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QUOTES
"The torch has been passed, Betty Carter is gone, and Jeri Brown is in line here and now." - Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide
"Brown's voice is a true marvel, seemingly boundless in its range, resourcefulness and daring. She leaps back and forth across several octaves as if it were no more difficult than breathing, and scats at length with unusual grace and soul." - The Washington Post
"Brown's voice is so compelling, delivered with such a stunning blend of musicality and expressiveness, that the content of the songs fades in importance. She could, to paraphrase the classic phrase, sing the telephone book and make you remember every number." - Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times
"Brown's brilliance as a scat singer & her narrative flair are unsurpassed among singers of her generation." - Nashville Scene
"Jeri Brown is a singer of immense capabilities who always swings hard and really works with an ensemble as one of the musicians - not a singer with incidental backup; a rarity among vocalists." - Willard Jenkins
"Jeri Brown is a great musician. Like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, she uses her voice with great imagination and creativity. Her expertise and training have helped her shape a personal style that is passionate and exciting." - Dr. Billy Taylor
"...big voice, big range, gymnastic singing techniques, sophisticated singer." - The Toronto Star
"A modern standards singer with an approach somewhere between classic and experimentalist." - Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz
"Jeri Brown has it all - adventurous spirit, superb musicianship, and technique to spare." - Fred Hersch
"Her beautiful and original soul music moves outside of its intended genre and becomes a life all its own." - The Coast, Halifax (Canada)
“Brown's lush Sarah Vaughan-esque sound is balanced by an attention to articulation reminiscent of Carmen McRae.” - Los Angeles Times
"Jeri is a singer of remarkable range - she can negotiate four octaves effortlessly, most singers work with an octave and a half or two at the most - and inventive ingenuity...a gifted singer." - Gene Lees
"Brown is thrilling," - Jim Beal Jr., San Antonio Express-News
"Jeri Brown has a unique and definitive interpretation of vocal jazz music. Feelings produced while performing with Jeri were extremely rewarding." - Avery Sharpe
"Jeri Brown is a rare breed, who can not only produce a wonderful sound, which is expected from a singer, but can also be extremely creative and has the audacity to musically understand all that she is doing." - Rufus Reid
"Montreal jazz diva Jeri Brown is an amazing woman with an amazing voice and, most of all, an amazing heart." - Hour - Montreal (Canada)
"She is a hard worker, destined for great things in the future." - Ellis Marsalis
"It is always a pleasure to work with Jeri Brown. Jeri probably has the best ears of anyone I have ever worked with. I get a wonderful feeling when I listen to Jeri improvise over mine or anyone else's changes." - Kenny Wheeler
"She's outstanding...she has a really pretty voice...I don't normally like scat singers, those scooby-doo people, but she does something different with it." - Jimmy Rowles
"Brown uses her voice with a rare sensitivity to jazz phrasing; by turns sweet and sassy, it is always focused and pure in tone. A little torch, a little bop: a lot to like." - Tim Sheridan, All Music Guide
"Montreal jazz diva Jeri Brown is an amazing woman with an amazing voice and, most of all, an amazing heart" - Bugs Burnett, The Hour, Montreal (Canada)
SONG HIGHLIGHTS
Brown is thrilling! A music educator as well as an experienced singer with a four-plus-octave voice, Brown stuck to standards delivered in imaginative ways. Every aspiring "American Idol" should be required to take Brown's class. Using superb voice control and microphone techniques, she alternated between singing straight ahead and scatting on selections such as "Where Is Love," "I Thought About You" and "The Nearness of You." On "I Thought About You," Brown and bassist Avery Sharpe traded hot licks while D. D. Jackson and Terry Gibbs held the rhythm in check. At times on Saturday, Brown was a chanteuse. At other points in the set, she used her voice as one of the instruments. At all times, Brown and the band turned in classy and classic music...."- San Antonio - San Antonio Express-News(Jim Beal Jr.)
"Brown's lush Sarah Vaughan-esque sound is balanced by an attention to articulation reminiscent of Carmen McRae, and she is surrounded, appropriately, by a sterling ensemble featuring the piano of Tony Suggs (former chair of Count Basie Band) and the tenor saxophone of Seamus Bllake. She roves far and wide for her material, to the jazz world for Cedar Walton's The Root of Life (with lyrics by Doug Carn) and Abbey Lincoln's Straight Ahead to pop for Billy Preston's Will It Go Round in Circles and Seals & Crofts' We May Never Pass This Way (Again). It's an imaginative program by one of the most exquisite-sounding new voices in jazz." - Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times On Firm Roots
"Brown continues to plough her own bold furrow with this closely structured concept album...Brown's voice is naturally introspective, and ideal for big dramatic projection, and the material here, self-written or in collaboration with pianist Milton Sealey, is mostly pitched to suit that style and range. All at Once and The Dragonfly and The Pearl are remarkable performances from all concerned. Ms. Brown continues to intrigue and enchant."On Image in the Mirror: The Triptych - Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz
On Firm Roots "...Here Brown mixs gospel, R&B and soul into stunning readings of both classics-Burt Bacharach's What the World Needs Now - and oddities - Seals an Crofts' We May Never Pass This Way Again. Her beautiful and original soul music moves outside of its intended genre and becomes a life all its own." - Trevor MacLaren, The Coast
On I've Got Your Number "...not just an excellent vocal performance. It's also a reference to Jeri's bulging contacts book. The best measure of her growing confidence and reputation is her ability to call together a band like this. John Hicks and bassists Curtis Lundy and Avery Sharpe are superb vocal accompanists, underpinning the spooky drama of You Must Believe in Spring and always leaving lots of space round the singer. They all must have done Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise a thousand times before, but it still cccomes across as fresh as the new day. David Murray's...role on Midnight Sun and on Gerry Niewood's Joy is a revelation. Don Braden makes more of an impact on Zaius and only re-emerges for As Long As You're Living on the second record which is well sequenced and comfortably paced. It seems only the day before yesterday that Jeri Brown was a new face and one to watch..."4 stars - Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz
