April Varner - April (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

April starts the recording by highlighting her love of the blues with her original “April Blues”, performed with a mature delivery and phrasings that are in lock step with bassist Reuben Rogers’ beat.

The punchy horns on “I’ll Remember April'' begin a swinging romp through the classic tune. Before trading solos with trumpet player Benny Benack III, they trade improvised vocaleses. It’s great to hear the conversational ease of these improvisations. A favorite practice of April’s, not too many folks still feature vocalese as part of their performances.
I love how April has command of this fast tempo, making it all sound easy.

April simply and purely, without apology, loves to sing. She shows this penchant on a couple of popular melodies: first, the beautiful “April Come She Will”. She and Russell Malone deliver a powerfully simple rendition of the Simon & Garfunkel classic. Second, she tackles Prince’s “Sometimes It Snows in April”, an emotional lyric that requires a depth of feeling to perform. It takes time to find the right way to convey loss in a song, and April handles this delivery well.

On Frank Ocean’s prayerful “Dear April”, April is at her most vulnerable. Favoring short endings and long phrases, she repeats key lyrics hauntingly, while the supporting waves of backing, layered vocals- provided by Theo Bleckmann and April herself- make the song feel like a mantra.

In “April Give Me One More Day”, the motion of the medium-slow arrangement shows off April’s phrasing. Her vowels and turns reminds me of the brash balladeering of one of my favorites, Anita O'Day.

I love the melody of “April Again”. It's the feel of the arrangement, the presence of Caelan Cardello’s tasteful organ and piano playing, and a great solo by Dayna Stephens on soprano that really shows off the group interplay.

On “April in Paris” - a swinging duo with pianist Caelan Cardello - both are taking chances on phrasing and style to keep the performance fully in the moment and fresh.

It’s a nice souvenir of one of the classic standards. It takes maturity for any musician to play a slow ballad, and towards the end of the record, “Lost April” shows off April’s proficiency at these kinds of tempos. She has such a connection with the group on this one, especially the time of the drummer, Miguel Russel. Every note means something.

The title and lyrical images in April’s original, “Who Let April Back Into My Dreams?”, show off April's songwriting chops. The chromatic melody could be a future standard, and April delivers the wistful lyric with confidence and vulnerability.

This recording shows that April isn’t afraid to show her breadth of influence, and it is matched by a real depth of feeling, discipline, vocal prowess, and active listening. On “April” - a letter to herself, perhaps - April Varner shows how much she believes in this music. I believe her.

Vocals: April Varner
Piano: Caelan Cardello
Guitar: Russell Malone
Bass: Reuben Rogers
Drums: Miguel Russell
Trumpet/Vocals: Benny Benack III
Tenor/Soprano Saxophone: Dayna Stephens
Vocal Arranging & Production on "Dear April": Theo Bleckmann

Tracklist:
01 - April Blues
02 - I'll Remember April
03 - Joy of April
04 - April Come She Will
05 - April Give Me One More Day
06 - April Again
07 - Sometimes It Snows In April
08 - Dear April
09 - April In Paris
10 - Lost April
11 - Who Let April Back Into My Dreams?


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