Live Performance Reviews
The New Yorker
JAZZ
by Whitney Balliett
Oct. 14, 1991
Wednesday: None of these jazz singers appeared
in "Two Divas of Jazz" tonight - Helen
Merrill, Barbara Lea, Carol Sloane, Betty Carter,
Jackie Cain, Susannah McCorkle, Marlene VerPlanck,
Sylvia Sims, Nancy Marano, Meredith d'Ambrosio,
and Nancy Harrow. Instead, . . .
The Washington Post
ARTS
"A Hot Tip"
by Terry Teachout
Sept. 1, 2002
NEW YORK
It was hot. Disgustingly hot. Hot enough to make
a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.
(Whoops, that's Raymond Chandler; better try again.)
It was so hot last month that nobody here could
talk about anything else - not about real estate,
not about trendy new restaurants, not even about
Hillary. . . As the temperature finally eased downward,
I closed out the month with another double-header.
The cabaret singer Blossom Dearie, as regular readers
of this column are well aware, is in the middle
of an extended run at Danny's Skylight Room, and
when I heard that Meredith d'Ambrosio would be singing
the late show at Danny's last Saturday, I decided
to catch both sets, pausing in between to grab a
quick but good dinner on the premises. (The Skylight
Room is conveniently located in back of Danny's
Grand Sea Palace, a comfy seafood spot on Restaurant
Row in the theater district.) Nobody in the world
sings "I Walk A Little Faster" or "Give
Him The Ooh-La-La" like Dearie, and I can't
begin to say enough good things about d'Ambrosio,
a singer-composer of the utmost subtlety and refinement
whose low, whisper-soft voice sounds rather like
the way it feels to stroke an expensive cat. Her
new CD "Love Is For The Birds" (Sunnyside),
is in stores, and I commend it to your attention
if you like classy vocal jazz. Hearing d'Ambrosio
and Dearie on the same bill was almost as good as
air conditioning
Siuslaw News
Florence, OR
"Jazz diva at Axis Dec. 13"
by Burney Garelick
Dec. 18, 2002
What's your story, morning glory?
C'est vrai. That Frenchman was right. "She
leaves you spellbound with her impeccable diction,
great sense of phrasing, intonation and gentle swing."
That's what Serge Baudot said about jazz singer
Meredith d'Ambrosio in Jazz Hot, a French publication.
It was a great antidote to Friday the Thirteenth
in Old Town Florence when
Meredith and the Kenny Reed Trio performed at the
Axis Gallery, itself an antidote to certain political
intersections here and abroad. This was an evening
of real jazz, - cool, sweet, fragrant as a willow
in a wind and rain storm. An evening of sipping
beverages, listening, and grooving, and the Florence
crowd, for the most part, did just that. The timbre
of Meredith's voice stretches into the lower registers,
spreading warnth from soul to sole, uptown, downtown,
but not quite lowdown. Whether she sang Rodgers
and Hart, Gershwin, Irving Berlin , or an original
tune, she put her own spin on the song, like an
artist painting Heceta Lighthouse or the Siuslaw
River Bridge and making it look brand new. (Perhaps
coincidentally, Meredith is also a painter, and
some of her watercolors were on display, downloaded
from the web.) Meredith is more than a singer; she's
an interpreter of song, a storyteller, reminiscent
of Rick Jarrett's stunning performance of Broadway
melodies earlier this year at the FEC. Meredith
interpreted love songs with grace and wit - "My
Foolish Heart", "On The Bumpy Road To
Love". Many of the songs she sang were written
in the 1930s. . . But "Moonlight", a haunting,
shimmering song, came from 1995, written for the
remake of the movie Sabrina. "Alice In Wonderland"
was kind of a Seurat or Monet impression of "Over
The Rainbow". Ira Gershwin must have swung
'round in his grave to hear Meredith's phrasing
of his delightful lyrics in "How Long Has This
Been Going?" Meredith reached into the 1938
songbook for "What's Your Story, Morning Glory?"
by Mary Lou Williams, esteemed pianist, writer,
and arranger. Meredith noted that ten years later,
a very similar song, "Black Coffee" appeared,
much to Mary Lou's dismay. It was heady brew all
night. Meredith concluded, appropriately, with Irving
Berlin's "The Song Is Ended". When the
crowd asked for more, she encored with an original
"Don't Follow Me". Of course we will follow
her at every opportunity. The Kenny Reed Trio was
exceptional, especially since the musicians had
not worked with Meredith before and had only the
briefest of rehearsals. Kenny was of course the
heartbeat - subtle, unassuming, underplayed yet
prominent. Dylan DeRobertis, who celebrated his
20th birthday that day, had all the chops, plucking
and bowing, sightreading the charts. Dylan is a
sophomore at the U. of Oregon and plays in the university's
Symphony. He has the makings of a fine jazz player,
according to one of Florence's newest pianomen,
Glen Rose, who adapted to Meredith's charts with
aplomb, pro that he is, relishing riffs on Gershwin
and Berlin, two of the great songwriters Glen features
in his own one-man show he performs throughout the
country. . . With four pros, the Friday the Thirteenth
evening of extemporaneous jazz produced seasonal
magic of goodwill. Even a couple of Florence's septuagenarian
jazzers, who spent their youth in the great jazz
scenes of Paris and San Francisco, had to admit
that now you has jazz. So, what's your story, morning
glory?
(internet source unknown)
by Bill Adams
April 24, 2002
Just caught a wonderful set by pianist Eddie Higgins
and his wife, the amazing Meredith d'Ambrosio, at
the VanDyke Café on South Beach's Lincoln
Road. They perform so infrequently together, it
was like an intimate house party, with the Meredith
and Eddie fan club making up much of the first set's
30-40 people. Despite a few sound problems (music
from the restaurant leaching up the stairs and apparently
through the vents), both performed like troupers,
not letting such things throw off their intricate
tune-weavings. Meredith, as always, displayed incredible
intelligence and depth in her song choices, ranging
from the opening "You Leave Me Breathless"
to the almost never played or sung "Wine Of
May". Her selections always include poignant
and spot-on lyrics, and pay homage to composers
often born in the century before last. ("This
one," she said about 'Indian Summer', "was
written in 1919.") Rounding out her set was
"There's A Lull In My Life", "Alone
Together", within which she soloed her own
'paraphrased' version, "On The Bumpy Road To
Love", "Suddenly It's Spring", "The
Lamp Is Low", and "Beautiful Love".
Not a clunker or cliché in the batch. Eddie
- whose pedigree reaches back over the years to
sessions with jazz greats too numerous to catalogue
- took solo charge in the middle of the set with
Jimmy Rowles' intricate "The Peacocks",
which he said he learned while playing a jazz gig
on the S.S. Norway some 15 years ago, and which
has become his favorite tune. These two are a treasure
not to be missed. They leave for Back East next
month and you might catch them somewhere in the
wilds of New England if you're lucky.
Village Voice
NYC
by Gary Giddins
Aug. 17, 2002
MEREDITH D'AMBROSIO
It's been a while since this highly affecting and
individual singer and pianist had a berth in the
city, and this is a brief one. She has an extraordinarily
broad and very hip repertoire that encompasses jazz
classics, standards, and originals, with the third
group sometimes emanating from the first two. Her
style is so elegantly cool and laid-back it can
sneak up on you like a mickey. Danny's Skylight
Room, Aug. 21 - 24
The New York Times
"Meredith d'Ambrosio Upstairs at Greene Street"
by John S. Wilson
April 9, 1985
When the cabaret room Upstairs at Greene Street
brings in a performer to do a single one hour show,
as it did Thursday evening with Meredith d'Ambrosio,
the situation does not allow a reserved and somewhat
withdrawn person like Miss d'Ambrosio to appear
at best advantage. Playing her own piano accompaniment
and backed by the bassist Major Holley, Miss d'Ambrosio
spent too much of her brief hour reaching for a
point at which she could open up and project her
interesting, low-keyed and witty personality. But
once she emerged, she dealt skillfully with an imaginative
and nicely balanced program - songs by Dave Frishberg,
Bob Dorough, Matt Dennis and the team of Tommy Wolf
and Fran Landesman mixed with Duke Ellington, Rodgers
and Hart, Cole Porter and a couple of her own. She
phrases well in a delicate voice that, at times,
suggests Blossom Dearie - a slightly darker version
of Miss Dearies's little-girl wonderment. But in
"A Child Is Born", a ballad that drew
out the warmth and range of her voice, one could
hear the kind of purity and involvement that Teddi
King projected. By the time Miss d'Ambrosio got
to her own song "Once Upon A Tempo", she
was confidently weaving such enchantment that one
wished she had had the time to settle in and feel
at home in the room.
The Washington Times
"Meredith d'Ambrosio's a performing treasure"
by Wayne Lee
March 7, 1985
When the Voice of America's Willis Conover talks
about Jazz, people listen. Tuesday night at Cates
Restaurant in Alexandria, the venerable Mr. Conover
not only showed up to see and hear singer/pianist
Meredith d'Ambrosio, he preceded her second set
with a flowery, five-minute introduction, calling
her "not only a national treasury, but a national
treasure." The "treasury" accolade
referred to Miss d'Ambrosio's 2,000 song repertoire.
Most of her songs are obscure compositions by this
century's foremost songsmiths. The "treasure"
tribute was abundantly clear from the moment the
singer sat down at the piano and began sharing those
masterpieces with her rapt audience. Singing in
a breathy, breezy, Brazilian-like alto, Miss d'Ambrosio
lovingly sang a raft of little-known gems, such
as "My Gentleman Friend" and "Small
Day Tomorrow", along with some more familiar
tunes - Hoagy Carmichael's "Baltimore Oriole",
Gershwin's "Little Jazz Bird" (the title
tune from her new Palo Alto album) and Duke Ellington's
"Sophisticated Lady". Especially entertaining
were two Dave Frishberg songs, the witty "Peel
Me A Grape" (with its wry refrain, "I'm
geeting hungry, peel me a grape") and his paean
to the little guy, "The Underdog". Miss
d'Ambrosio, who was ably assisted by Steve Novosel
on bass, also performed two of her own fine compositions
"Once Upon A Tempo" [Mike Heffley co-wrote
it] and "Somebody Just Like You". Each
showed the composer's debt to the masters, and showed
intelligent and melodic structure. Each showcased
her knowing, no-nonsense approach to the lyric.
With four albums to her credit and a fifth (on Sunnyside
label) on the way, Meredith d'Ambrosio gradually
is pressing herself into the national jazz consciousness.
We need more such singers, singers who put the songwriter
first, singers for whom the voice is a means of
communication, not an end in itself; singers who
have ability to make each performance of each song
seem fresh and new. Miss d'Ambrosio will continue
at Cates through March 23. She will be joined on
stage from March 19 to 23 by jazz guitarist Emily
Remler.
Letter from Evans
by Frederick C. Lewis
St. Louis, MO
January/February 1992
Dear Win,
I recently discovered the recordings of Meredith
d'Ambrosio, a jazz singer/pianist who married the
jazz pianist Eddie Higgins a couple of years ago.
I imagine that you are familiar with her work, but
I do not recall ever seeing her mentioned in Letter
From Evans. I mention her recordings for three reasons.
First, she has recorded several of Bill Evans's
compositions in very compelling performances. Second,
she is the most consumate jazz singer I have ever
heard, maintaining a jazz swing and improvisatory
approach while retaining respect for the original
words and music. Third, she is the only jazz musician
other than Bill Evans that I have encountered to
whom I can listen for hours on end without ever
feeling any sense of monotony. I am not a performing
musician (although I do mess around on the piano
occasionally), but I thoroughly enjoy your publication.
Thank you for all your efforts in keeping it going
and for the high quality of the articles you publish.
Very truly yours,
Frederick C. Lewis
I also recently discovered Meredith (see Vol. III,
No. 2) and I yearn to hear more. - Win
Hub City Music News
Portland, OR
by George Fendel
December 1995
JAZZ UNDERDOGS
Meredith d'Ambrosio, in an ideal live setting, would
be seated at a perfectly tuned Steinway, playing
and singing the hand-picked art songs of America's
creme-de-la-creme of songwriters. Hers would be
a LISTENING audience, not a talking one, and an
appreciative audience as well. And why? Because
Meredith d'Ambrosio reaches her listeners through
a sincere, straight to the heart, very believable
no-style style. Whether accompanying herself or
working with some of the best pianists in the business
(how about Hank Jones, Harold Danko, Fred Hersch
and her husband, the great Eddie Higgins), Meredith
covers the standards but also makes sure the obscure
gems (underdogs themselves) are given equal consideration.
From that latter category, she gives us winners
such as Denny Zeitlin's "Quiet Now"; Horace
Silver's "Peace"; Freddie Hubbard's "Up
Jumped Spring"; Cole Porter's "Dream Dancing"
and "Everything I Love"; Billy Strayhorn's
"Lotus Blossom"; and, quite fittingly,
a tune written by Al Cohn titled "Ah Moore",
which, once the lyric was added by Dave Frishberg,
became "The Underdog". Of the albums listed
in the discography [of nine of her discs], I'd love
to recommend one that clearly stands out above all
the others. But alas, I cannot. They're all "must
items" in my personal collection. Incidentally,
the good news is this: to the best of my knowledge,
all the Sunnyside titles remain in print and can
be special ordered. Meredith d'Ambrosio is a gifted
interpreter of the great American songbook. She's
a singer of sensitivity, warmth and immediacy. You
really ought to make her acquaintance.
National Public Radio
Wash., D.C.
November 1994
Program Guide about Marian McPartland's program
Piano Jazz.
This month, the guest list on Piano Jazz includes
pianist Fred Hersch . . . Eddie Higgins . . . Meredith
d'Ambrosio is another South Florida piano Jazz connection.
d'Ambrosio is a sensitive and romantic singer as
well as a fine pianist. A song writer herself, she
champions the lesser known songs of famous composers.
d'Ambrosio discovered she had a flair for music
at the age of six, when she had already started
demonstrating her talents with the paint brush.
She now merges these talents by painting her own
album covers. On Piano Jazz, she combines her other
musical gifts by singing and playing her own tunes,
"Beware Of Spring" and "Give It Time".
New York Post
"Tasty treat at the Tavern"
by Chip Deffaa
July 15, 1993
Meredith d'Ambrosio, appearing at Tavern on the
Green, is far too talented to be as little-known
as she is. It's not just that she has excellent
taste - and she does, picking songs like "I
Should Care", "A Rainy Afternoon"
and "Oh, Look At Me Now", which are deserving
of the respect she shows them. If she had done nothing
more than sing them straight, I'd still be recommending
the show, because the songs are so good, and her
low-key, no-nonsense way of singing has a certain
integrity that is attractive. But she does much
more. After singing a song straight - the way one
of the better band singers might have done back
in the Swing Era - she often goes into another song,
of her own devising, that both musically and lyrically
paraphrases (or offers commentary upon) the first
song. This is something unique and unprecedented.
After "I Should Care", she offers her
"Sheepcounter's Lament" - which uses the
chords of the first song (and relates to it lyrically)
but has a bebop feel. The standard "You've
Changed" mutates into her laid-back '90s variant
"You've Altered Your Attitude" and then
reappears in its original form. Not all songs were
performed in this manner. She sang a parody version
of "I Thought About You", which her husband/accompanist,
the sparking pianist Eddie Higgins, cut short with
words to the effect that it was too risqué
for the room. But it was a kick! Her other songs
included "Lotus Blossom" (music by the
late Billy Strayhorn, lyrics by Roger Schore - who
was in the audience) and "Nobody Else But Me",
a little-known Jerome Kern gem which singer/pianist
Barbara Carroll (who was also in the audience) has
revived. This is the latest in a series of quality
bookings (including Illinois Jacquet, Susannah McCorkle
and Grover Mitchell) that are helping Tavern on
the Green to position itself as a viable competitor
to some of the city's more established, better publicized
jazz venues. And the "no minimum" policy
- unique among major rooms - means you can check
out the talent without spending a fortune.
Raleigh News and Observer, N.C.
by Owen Cordle
August 23, 1993
CARBORO
Songwriters who say, "Sing the song as written",
have a friend in Meredith d'Ambrosio, who sang Saturday
night at the ArtsCenter, accompanied by husband
and pianist Eddie Higgins and bassist John Donnelly.
Jazz fans have a friend, too, because d'Ambrosio
phrases and interprets like a jazz musician. There's
a purity - an innocence - about her work. Curiously,
her understated delivery conveys more emotion than
the histrionics of a hundred jazz singers. d'Ambrosio
isn't opposed to scat singing, a medium she used
briefly a couple of times on the codas to songs,
but she is foremost a proponent of the mot juste.
This is evident in her paraphrases of songs: new
melodies, often in a bebop vein, and new lyrics
based on the chords and story of the original song.
She has applied this technique to, among others,
Cole Porter's "Get Out Of Town" and "I
Love You", Harry Warren's "I Had The Craziest
Dream", the Axel Stordhal-Paul Weston-Sammy
Cahn standard "I Should Care", Carl Fischer
and Bill Carey's "You've Changed", Arthur
Schwartz and Howard Dietz's "Alone Together"
and Joe Bushkin's "Oh, Look At Me Now",
all of which she sang Saturday night. The practice
reminds you of bebop singers Eddie Jefferson, King
Pleasure and Jon Hendricks, who wrote lyrics to
be recorded with instrumental solos. But d'Ambrosio's
variations seem closer to the original, both melodically
and lyrically - thus, a more coherent performance.
The lady's tone is sensual. Something about it recalls
the late Johnny Hodges, who played lead alto saxophone
in the Duke Ellington band for 38 years. When she
sang Dave McKenna's "Shadowland" (lyrics
by M. d'A.) or the Italian tune "That Summer"
(lyrics by Susannah McCorkle), her voice became
a romantic mood. "Alone Together" reiterated
the intimacy. Higgins was the gentleman pianist,
an accompanist whose chords always buoy and whose
embellishments never strangle. He was also the singer's
partner-in-humor when she began a tongue-in-cheek
"Lush Life" or offered R-rated lyrics
to "I Thought About You". . . d'Ambrosio-Higgins-Donnelly:
a matter of class.
The New York Times
"Sounds Around Town"
Flip, Hip, Warm and Throaty
by John S. Wilson
May 8, 1992
Mother's Day Threesome
Bob Dorough, Meredith d'Ambrosio and Eddie Higgins,
Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th St., Manhattan.
Bob Dorough, whose flip and hip songs have brightened
the repertories of singers from Tony Bennett and
Barbara Lea to the Fifth Dimension, will be doing
them in his own peculiar way for a Mother's Day
concert on Sunday. And he will share the stage with
the singer Meredith d'Ambrosio. Her warm, throaty
voice and subtle phrasing have made her a favorite
among musicians, including the pianist Eddie Higgins,
a veteran of the Chicago jazz scene, who is both
her musical and marital accompanist. Between them,
the two have eight grandchildren by earlier marriages,
which gives the concert a very real Mother's Day
flavor. . .
The Nice Paper
Providence, R.I.
JAZZ
By Kirk Feather
September 16-22, 1993
On Saturday evening, Sept. 18th, a singer of singular
quality named Meredith d'Ambrosio and her partner,
pianist Eddie Higgins, will perform for us at Club
Mamhattan, and I feel we should lay out the red
carpet for them. Known to jazz lovers in our area
for years, I only recently heard the duo on record,
and then I took a ride out to the East Bay Lodge
in Osterville on Cape Cod on a rare (and fully appreciated)
Saturday night off to catch them in action. To begin
with, this pair avoid some of the overplayed standards
and opt for lesser-played works of famous composers,
like Jerome Kern or Harry Warren. Meredith also
does a thing she calls "paraphrase songs";
that is, new lyrics and a new melody line over the
chord changes of the original. This has, of course,
been done before by Carmen McCrae, Jon Hendricks
and others, but the difference here is that the
new tune uncannily matches the intent, description,
and emotion of the original tune. Same thing, said
differently. You have to hear this to believe it,
and one hopes the crowd at Manhattan will give them,
and you, a break, so you can hear them. . .
This pair will enchant you, amaze you, tickle your
funny bone, touch your heart. I have not heard such
classy music making in years. Who else besides me
thinks they're good? Rex Reed, Gene Lees, Leonard
Feather, and John S. Wilson of the NY Times. They
have an elegant, fun presentation that you won't
soon forget. The sureness of Higgins's piano and
the subtle, intelligent singing of Meredith d'Ambrosio
are one of those combinations that are magical,
and absolutely first class.
The Mark Murphy Appreciation Society
London, Eng.
by Betty Huck
March 1985
Elegant Song Stylist, Meredith d'Ambrosio
Meredith d'Ambrosio came to live in Ashland, OR
for the summer last year. That's how I know her.
She's a terrific singer. Knows over 2000 songs.
Can you imagine knowing someone that no matter
what song you can think of, she knows it? She
did a concert at Jazmin's and stayed afterward
playing and singing almost every song the audience
requested. She plays the piano too. A very soft
and gentle style, jusst like her singing. She's
a perfectionist. About everything. Not just her
singing and playing. She has to have a really
good piano to perform on. And she's a fabulous
cook. Everything she makes is delicious . . .
even ordinary dishes turn out to be gourmet treats
(same as her singing). And she's an extraordinary
artist. Her watercolors are lovely. She's very
fond of nature. That's why she liked Southern
Oregon so much. Ashland is a small, picturesque
town that sort of hangs from the side of a mountain.
And the trees are wonderful, and the flowers,
even the cows are wonderful. And Meredith put
them all in her paintings. She wrote a lot of
music while she was here. You should see the manuscripts.
Is that what you call a song with music when it's
written down? She copied it all by hand and it's
perfect looking. You can't believe that a real
person actually did the entire thing by hand.
The songs are great sounding besides. Meredith
is an expert calligrapher and made her living
doing just that for a time in her past life. While
she lived in Boston, she produced two of her own
records and as of late, has been managing her
own career. Gotten herself a bunch of gigs as
a result. So see, she's not only an artist, but
a business woman as well. She's funny, pretty,
has cute curly hair, is a grandmother who doesn't
look nearly old enough to be one and can make
a pillow entirely by hand. Put all of that with
her stunning jazz style. Why is it that one person
can have so much talent? Well, she does. I hope
more people will get to see and hear her now that
she's on the move.
Liner notes of George Mraz's CD "Jazz"
by Doug Ramsey
(author of Jazz Matters; Reflections on the
Music and Its Makers - University of Arkansas
Press)
1995
Meredith d'Ambrosio, a singer's singer, a musician's
singer, was calling. Her voice was dancing on
the verge of laughter. "If I told you a bass
player I've been dying to record with just agreed
to be on my next album, who do you think I'd be
talking about?" "George Mraz,"
I said. "What?" She seemed nonplussed.
"How did you know?" "It was an
easy guess," I told her. Meredith is among
the musical aristocracy who discuss Mraz in terms
of musicianship that goes beyond technique and
taste into the realm of artistry through intuition.
The facility and knowledge of a lifetime of study
and experience have given Mraz the insight to
perfectly discern his colleagues' musical natures
and meet their needs. . .
Spotlight Seacoast Arts & Entertainment
Portsmouth, NH
by Alan Chase
September 21, 1999
d'Ambrosio and Higgins bring their jazz style
to town.
Jazz has had its share of introspective artists.
Musicians who exude an aura of aloofness or indifference,
while others exude an aura of intellectualism.
Still others appear to be extremely serious, while
others are more animated. Think of Miles Davis,
standing to one side of the stage listening to
the musical explorations of the others in his
group. Or pianist Bill Evans, a study in deep
thought and concentration every time he sat down
at the piano. You could say that their personalities
came through their music. Vocalist/pianist Meredith
d'Ambrosio is another introspective artist in
Jazz. But hers is a more subtle approach, like
that of a casual observer of life as it passes
by, offering wry and insightful commentary of
the vagaries of life. Her music is a reflection
of that casual subtlety, and that music will be
on display Sunday at the Press Room in Portsmouth,
as d'Ambrosio and her husband, pianist Eddie Higgins,
offer up their approach to jazz at the Portsmouth
establishment. The concert is sponsored by the
Seacoast Jazz Society. . . Born in Boston, d'Ambrosio
exhibited artistic abilities at a young age, both
in music, as well as in visual arts. In addition
to a career as a singer/pianist, she is also a
composer, arranger and lyricist, as well as a
respected and known calligrapher, watercolorist
and creator of eggshell mosaics . . . d'Ambrosio
and Higgins have made several recordings together
since they first became a team in the late 1980s.
They interact well, playing off each other. His
tasteful piano style meshes beautifully with her
casual, introspective style. And it is that style
that makes her music come alive. To Meredith d'Ambrosio,
the melody is what is most important. In 1996
JazzTimes interview, d'Ambrosio said, "I
would never sing a song if it didn't have a different,
interesting melody. What I love about standards
is their different forms." It is this approach
that makes Meredith d'Ambrosio's music so stunning
and spellbinding. It is an approach that helps
to make jazz the art form that it is.
Loafer's Choice
W. Broward County, FL
CHOICE EVENTS
. . . Despite living part-time in South Florida,
Meredith is seldom exposed to local audiences,
preferring intimate concerts rather than club
dates. Her gifts lie in writing fluent and ingenious
variations on the lyrics of standards ("paraphrase
songs," she says.) and writing first-time
lyrics to jazz compositions. As a performer, Meredith
has a gentle, warm and throaty voice. Her phrasing
makes her a favorite of audiences and musicians
alike. . .
Leader-Telegram
Eau Claire & West-Central Wisconsin
by Chris DuPre
February 2, 1987
Weekend provided rich musical experiences
The weekend just past was a prime time to fly
'Live Music Is Better" banners. To wit: Meredith
d'Ambrosio gave a brave and beautiful performance
Saturday night at The Joynt, in Eau Claire.
Battling a cold while armed only with hot lemon
water, she nonetheless sang wondrously intimate
songs by a gallery of the 20th century's best
songwriters. Although the compsers were familiar,
the songs often weren't. Her store of a few thousand
tunes, catalogued in notebooks tossed on top of
her piano during the second set, explores heartfelt
and enlightening aspects of composers such as
Al Coln, Steve Allen, Harold Arlen, Cole Porter
and Rodgers and Hart. Often she'd play a piano
standard with recently written and unrecorded
lyrics. Her piano playing was precise, lyrical
and understated. When her right foot wasn't working
the pedal, it was tapping out a space a bass player
might occupy in a duet. Born on the first day
of spring, March 20th, d'Ambrosio played several
songs for the season, and she showed a bright
touch on more lighthearted material, such as Dave
Frishberg's "Peel Me A Grape" and her
own "Miss Harper Goes Bizarre", an ode
to Brooke Shields and many others like her. Above
all, she showed a determined warmth and compassion,
bringing each songwriter's vision to life with
poetic passion. Between sets, d'Ambrosio said
she'd never missed a concert in years and years
of performing. "You've got to nip these things
in the bud," she said. "Don't let yourself
get sick." d'Ambrosio's talent is fruit ripe
on the tree that's that much sweeter for being
rare.
Boston Globe
by Bob Blumenthal
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
September 20, 1996
In song, d'Ambrosio can turn a phrase
Scatting, which can be a high art, is not a sine
qua non of jazz singing. On the contrary, those
who feel the ultimate in hipness involves a mannered
be-e-ending of every note would best leave scat
alone. Meredith d'Ambrosio has a different idea,
and she calls it paraphrase. It involves writing
new melodies on the chord changes of standard
songs, then fitting these lines with words that
expand on the original lyrics. d'Ambrosio sang
three paraphrases in her first set at Scullers
on Wednesday - "Alone Together", "You've
Changed" (which she calls "You've Altered
Your Attitude") and "I Love You"
- and they revealed a gift for original creation
rivaling her interpretive skills. Singing at an
intimate, conversational volume, d'Ambrosio knows
how the get the most out of her material. Her
phrasing is easy and unforced, and her variations
highlight the more intriguing harmonic twists
in a lyric while staying within the narrative
flow. The paraphrases contain more twists and
turns, and a healthy portion of cleverly interpolated
jazz licks, yet still keep the story front and
center. These storytelling skills are only enhanced
when d'Ambrosio presents an unfamiliar lyric.
When she sang the obscure "A Rainy Afternoon"
and the long-forgotten "Fools Fall In Love",
the scenarios came through with such clarity and
sincerity that one wondered why these ballads
had not attained warhorse status. At Scullers,
d'Ambrosio (who frequently accompanies herself
on the piano) was joined by her husband, Eddie
Higgins, who led a talented trio completed by
bassist Peter Kontrimas and drummer Gary Johnson.
. .
Molde Internat'l Jazz Festival
Norway
July 1996
Meredith d'Ambrosio & Dave Frishberg
Meredith d'Ambrosio has for several years been
a vocal fovourite with the cognoscenti. In Molde
she will be presenting some of the less-known
standards accompanied by Dave Frishberg and a
couple of swinging Danes! Thurs., Fri., and Sat.
at Hot Hat
The Register-Guard
Eugene, OR
by Mike Heffley
May 13, 1984
(Mike Heffley is a Eugene writer who reviews the
performing arts for the Register-Guard)
Jazz musician commands attention
It was somewhat mystifying, at first, to see the
enthusiastic and devoted attention vocalist/pianist
Meredith d'Ambrosio commanded at the Oregon Elctric
Station's Jazz Depot Friday night. Here was this
soft though full voice floating over a sure sophisticated-but-hardly
showy piano style, all coming from a pretty but
unpretentious woman - and the people seemed to
nestle down into her palm and stay there through
three long sets. Could it have been the material?
Partly. She presented her songs like a poet might,
structuring the sets with an ear for theme, motif,
submotif, noting them (spring, birds, children)
offhandedly between songs with no self-consciousness.
Indeed, her material was poetry, what Tony Bennett
calls America's art songs, the finest in lyrical
and harmonic/melodic vignettes from the past 70
years by people such as the Gershwins, Kurt Weill,
Hoagy Carmichael, Cole Porter, Ju,,y Van Heusen,
Johnny Mercer and , more recently, Bob Dorough
and David Frishberg. d'Ambrosio had a charming
way of letting us in on that legacy, reminding
us that it's ours, that it's been imprinted on
us since infancy and can therefore unlock a lot
in each of us, and shouldn't be taken for granted.
She tells us names and anecdotes about the people
who created and performed each work as though
we all were as familiar with them as she, and
so brings us into an enriching knowledge of them.
Was it her performance? Partly. Her style engages
by soothing, not sweeping away. A breathy note
or two and you feel like you're at home listening
to your mother, or sister, or wife or lover -
some woman close and dear- who is singing whie
she does somthing else in the house, and it becomes
a Prousitan moment of joy. Proust is the apt literary
parallel to d'Ambrosio's music. It's pastel, full
of all the words in the world at their most refined
and relaxed, words of wisdom and saucy street-wisdom,
of childlike innocence and glee, of world-weary
sadness and survival. Her music also is full of
all the notes and chords in the world, too, as
delicately acoustic as a lute recital. It wasn't
perfect. Some things were near-perfect (her timing
and attack on the piano, her general use of her
voice in both lyrics and scatting), but others
broke the spell now and then - a line forgotten,
or some signals crossed between her and bassist
Ed Coleman. But there never was any loss of poise,
and the perfection always came back easily. Coleman
worked well with d'Ambrosio, displaying an obvious
respect for and responsibility to the material
and the artistry, blending in nicely without obtruding
himself too much by the end of the night. d'Ambrosio
is the still, small and somewhat sly voice in
the blare and glitter of the city, always there
whether the moment is sad or light, whispering
with a bittersweet familiarity, "You know,
my friend, this is all just illusion." You
have to listen.
Willamette Week
Portland, OR
by Lynn Darroch
January 24-30, 1985
Meredith d'Ambrosio Quartet
A lovely contralto with a taste for intelligent
lyrics and the honest presentation of a song,
vocalist and pianist Meredith d'Ambrosio has a
small national cult following, critical acclaim
and a loyal Portland audience. Her personal and
delicately ironic interpretations of contemporary
songs are supported by her Eugene-based group
featuring Klaus Roehm on sax.
The Washington Post
(Wash., D.C.)
by W. Royal Stokes
March 11, 1985
Meredith d'Ambrosio's remarkable gift for capturing
in song fleeting memories and giving them vivid
presence derives in part from her delicacy of
delivery. But, as was clear from her opening set
at Cates Thursday night, it has just as much to
do with her keen sense for letting the drama of
a song develop on its own terms. Her art is unique
in its almost austere economy, but as low-key
as her attack is there is heat aplenty. Supported
by her own impressive pianistics and the supple
bass of Steve Novosel, the vocalist offered a
program drawn from a wide spectrum that included
Gershwin, Vernon Duke, Bob Dorough, Dave Frishberg
and her own tunes. The pensive opening verse of
"Little Jazz Bird" was perfectly balanced
by a scatting conclusion and the number contained
some intriguing exchanges between piano and bass.
Pastoral images floated by in "Spring Is
Here" and d'Ambrosio's voice became one with
a sustained piano chord at song's end.The duo
stays through March 23.
The Oregonian
(Portland, OR)
by Rick Mitchell
January 18, 1986
d'Ambrosio jazz ambrosia pleases mortals, too
Pianist-vocalist Meredith d'Ambrosio and her quartet
opened a two-night stand Friday at the Jazz Quarry.
d'Ambrosio is a warm, low-key, jazz interpreter
of the American Popular songbook, as written by
Cole Porter, Alec Wilder, Duke Ellington and other
geniuses of the pre-rock era. Originally from
Boston, d'Ambrosio moved to Eugene two years ago.
She has recorded five albums, the most recent
of which, It's Your Dance is available on the
Sunnyside label. d'Ambrosio's sultry contralto
and easy sense of swing have been compared to
Anita O'Day, Jackie Cain and the late Irene Kral.
Unlike a number of pop singers who have been dabbling
in jazz, she never resorts to technical razzle-dazzle
or cute antics to force herself upon her material
or the audience. She simply finds tunes with well-crafted
melodies and intelligent lyrics, and sings them
sensitively, honestly and always on key. At her
best, she has the ability to transform a noisy
supper club into an intimate living room. d'Ambrosio
was backed by William Thomas on drums, André
St. James on bass and Carl Woideck on flute and
saxophones. . . . Her composition "Somebody
Like You" recalled Van Morrison's "Moondance",
except that the jazzy sophistication Morrison
sought to achieve comes naturally to d'Ambrosio.
The song allowed the rhythm section to open up
and swing harder than on the ballads, and featured
a strong, John Coltrane-influenced tenor solo
by Woideck. . . In the latter sets, d'Ambrosio
intended to focus on material from the new album,
which contains a fine version of Coltrane's "Giant
Steps" with new lyrics by d'Ambrosio and
Ron Hurston. The title track borrows its melody
from John Carisi's "Israel". . .
Jazzscene
Portland, OR
by Mark Daterman
January 1986
Jazz Quarry Jan. 17 & 18
This "little jazz bird" (the title of
her 1983 album) hasn't been singing much in her
home state this past year, and hasn't been to
Portland for 12 months, but she's been blowing
strong in Europe and on the east coast. She also
has a new record out, It's Your Dance on Sunnyside
Records. The lovely vocals of d'Ambrosio, whose
voice is sweet and diction clear, continue to
range from carefully selected tunes by revered
American songwriters to her own originals and
songs written for her by others. When she delivers
this fine material, the meaning is always clear,
and she uses her voice instrumentally without
scatting. She is also a visual artist who has
displayed her paintings on the walls at past Jazz
Quarry performances.
from Morning Star (Key West, FL)
by Dennis Maloney 4/26/01
Meredith d'Ambrosio and Eddie Higgins Light Up
San Carlos
Peter Diamond's Saturday night jazz concert at
the San Carlos Institute introduced Key West to
the unique and talented Meredith d'Ambrosio backed
by the Eddie Higgins Trio. Meredith wears many
hats. She's a singer, composer, lyricist, and
interestingly, a [visual] artist. In fact, her
watercolors are on display this week at the San
Carlos. Eddie Higgins, on the other hand, is a
skilled pianist who is comfortable playing in
a variety of styles. In real life, they are husband
and wife who divide the year living in Florida
and Cape Cod while keeping up a busy schedule
of touring in this country, Europe and Japan.
Meredith's musical success was established before
she met Eddie at a gig on Cape Cod in 1987, but
things have made a dramatic turnaround for her.
"Before I met Eddie I did my own accompanying
because I was shy, and I hid behind the piano,"
explains Meredith. "I've been standing up
ever since then. Eddie's playing makes me swing
so I can move and fool around with the audience,"
she continued. . . "He has a sensitive way
of playing. His chords are beautiful; they all
make sense. He's just multi-faceted. I'm a cool
jazz singer. I'm different from most singers.
I don't sound like anyone but myself." And
what makes Meredith d'Ambrosio so unique is the
fact that she sings and composes paraphrase songs.
"I'm paraphrasing the original song,"
she says. "I write a bebop line against the
theme and I paraphrase the words into jazz poetry.
But it's really a bebop lyric; it's scat done
with a lyric." She gave a wonderful demonstration
of her paraphrasing ability on the Arthur Schwartz
favorite "Alone Together". With a bouncy
backing from Eddie and bassist Jim Kessler, and
drummer Roger Van Zandt, Meredith changed the
original melody into her own "Solitary Two",
then switched back to the original melody line.
Later Meredith sang "Chance With A Ghost",
her clever paraphrase of Bing Crosby's familiar
"Ghost Of A Chance", then livened things
up and got everybody laughing with a risqué
parody of Jimmy Van Heusen's "I Thought About
You". . . She also kept the San Carlos Audience
entertained with her sensitive and delicate interpretations
of a wide range of classics such as "My Foolish
Heart", "Suddenly It's Spring",
and "The Song Is Ended", and then topped
things off with her own warmly romantic "Tell
This Poor Fool", a selection from her forthcoming
CD Love Is For The Birds. Singer Meredith d'Ambrosio's
inventive paraphrasing of many familiar classics
and Eddie Higgins's stylistic piano made Saturday
evening an unforgettable one for those in attendance
at Peter Diamond's continuing jazz series at the
San Carlos Institute.
JazzTimes
by Fred Bouchard
March 1996
Meredith d'Ambrosio
Do singers have thir seasons? Does Ella Fitzgerald's
brightness go with April's buds? Sheila Jordan's
mystery with winter's chills? Sarah Vaughans's brilliance
with the summer sun? Fall's a time that likes Meredith
d'Ambrosio. She sounds right for a country walk,
kickin' up leaves, catchin' whiffs of sweet maple
smoke. Her songs shed autumn's softer light, pastels
and russets, tugging breezes, bracing airs. Above
all, there's a crepuscular touch of sadness, wrought
by lost love, and sublimated into beauty. You've
heard of singers' singers. Meredith is a song's
singer. For this true griot with true grit, songs
tell stories. She tells them with little embellishment,
if great attention to detail. You get many for your
money: no fewer than a dozen (on Little Jazz Bird,
with its fabulous lineup), an amazing 21 (on Sleep
Warm, a solo album of - heavens! - lullabies). And
the odds are better than good that even song mavens
will learn at least one great, neglected tune per
album. They are by overlooked composers (Alec Wilder,
Jerome Kern), un-done ones by famous composers,
or increasingly, her own. She's written lyrics to
tunes by pianists Dave McKenna and Kevin Gibbs,
hornmen Al Cohn and Freddie Hubbard. "My songs
tell stories of love," admits Meredith. "Love
lost or happening, unrequited, misbegotten. Love
is the epitome of nature." Let's hear it for
the whole song, says purist Meredith, who seeks,
relishes, treasures opening verses. "Sometimes
the verses are better than the songs! 'The End Of
A Love Affair' has a verse that's a whole separate
song: she's writing to Dorothy Dix and Emily Post
and the key keeps changing! I used to sing it every
night. Then there's 'Charm' by William Roy, that
Mabel Mercer used to sing. And 'Ship Without A Sail'"
Yet Meredith avers that it is not the lyric, but
the melody that is most important to her. "I
would never sing a song if it didn't have a different,
interesting melody. What I love about standards
is their different sounds, forms. In jazz they get
even more interesting when you reharmonize them.
Each performer sould make a song his own, but not
change it around to insult the composer!" Beyond
music, she fills her days with solitary arts: calligraphy
and painting. Her exquisite watercolors and print
illuminate her 10 album covers, as well as the music
within. Her introspective life induces creativity
of a high order. Just as she once invented a new
art medium - the eggshell mosaic - Meredith has
created a new genre of song in recasting and extending
standards. Singer Bob Dorough alertly named them
"paraphrase songs". "I can scat pretty
well, but it's inelegant. It's not me. The paraphrase
songs are not vocalese. They're jazz poetry on my
initially improvised bop line on a tune. They are
meant to be funny: they reflect my slightly silly
character. They're based both on the melody and
the song's story. The [improvisation] is spur of
the moment when I first do it, but then I write
it down." Since 1990, she's recorded her whimsical
spins on tunes like Cole Poeter's "I Love You",
Bloom & Mercer's "Fools Rush In",
"Get Out Of Town", and "I Should
Care". Soft-spoken Meredith is no big city
gal. More suited to a contemplative, country lifestyle,
she lives a Piscean existence with her husband and
frequent collaborator Eddie Higgins and their chocolate
Labrador, Clifford Brown: winters in Florida, summers
on Cape Cod. "I see nature in my art and my
songs. I'd rather communicate with nature than with
people. Isn't that awful? I like to hide out and
paint or write songs. Trees are most important to
me: nothing's more beautiful. Each is unique. I
hope the songs I write and choose are unique, like
trees. My paintings are also fleeting impressions,
not realism, capturing a moment. You can feel the
nature." Meredith, like Blossom Dearie, may
sound delicate, but she's no hothouse flower: she
loves to work with great beboppers. The cast on
her albums is awesome: Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Ben
Riley. "I love bass players! George Mraz! Michael
Moore! They add such oomph. Easy to work with, knowledgeable,
they're hip, they swing, they're sensitive, soulful.
That's what I look for." As a pianist, she
digs piano: Hank Jones, Harold Danko, Ray Santisi,
Fred Hersch, and, since 1988, Higgings. He has helped
her cure mic-shyness and swing more. She'd like
to record with Mike Renzi, Lee Musiker, Monty Alexander,
Makoto Ozone. Meredith reckons among her favorite
singers Maxine Sullivan, Irene Kral, and Mildred
Bailey, "none of whom I'd heard until after
I started [recording]. Tony Bennett makes me cry;
he's very vulnerable, with such feeling and spirituality."
Her huge repertoire, ironically, makes set selection
hard. "Things grow and change: I knew over
2,000 songs when I stopped to count in 1963. Today
it's about 2500, but that's just a number. The real
deal is keeping the good ones in rotation so I don't
get bored or bore the audience. When I used to hide
behind the piano, I could use my little notebooks
[filled with chord changes and lyrics]. I've forced
myself to memorize everything now." On the
road, bringing her music to devoted Japanese, intense
French (Paris loves her), romantic Italians (just
back from Torino) and sunblown Cape Codders, Meredith
prefers concerts to clubs. "There's no smoke,
no sound. It makes me feel like singing, relaxing,
and fooling around. But I don't like stages. I feel
more warmth from an audience when I'm down on their
level." Her ideal is the intimate concert club,
like Boston's Scullers Lounge and Pine Manor Junior
College. Meredith's timbre has mellowed, comparing
solo dates from 1980 and 1991: her warm quivering
viola has broadened and deepened into cello. Soon
on her exclusive label, Sunnyside, Meredith will
duet with graceful acoustic guitarist Gene Bertoncini.
"They want me to play piano: I don't know why.
[I play composer's piano.] Gene and I will mix it
up. It's called Silent Passion. the title song for
a screenplay I wrote." Meredith's natural enthusiasm
for all her art is infectious. One minute she enthuses
about a watercolor of poplar trees in Avers: "My
heart goes crazy!" The next, she's talking
about songs. "They're life, they're my life.
I write a song and then the lyric. Never the lyric
first. 'Silent Passion' was amazing to me: I atually
had the lyric and tune come to me at the same moment.
It just happened - first time ever!"
Meredith's gear: Meredith's favorite piano: The
Grotrian piano. "I played it on Another Time:
it has such resonance and mystery. It's mellow and
bright at the same time. I've never heard a piano
like it. I played 35 songs and it's like I never
played them at all. It had a perfect touch. It was
magic [WBUR-FM talk show host of "The Connection"].
Chris Lydon had it imported from Berlin - only one
of three in in the U.S. back in 1980." Her
home piano, on which she recorded Sleep Warm: Yamaha
9' concert grand. "It's wonderful! The bass
is deep and clear as a bell! The lowest A is the
bottom: it's not muddy! A great touch. It's too
full for my voice really."
The New Yorker
by Richard Merkin
September 28, 1998
Zinno, 126 W 13th St. - Through 9/26, Meredith d'Ambrosio
A rare engagement by this singers' singer who happens
to paint most of her own CD covers. d'Ambrosio possesses
a rich awareness of American song and an uncanny
ability to move from "one of those bells that
now and then ring" to a ballad like "How
Is Your Wife", which she has established as
a bittersweet anthem for boomers and post-boomers.
Completing her trio are Steve Kuhn on piano and
Jay Leonhart on bass, and they pay strict attention.
NPR Voice of America, Willis Conover
by Willis Conover
1984
( Limerick)
The legend of our lady Meredith
Is not like some Scarlett O'Hara myth.
No, not an invention,
But a name one may mention
With the awe one names Billie and Sarah with.
Vintage Reviews:
(some of Meredith's very first reviews)
Boston Herald
by Ken Mayer
from a column called Night Mayer
1966
. . . About Meredith, the sophisticated jazz-blues thrush currently appearing at the Camelot Room. A honey-blonde with a honey of a voice, she's one of the stronger male draws around. . .
Boston Herald
Night Whirl
by Ed Michaels
1967
. . . The Inner Circle which serves up one of the best charbroiled steaks in town also serves up one of the best vocal/pianists in town Thursday through Saturday in the lounge. She is known only as Meredith . . .
Boston Herald
Nite-Mayer
by Ken Mayer
2/27/68
. . . Catch Meredith at the piano weekends at the Boston Press Club. She's one of the better excuses for missing a deadline . .
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