Mayita Dinos The Garden Is My Stage

Mayita Dinos
The Garden Is My Stage
Dash Hoffman Records

A landscape designer and artist, as well as one who has performed in jazz venues over the years, Mayita Dinos is able to combine her passions in this debut recording. She has brought together a fine group of musicians for her studio ensemble. The musicians include Bill Cantos or Rick Eames on piano; Gabe Davis on acoustic bass; Hussain Jeffry on electric bass; Dori Amarilio on guitar; Michael Hunter on trumpet & flugelhorn; Alex Budman on flute, clarinet & soprano sax; Steve Hass on drums; and Tiki Pasillas on drums & percussion.

Dinos has worked as a designer specializing in sustainable landscape design. Landscape design requires more than just a knowledge of horticulture because a beautiful garden is like a lush symphony composed of colors, shapes, and textures. Dinos was singing in various venues around Los Angeles, including at jam sessions hosted by Cathy Segal-Garcia, the prolific singer, recording artist, and impresario, when Dan Davilla, a local patron of the arts, approached Dinos with an offer to executive produce a CD for her. Segal-Garcia became her producer and brought on board guitarist Dori Amarilio as a co-producer and primary arranger. Dinos relates, "We spent hours before the actual recording process talking about my musical influences. I had painted illustrations, which I included in the CD package, that really helped Dori understand what each song meant to me. As a result, I feel that each song, as well as the CD as a whole, carries my DNA! I hear tinges of flamenco, birdsong, rain, and the longing for reconciliation with nature in Dori's instrumentation, pulse, and harmonic choices." The publicity for this recording observes that "Each of the songs that Dinos chose relates to the natural world and the music she hears in it."

The title of this album echoes lyrics in Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" about returning to the garden. This is one of several songs Dinos sings with a clear, soft sweet-sounding voice. Her phrasing flows like a cool stream while she cleanly delivers the lyrics. In addition to playing guitar, Amarilio provided the arrangements for these dreamy, breezy performances. His arrangements complement the warmth of her singing, with Hunter's brass and Budman's reeds accenting these lovely performances such as for Billy Strayhorn's "A Flower is a Lonesome Thing," and Thelonious Monk's "Pannonica." On the Monk tune, Jon Hendricks' lyrics are lovingly rendered. Amarilio transforms Charlie Parker's "Ornithology" into a Brazilian bossa nova with Dinos adding lyrics about birds soaring and nesting. She provides a fresh romantic take on Ben E. King's classic "Spanish Harlem," with Amarilio adding some flamenco touches with his guitar.

Other songs derive from such sources as Freddie Hubbard, Stevie Wonder, and Antonio Carlos Jobim with her delightful rendition of "Aqua de Beber," providing a coda to a thoroughly captivating recording.

I received my review copy from a publicist. From this CD,  Mayita Dinos sings "A Flower is a Lonesome Thing."