always been a realist…I’m not suggesting that we find a paradise forever, [just] a practical solution to a solitary life.” Here Braden’s wistful flute provided exceptional emphasis.

On the other hand, Beck’s bitterly ironic reversal of a love song, “Eyes That Say I Love You,” predicts “You’ll come runnin’ [back to me] with eyes that say I love you… You’ll be blind, I won’t know you. I won’t see you, I won’t need you, I won’t love you anymore.” While Donatelli gave the song every ounce of required bile, she also managed to swing it, and when it was over, she almost cheerily observed, “someone must have done something really bad to Beck.” I’m guessing that Donatelli wouldn’t be at her most comfortable singing hardcore blues.

“Love and Paris Rain” (Russell Ferrante and William Kennedy of the jazz fusion quartet the Yellowjackets, lyrics by Brenda Russell) is less the prosaic stroll through the dampened Tuileries that the title suggests and more a profound view of the real deal: “Every hour I’m deeper into love…Take me now as I unfold my very soul to you.” Donatelli gave the song the reading it deserved, as did, particularly, Hobgood on piano, Lund on guitar, and Braden on soprano sax.

She was at her slowest and sultriest on “In This Moment” (Billy Childs), noting “You are here within my reach…Now you’re mine, ’cause we have tonight, and this moment for all time.” With “Find a Heart” (David Crosby, Marcus Eaton, James Raymond) she offered, “In a voice so free of doubt,” the song’s solid advice to those who seek the love that leads to completion. Joni Mitchell’s “Be Cool” proved an appropriate Donatelli signature song and denouement for her show, whose finale was the six-minute-plus title song, “Big Noise/New York” (Donald Fagan of Steely Dan, Marcelle Clements), which instrumentally came off as a loud “trad jazz” celebration. But its lyrics lamented: “Without your love, this town’s no fun at all…I only hear the loudest voices…it’s all big talk.”

With five musicians on stage, the band occasionally threatened to overpower the singer, but these overly big noises never lasted for very long and Donatelli was always ready and willing to re-balance any blare.

“Big Noise/New York”
Metropolitan Room  –  February 11

Original Article

I was wondering how to fill my day with new music when I was invited to hear Denise Donatelli presents her new CD “Soul Shadows.”

The atmosphere was set to mellow as we fine dined at this Italian venue “Upstairs at Vitello’s in Studio City, CA …. Hey I could do this every night!

Soul Shadows is a compilation of relationship songs, I dare say its about love in its various stages … Denise Donatelli leads us through love’s twists, turns and memories of love, the music flawless and so beautifully arranged.

“I am yours you are mine .. so it’s alright.” Are the words in “Another Day” a song that speaks to being comfortable in where you are in your relationship with your mate. Classic, head bobbin music … Nice!

“No Better” Heartfelt musical optimism mixed with sadness … The piano dances like teardrops falling … Very beautiful.

This is the song for me … “When I Looked Again” Is the song that stays on repeat.

“Too Late Now” … Sophisticated and heart moving.

“A Promise” Fulfills.

“ocean” … Mood music, the conversation between the instruments was in-credible.

“Ange” …Latin flare with her voice clean and crisp.

“Postcards and Messages” meaningful … playful

Seeing and hearing her live was very exciting. We were old friends and new friends gathering together to be reminded about love and relatinoships … The musicians that accompanied her Geoffrey Keezer, piano, Peter Sprague, electric and acoustic guitar, Walter Rodriguez, percussion, Carlitos del Puerto, bass were all the bomb as they all entertained close to two hours as Denise interacted with lite humor which made the evening even more intimate in the packed house.

Then they played the title song “Soul Shadows” … oooo I was singing along too … I look forward to read what the others are saying about this dynamic artist because I believe she is on her way to another Grammy nomination with this new release!

Denise Donatelli is a miracle. She’s a jazz singer whose musical and dramatic gifts tempt one to reach for superlatives. Yes, her unerring sense of swing and subtle way with a phrase bear comparison to iconic jazz divas from Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan to Diana Krall. That said, though, she’s one of a kind, a chanteuse beyond category.

In contrast to the strike-up-the-band brassiness of most performers’ openings, Donatelli, instead, brought us into her world with a poignant limning of Benny Carter’s “When Lights Are Low.” With smoldering killing-us-softly intensity, Donatelli’s delivery glowed.

There’s of course a place for singers whose stock-in-trade is belting beloved tunes across the footlights. There’s also a place for those who whisper and coo. And then there’s Donatelli, a singer whose soulful jazziness bespeaks pure passion and musicality.

Appearing under the aegis of the Topeka Jazz Workshop, the Grammy-nominated singer shifted gears with a samba send-up of Joe Sample’s “Soul Shadows.” She also had her luminescent way with such ballads as Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Darn That Dream.”

Throughout the afternoon, Donatelli was backed by L.A. pianist Max Haymer, K.C. bassist Gerald Spaits and drummer John Kizilarmut, a newcomer to the K.C. scene. Playing like angels, they perfectly delivered on the complex arrangements that often spilled out from their music racks. Indeed, they sounded like they’d been playing Donatelli’s “book” for years.

The arrangements were penned by New York pianist Geoff Keezer and an integral part of the afternoon’s success. Haymer, taking his cues from Keezer’s charts, often was called upon to engage Donatelli with improvisations stunning in their virtuosic audacity and design. They were a perfect fit to the singer’s also inspired flights.

Their back-and-forth repartees were the stuff of magic. Calling on colors from the varied palettes of the mainstream bebop as well as the churning modalities of John Coltrane, it was as if Norman Rockwell had met Jackson Pollack in a stylistic mash-up on a dare.

The resulting mélanges lifted previous expectations of such evergreens as Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark” and Harold Arlen’s “My Shining Hour.” In Donatelli’s hands, the old suddenly became once again new!

The rest of her repertoire was likewise intriguing. All but forgotten tunes crafted by the iconic likes of Duke Ellington and Brazilian master Milton Nascimento were given fresh re-framings thus giving us new insights and, indeed, thrills.

Donatelli is a quietly radiant personality. At one time, she might have been featured by Esquire in its ‘’Women We Love” page. She’s youngishly mature in the manner of Lorraine Bracco who played Tony Soprano’s analyst. It’s an attractive aspect to both her singing as well as her persona.

Fresh! And also accessible! These two descriptors are key to helping make jazz a viable contemporary medium. Yes, we love the old standards. And, yes, we want to hear them yet once again. But, we also want our old wines served in new bottles.

Thanks to Donatelli (and the brilliant arranger, Keezer), and, of course, Haymer, Spaits and Kizilarmut, jazz was once again in the words of The New Yorker’s Whitney Balliett “The sound of surprise” — and yet also an old friend!

Brava!

Jazz singer Denise Donatelli is an intimate performer. Her love songs, by virtue of her almost confessional medium dynamic and warm alto voice, have a rare intimacy. Emotion is something she deals out slowly, like cards in a poker game; each one puts the previous one in a different light.

Musicians and other peers have championed Donatelli’s work: her recent “Soul Shadows” album (Savant) was a Grammy nominee for Best Album. And she’ll shift gears this Sunday when she performs at the monthly jazz vespers service at All Saints Church in Pasadena.

Donatelli’s last three albums have been made with the help of pianist-arranger Geoff Keezer (his chart on the song “Don’t Explain” on “Soul Shadows” also garnered a Grammy nomination). A Wisconsin native who had a New York career, Keezer relocated and now teaches at San Diego State University. Donatelli had long admired his “Turn Up the Quiet” album (Sony, 1998). “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing on that,” she says with awe. “When I found Geoff was on this side of the country, I had to work with him.”

Keezer brings her arrangements, often of material that she’s never heard before, like an Afro-Peruvian treatment of “All or Nothing at All,” or songwriter Jonatha Brooke’s “No Better.”

“Denise is a real natural musician,” says Keezer. “She’s got great ears. Some of the things she comes up with in the studio just stop you cold.”

Donatelli is proud of her trio: pianist Max Haymer, bassist Hamilton Price and drummer Walter Rodriguez. “You can’t just walk in off the street and play Geoff’s charts,” she says. “There are too many surprises — twists and turns. Musicians have to woodshed his tunes.”

Christina Honchell is Parish Administrator at All Saints, which she describes as “a progressive Christian church: everyone is welcome to the table.” The church’s jazz vespers series is 15 years old.

“The idea began in New York,” she says, from her office in the church. “It’s been successful for us. We don’t stick to a rigid format, with a lot of prayer and ‘churchiness.’ We usually have about six-to-eight minutes of meditation rather than a sermon.”

All Saints has a number of musicians as members, including pianist-composers Russ Ferrante and Bill Cunliffe. Cunliffe, who won a Grammy for best instrumental arrangement of a “West Side Story” medley in 2010, is All Saints’ Composer-in-Residence. He’s been attending since 1998 and he writes a couple of classical pieces a year for the church.

“It was my idea to bring everyone up onto the chancel,” says Cunliffe, who directs the jazz band at Cal State Fullerton. “That way the audience is right there with the musicians. Part of what makes it great is that it’s a conversation: both among the musicians and with the audience. It’s like the most intimate jazz club experience but without the drinks.”

Honchell grew up in Cleveland, the daughter of a jazz fan. “My father and I couldn’t talk about religion, politics or current events,” she explains, “but we could talk about jazz. So when I hear a meditative piano piece, it allows me to commune with my father.”

Though she’s “not a fan of religion,” Donatelli was raised a Catholic. “Every time I sing, it touches my spiritual life,” she maintains. She lost her son Jason in 2008 and still feels his presence. “Everything I do is a musical prayer to my son. He’s my guardian angel and the good things that happen to me, like the Grammy nomination, come from him. He promised to take care of me.”

When I lived in Italy, I was always fascinated by the fact that all of the pasta dishes that I ate consisted of relatively simple fare: a basic tomato sauce, some basil, a dash of pepper and salt, and that was it. Never did I have a meal with some fancy multi-ingredient spaghetti sauce. The revelation came when I asked one of the cooks why he used such basic materials. His reply was simple but wise: “We trust our ingredients.”

That thought permeated my mind as I took in Denise Donatelli’s show at Vitello’s on this warm fall evening. Not given to vocal gymnastics, histrionics or sighs and groans, she demonstrated why her previous album was nominated for a Grammy, and her most recent release Soul Shadows is just as deserving by sticking to the basics that make for a truly worthwhile vocalist. Teamed up with the adroit band that was on her latest release, Geoffrey Keezer/p, Peter Sprague/g, Walter Rodriguez/dr and Carlos del Puerto/b (who opened with hiply elastic “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise”), Ms Donatelli graciously delivered clearly enunciated versions of “When Lights Are Low” with a mature and confident allure. Brazilian and Latin material such as “Sail” and “Soul Shadows” spotlighted her impeccable sense of timing. Most intriguing was her venture into more contemporary songwriters, with Susan Marder providing harmonies on the more folkie material like the enveloping “Ocean” and “Know Better.”  Donatelli’s understated command of the gist of a song was most evident on her duet with pianist Keezer (who arranged most of the fascinating charts) on a take of “Too Late Now” that can only be rendered by someone who’s lived it. Closing with a playful “I Wish I Were In Love Again,” Donatelli and company gave the packed house at Vitello’s a taste of an old fashioned home made meal, allowing the basic mix of tone, clarity, timing and heart create a sumptuous feast of a musical meal.

“I raved about Denise Donatelli in Financial Mail (July, 2009). She now has a new CD out on Savant named When Lights are Low, which has garnered two Grammy nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for Geoffrey Keezer´s arrangement of “Don´t Explain”. Donatelli and Keezer fit together like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.”

~ Don Albert, NewsTime

Denise Donatelli and Geoffrey Keezer

“Donatelli is quickly becoming one of today’s top jazz vocalists. …one of those voices that will age well like a fine vintage wine. The packed audience at the Douglas Beach House responded with a warm welcome. By the time the evening drew to a close, the sophisticated jazz audience was mesmerized – gave her and her band a standing ovation. She is certainly a jazz singer we are going to hear a lot more from for decades to come.”