$ 30.00 USD
Laura Ainsworth - Necessary Evil Tee
$ 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
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