Connie Evingson

Jazz Lovers Arise! This CD is one elegant, swinging program. The concept employs the most refreshing approach to these compositions you'll hear anytime, anywhere. The messages, complete with burning instrumental color and shading, should push all your response buttons.

Connie Evingson is the compelling messenger with an ear for new musical strategies. In team with pianist/co-producer Sanford Moore, Connie and her supporting cast blow away all the cliches. Each performance stands in a distinctive musical setting... glowing in warm sun, cool starlight and "moon mist".

- Leigh Kamman, The Jazz Image, Minnesota Public Radio

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Sample of Connie with Moore by Four singing a Holiday Favorite
Have Yourself a Merry Christmas(requires FREE real G2 audio to play this audio clip)

"I Have Dreamed"
Show Me (5:35) Get Me to the Church on Time (5:49) Lazy Afternoon (4:56) (requires real audio) Getting to Know You (4:06) I've Grown Accustomed to His Face (4:38) Oh, What a Beautiful Morning (4:02) (requires real audio) Wouldn't it be Lovely? (5:51)(requires real audio) Lonely House (5:35) On the Street Where You Live (3:25)(requires real audio) Something's Coming (3:46) I Have Dreamed (4:20) I'm Flying (2:54)
Connie Evingson - vocals Sanford Moore - piano Terry Burns - bass Phil Hey - drums Kathy Jensen - saxophones Dave Karr - tenor sax, flute Dave Jensen - trumpet, flugelhorn Peter Enblom - trombone Joan Griffith - guitar Jay Young - bass Joe Pulice - drums Steve Faison - percussion Severin Behnen - piano Jerry Rubino - cello Bob Hallgrimson - trumpet

It's a long way from a little Iron Range town in northern Minnesota to Broadway and 52nd Street. But thanks to my dad's record collection, I grew up in a house filled with the sounds of theatre music and jazz. And I spent most of my childhood dreaming of the day when I'd either be singing and dancing on the theatrical stage - or swinging with a band in a smoky jazz club. In time, the jazz life won out over treading the boards in musical theatre, but the stage remains a major musical influence. And that brings me to "I Have Dreamed" - and my penchant for reinterpreting show tunes in the jazz style (with all due respect to the writers, of course...)

Show Me (My Fair Lady) was originally sung by Julie Andrews as a waltz. I thought it would be fun to swing it hard and make it a bit more demanding and even sassy... Get Me to the Church on Time (My Fair Lady) is an up-tempo, comic piece sung by Eliza's father. Here we're doing it like a New Orleans funeral - a dirge that turns into a party. The horn players (Kathy & Dave Jensen, Peter Enblom) came in to the studio, listened to the track once and had fun with it... What could be more soothing than Joan Griffith's acoustic guitar on Lazy Afternoon (The Golden Apple)? Steve Faison's percussion colors give the tune it's hazy hue... Getting to Know You (The King and I) isn't usually thought of as a love song, but why not?... Alan Lerner's lyrics in I've Grown Accustomed to His Face (My Fair Lady) has always been popular with jazz musicians. Of course, I had to try my hand at it... Soundheim and Bernstein's tune Something's Coming (West Side Story) seemed to be crying out for a horn section. Peter Enblom's driving arrangement for horns gives it the energy of anticipation... I Have Dreamed (The King and I) is special to me because it's from the first show I appeared in as a child... Finally, Severin Behnen's arrangement and Dave Karr's flute solo on I'm Flying (Peter Pan) are exhilarating, and I'm (truly!) flying to keep up with them.

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