Lonesome Thing: Anaïs Reno Sings Ellington & Strayhorn

Anaïs Reno - Lonesome Thing: Anaïs Reno Sings Ellington & Strayhorn - Harbinger Records

Listening to this debut album by Anaïs Reno, one is astonished that she was 16 years old. Yet, she sounds as if she was much older. At 16, she has received acclaim for her dedication to jazz and the Great American songbook, having won several awards previously and having performed at Birdland Jazz Club, the Friar's Club, Carnegie Hall, and other locations. This is pretty heady, but she comes from a musical family, her father being a former opera singer (who helped develop her vocal technique), and her mother is a concert violinist. 

Pianist Emmet Cohen leads the backing trio with Russell Hall on bass and Kyle Poole on drums. Tivon Pennicott adds tenor sax to several tracks, and her mother plays on two selections. Cohen and Reno did the musical arrangements. The songs include some of the most familiar songs of the Ellington-Strayhorn songbook. With the Cohen trio providing exquisite support, Reno displays a supple, honey voice, as well as having a wonderful sense of time, clarity of her phrasing, and dynamics. This can be heard from the opening moments of "Caravan" with a delightful Pennicott tenor sax solo to the rousing closing of "Take the 'A' Train," again with more splendid tenor sax as well as Cohen's sublime piano. 

Other songs that stand out include a captivating rendition of "Mood Indigo," where her mother contributes a violin solo that evokes Stephan Grappelli. Reno captures the meaning of the lyrics, such as the longingness expressed in a rendition of "Daydream" and the bluesy feel she provides singing "I'm Just a Lucky So and So." This latter number is one of several showcasing her horn-like scatting. Cohen's accompaniment and solo are particularly gripping, and the preciousness of her performance of "Lush Life." There is also a stunning mashup of "Chelsea Bridge" and " A Flower is a Lonesome Thing." She delivers "Chelsea Bridge" as a wordless vocal" before singing "A Flower" with a touch of gentle melancholy. 

As Will Friedwald writes in liner notes, "At 16, Anaïs achieved what precious few adults accomplish: namely, to actually enhance our appreciation and enjoyment of the Ellington-Strayhorn canon." There is little one could add to Friedwald's concise appreciation of this superb recording. 

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here Anaïs Reno sings "A Flower Is a Lonesome Thing."