$ 22.98 USD
12-song Japanese mini-LP CD featuring CD-only bonus track “As Time Goes By”
The award-winning retro-jazz diva's fourth studio album, featuring familiar standards requested by fans.
• All new material (12 songs)
• Includes the single “Goldfinger,” named one of the “Best of the Best of 2022” by the international radio show, “Cocktail Nation”
• Deluxe mini-LP CD format with poster, obi strip and lyric sheet
• Mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Jessica Thompson (Erroll Garner)
• 8 songs feature rarely-performed introductory verses
At her live shows, Laura Ainsworth receives numerous requests to perform beloved songs such as Julie London's "Cry Me A River" and Judy Garland's "Over The Rainbow." While she normally records long-overlooked gems, she finally obliged her fans by recording the classics they most wanted to hear her sing.
Laura's caveat was that she record the albums the Laura Ainsworth way, with fresh and unusual arrangements that present the songs in a new light. Eight of the twelve tracks include introductory verses that are in the original sheet music but seldom recorded. Arrangements for songs such as “Goldfinger” take unexpected departures from the familiar versions, while the understated horn section of Rodney Booth (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Chris McGuire (tenor saxophone) slow burn with gentle, nostalgic atmosphere.
Laura opted to record the backing band live in the studio, which is a departure from her usual multitracking approach. The album was mastered by sound engineer Jessica Thompson, who specializes in audio restoration and is Grammy®-nominated for her work on Erroll Garner's “The Complete Concert By The Sea.”
All songs arranged by Brian Piper
Produced by Brian Piper and Laura Ainsworth
Personnel:
Laura Ainsworth (voc)
Brian Piper (p)
Rodney Booth (tpt, flh)
Chris McGuire (ts)
Noel Johnston (g)
Young Heo (b)
Steve Barnes (ds)
Track listing
1. Cry Me a River
2. All the Things You Are
3. Goldfinger
4. Someone to Watch Over Me
5. Scotch and Soda
6. As Time Goes By (CD-only bonus track)
7. Isn't It Romantic?
8. I Can't Get Started
9. What'll I Do?
10. Once Upon a Time
11. Love Is Here to Stay
12. Over the Rainbow
$ 24.98 USD
Track Listing:
1. That’s How I Got My Start
2. Necessary Evil
3. That’s the Kind of Guy I Dream Of
4. The Gentleman Is A Dope
5. You’d Be Surprised
6. Love For Sale
7. Skylark
8. Medley: Long Ago And Far Away/You Stepped Out Of A Dream
9. An Occasional Man
10. Out Of This World
11. Hooray For Love
12. Personality
13. My Foolish Heart
14. Dream A Little Dream Of Me
15. Wasting My Love On You
16. Just Give Me A Man
$ 29.98 USD
Tracklist
Disc: 1
1. Love for Sale
2. An Occasional Man
3. Necessary Evil
4. Just Give Me a Man
5. Hooray for Love
6. That's How I Got My Start
7. Out of This World
8. That's the Kind of Guy I Dream Of
9. Wasting My Love on You
10. Skylark
Laura Ainsworth achieved a lifelong dream by finally appearing on the medium of her idols with Top Shelf, a 180-gram, virgin vinyl best-of LP, pressed by Hand Drawn Pressing. MP3 download card is included.
Remastered for vinyl by renowned engineer Kent Stump of Crystal Clear Sound in Dallas, Top Shelf features 10 of Laura’s personal favorites from her first three albums, showcasing a variety of styles.
Tracks include her smoky, after-midnight take on Cole Porter’s “Love For Sale”…the sexy island fantasy of “An Occasional Man,” complete with surf sounds and tropical bird calls…the big band blast of “Necessary Evil”…her exotic, world jazz reimagining of “Out of This World”…the sensuous noir feel of the long-forgotten early Frank Loesser gem, “That’s How I Got My Start”…and five more outstanding cuts from her critically-acclaimed catalog, all in the rich, warm tones of high-quality audiophile vinyl.
$ 12.00 USD
Tracklist
1. That's How I Got My Start
2. I'll Take Romance
3. Where Did The Magic Go?
4. An Occasional Man
5. Wasting My Love On You
6. Nevertheless
7. A Little Jive Is Good For You
8. The Man I Love Is Gone
9. All About You
10. Nothing Can Replace A Man
11. It's A Nuisance Having You Around
12. Long Ago and Far Away and You Stepped Out of a Dream
13. I Once Knew a Fella
Laura Ainsworth’s third album, New Vintage, scored five nominations and an unprecedented triple win of the 2018 Artists Music Guild Heritage Awards, for Album, Video (“That How I Got My Start”) and Female Vocalist of the Year, and a 2019 AMG Best Video award for “Where Did the Magic Go?” It was also honored with three Global Music Awards, the Clousine International Music Magazine Award for best jazz album and five Josie Music Awards nominations. It earned Laura profiles in Downbeat, Cadence, Jazz Japan and other top music publications. She was also featured and interviewed on many lounge/jazz radio shows and podcasts, such as Lounging With Lombardi,” “Everything Old Is New Again” and “Cocktail Nation.” She also became the first contemporary artist ever featured on the “Buddies Lounge” podcast.
Reviews of New Vintage…
“Beautiful voice, expressive and sensitive, accompanied by a group with serious professionalism…An excellent album!” - Serge Warin, Radio Grand Brive, Objat, France
“Laura Ainsworth is breathing new life into the previously staid ‘jazz standards’ album format…As excellent as Laura's first two albums have been, New Vintage looks to be Laura's breakthrough. With New Vintage, Laura creates a rich, intoxicating atmosphere that transports the mind to another place and time. Laura swings and seduces her way into the heart like only the original jazz singers could previously do. ‘They don't make 'em like they used to’ no longer applies, as Laura has rediscovered a large portion of the formula, and uses it liberally on the New Vintage album. Thank you, Laura, for making the Great American Songbook exciting and fun again!” - David Gasten, Producer, This is Vintage Now compilation series
“She has a voice and style that don't belong to this century, let alone this decade. Laura is reaching back in time, and some of the songs contained on this album haven't been recorded for more than fifty years. This is music from the '40s and '50s, with even new songs chosen deliberately that sit within that style. She can gently sway in the bossa nova beat of ‘An Occasional Man’ or slow it right down and be the sultry smooth singer reminiscent of the likes of Julie London. Laura's father was Billy Ainsworth, who played sax in big bands, and the early exposure to soft and classic jazz has obviously had a major impact. Close your eyes, and drift into a different world.” – Kev Rowland, Gonzo Weekly
“Ainsworth’s father played with Sam Butera, so this retro revival thing is in her blood legit and sometimes it just doesn’t pay to fight what you are. With another lounge revival swinging our way, she’s right at the forefront of the revival, unearthing worthy songs that haven’t been recorded in the last 50 years, which culls her from the rest of the diva pack that think it all begins and ends with Cole Porter. Loesser, Mercer, let’s bring them all back…
Streaming like a comet out of Texas, this gal is all gal and proud of it to the tips of her opera length gloves. A must for jazzbo vocal fans.” - Chris Spector, MidwestRecord.com
This is an album that is fun from start to finish, sung with just the right approach by Ainsworth, with support by a hip band led by pianist and arranger Brian Piper. It is a smile-inducing winner!” - Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz
“Laura Ainsworth’s Third Album Sparkles Like Champagne…
When Dallas lounge singer Laura Ainsworth releases an album…you have to sit at home imagining the tinkling of ice cubes in a highball (or, just as legitimately, make a cocktail yourself and create your own ambiance)…Her voice, a satiny ribbon that seems to flow as an uninterrupted river of downbeats, is rich and distinctive, but it’s her sense of humor that catches you note after note…One savvy decision is the selection of a fairly obscure set of standards to tackle here (of the 13 tracks, only three — the lead-off ‘That’s How I Got My Start’ by Frank Loesser, ‘Where Did The Magic Go?’ and a Kern/Gershwin mashup of ‘Long Ago and Far Away” — will be widely familiar). The great advantage of that, of course, is that every song can still surprise you — the lyrics, the licks, the sentiments. New Vintage is an album of reinvention, both feet planted in the present, but forever looking back.” - Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice
$ 12.00 USD
Tracklist
1. Keep it to Yourself
2. While The Music Plays On
3. April Fooled Me
4. Dream a Little Dream of Me
5. He’s So Unusual
6. Midnight Sun
7. La Vie En Rose
8. That’s the Kind of Guy I Dream of
9. Love For Sale
10. Personality
11. Skylark
12. Fantastic Planet of Love
Laura Ainsworth’s Keep It To Yourself introduced the world to this Dallas-based, satin-voiced retro jazz/lounge vocalist and her three-octave range. It received rave reviews and worldwide airplay, and was praised by Jazz Japan magazine as a rare debut by a new artist already fully mature in her talent, style, and persona. It established both her “new vintage” approach that mixes old and new elements to put a unique twist on classic lounge jazz, and her practice of combining reimagined standards, long-overlooked gems from decades past, and new songs strong enough to stand beside the classics, such as Marshall Crenshaw’s “Fantastic Planet of Love” and the darkly funny title track by Amy Rigby.
Other standout cuts include her evocative version of “Love For Sale,” which classical pianist/recording artist Michael Lewin described as “the best ever…I grew up with Ella, but this is better.” Also her stripped-down, live-in-the-studio take on “Skylark” with renowned guitarist Chris DeRose-Chiffolo. Nick DeRiso of SomethingElseReviews.com called it “an update that emerges as the transcendent moment every singer hopes for when they dig out one of those dusty, decades-old favorites…The results are devastatingly beautiful, nakedly honest, and a powerful argument for the ageless compositions that Ainsworth so clearly treasures...”
Reviews of Keep It To Yourself…
“Gifted with a sultry, swoon-inducing croon, Ainsworth can sing any words and command attention… The whole album is among the year's most consistently engaging jazz releases, performed with class and heartfelt passion.” – AllAboutJazz.com
"You can keep all those pop divas. The only one for me is Laura Ainsworth... Ainsworth has beauty, brains, sophistication and comic timing that make her a total performance package... A wonderful modern interpreter of the Great American Songbook as well as thoroughly modern styles." - Eric Harabadian, Jazz Inside magazine
"Ainsworth’s voice is sublime as it caresses top-notch musicianship by a slew of southwest jazz players...It’s a very warm, elegant album with just enough big stage flair." - Mario Tarradell, Dallas Morning News
"A unique gem...The title track opens and immediately transports us to a posh dinner and dancing club with fancy-dressed women and men with cigars. Ainsworth and band play gorgeously together, creating a charming, classic sound that would fit in any ’50s film with that club scene. I expected Rosemary Clooney or Bing Crosby to appear somewhere. Props to producer Brian Piper and mixer Kent Stump for tying up package that gives due respect to Ainsworth’s voice while never faltering on the instruments... The horns are crisp and each drumbeat or guitar pluck is as obvious as it is subtle.
But Ainsworth is clearly the star. What she does with Johnny Mercer’s 'Skylark' and Cole Porter’s 'Love for Sale' is magic..." - Rich Lopez, Dallas Voice
"Jazz vocalist Laura Ainsworth weaves past and present with stunning power...Her voice is like (a) mirror reflection into the past, conjuring black-and-white images of well-groomed gentlemen in trench coats and fedoras, smoke-enveloped bars, and glamorous women whose beauty is nearly as bright as their jewelry...Laura Ainsworth has that effect on the listener, an uncanny ability to flash portraits in the mind with a simple line... It might not be long before Dallas is not just known for its oil, Cowboys, and J.R. Ewing but a funny lady with a jewel of a voice..." - Robert Sutton, JazzCorner.com
$ 12.00 USD
Tracklist
1. Necessary Evil
2. One More Time
3. Gentleman Is A Dope, The
4. Just Give Me A Man
5. Love Is A Dangerous Thing
6. My Foolish Heart
7. Lies Of Handsome Men, The
8. Get Out And Get Under The Moon
9. Out Of This World
10. Hooray For Love
11. I'd Give A Dollar For A Dime
12. Last Train To Mercerville
Laura Ainsworth’s second album “Necessary Evil” was inspired by her love of film noir, from its pulp novel cover to its Raymond Chanderesque liner notes to the songs that touch on the many twisted shades of love. Only at the end do we learn that if you want pure, happy-ever-after romance, it’s best to look for it in the great old songs on the jukebox…
Featuring a powerful 13-piece horn section on the opening and closing tunes and some of the top jazz players in North Texas, New Vintage was nominated for several indie music awards and won the Clousine International Music Magazine Award for Best Jazz Video for the title track, filmed during Laura’s tour of India.
Reviews of Necessary Evil…
"My goodness, it is brilliant.” – Koop Kooper, host, Cocktail Nation (World’s leading radio show/podcast on all things cool and swank)
"Laura Ainsworth has not only met the incredible standard set by her debut recording, but surpassed it with her timeless musical craftsmanship and abundant raw talent." - Eric Harabadian, Jazz Inside magazine
"Laura's singing is in the classic Big Band style of singing that I like and that is missed in today's music.” – Ernie Felice, Capitol Records artist, Grammy Museum honoree and father of jazz accordion
“4-1/2 Stars! Laura Ainsworth is an exceptional singer, full of grace and color in her interpretations… Her ability to express the elements of the most classic jazz is incomparable; she is able to subtly display sensuality, darkness, romanticism, naughtiness, and feeling. Necessary Evil is a smart and brilliant contribution to the world jazz scene; it is a real, passionate and lovely tribute to the composers and singers that some decades ago released these standards; it is a tribute to some key moments in the history of jazz.” – Oscar Montagut, TheWorldMusicReport.com
“…The film noirish cover and tongue-in-cheek notes made me want to pop it right into my CD player... One fine singer who is as at home with the racy ‘Just Give Me a Man’ as with the tender ‘My Foolish Heart’… (She) has made the effort to find some songs that you will not hear on many new releases… The clever closing number by Lee Charles Kelley is comprised almost entirely of Johnny Mercer song titles… This album is musical, fun, and one that I will get back to often.” – Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz
"Laura Ainsworth steps...back into the recording studio with her delightful new CD, the snazzy and jazzy Necessary Evil (Eclectus Records). She can deliver sultry in simple fashion, but the kind that recalls big band clubs in many a black-and-white film airing on TCM. The production value is easy here, but it’s magically transporting to an era far gone. But what matters most here is that Ainsworth sings with heart... She opts for deep cuts like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘The Gentleman is a Dope’ and Johnny Mercer’s ‘Out of This World.’ While not obscure tunes, she doesn’t go for the obvious... For patient listeners, these 12 tracks play like a dream... Charming and genuine. She doesn’t sing like a diva, but like a character living in the middle of the music."- Kevin Thomas, Dallas Voice
“Dallas-based vocalist Laura Ainsworth’s sophomore album pops in a way that makes you realize just how terrific old-school jazz can sound in the right hands. Full of vivid instrumentation crisply recorded — there were goose-bump moments, particularly during ‘One More Time,’ when it seemed like the musicians were performing right in front of me — and Ainsworth’s vivacious vocals, Necessary Evil cries out for dim lighting, last call and a fine cigar.” – Preston Jones, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
"The thing that jumps right out is quality – quality vocals, quality accompaniment and quality songs. This is not another album of cheap run-of-the mill recreations of jazz and big band standards, no sir, this is a rare treat for music lovers everywhere. Laura Ainsworth is an old fashioned singer who actually interprets the music of the songs she performs and this means you get a dozen stellar performances on this album… It is reminiscent of those classic Verve, Capitol or Columbia albums of the 1950’s…you just need to grab a copy and listen." - Richard Irvine, Radio North Angus, Scotland
“As sweet-voiced as a meadowlark crossed with a hummingbird…The kind of gig Mae West would uncork champagne to and then sit back in brocade and rhinestones… Vamps, sorceresses, and cabaret divas are the faeryland denizens she saunters among, unhurriedly, at home with winsome seductresses and a Gatsby or two. At times, one can almost hear Tenessee Williams and Oscar Wilde rubbing elbows in the audience.” – Mark S. Tucker, AcousticMusic.com
“I don't know what's with this whole femme fatale revival thing, but I like the vibe and I like the records when they are done right, like this one is. With a three-octave voice and a pop that played sax with Sinatra, Bennett, Tormé and Fitzgerald, Ainsworth brings a whole lot of other things to the table that make this release stand out at once and pull farther away from the pack with repeated listening… Fun stuff that just screams out for a whiskey neat with a water back.” – MidwestRecord.com
$ 30.00 USD
Laura Ainsworth - Top Shelf Tee
$ 30.00 USD
Laura Ainsworth - Necessary Evil Tee
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