Jazz singer Amy McConnell and trumpet player William Sperandei have followed up their JUNO nominated debut album Stealing Genius with an even more arresting offering, Accomplice.
Accomplice sees the pair taking on repertoire from composers of the 60s and 70s like Legrand, Brel, Loewe & Mancini. McConnell and Sperandei push the stylistic boundaries of jazz by taking these much loved, complex melodies and putting them in a fresh context influenced by the sound of vintage French pop and electronica. Their groovy takes on favourites like L-O-V-E, Where Do I Begin? and Wild Is Love embrace non-traditional jazz rhythms and instrumentation to dramatic and compelling effect.
Sperandei wrote all the arrangements for the album. “My vision for this album was to use Amy’s beautiful, pure, expressive voice to present these songs as they were intended to be heard – both melodically and harmonically – by the composers. And then to place that voice in a jazz/pop soundscape, adding layers and textures to it. Unexpected endings and beginnings. Serious groove. I wanted to make a record that would make people want to dance.”
“I chose songs that I love to sing, of course,” says McConnell. “But what they all have in common is a certain sophistication of lyric and melody that was still present in popular music in the 60s and 70s. It’s the exceptional quality and craft they put into the songwriting then that makes them still relevant today. They still speak to people. That’s what makes them timeless.”
“We had a lot of influences for our sound,” Sperandei notes. “Brad Mehldau, Air, Glenn Gould, Radiohead, Hiatus Kaiyote.”
“People think of jazz as retro now,” Sperandei says, “but jazz music was always a reflection of its’ time. It’s always been changing and evolving and influenced by different styles of music. And that’s what we’re doing with Accomplice. Sonically, we really wanted to create something that brings jazz into the sound of music today. And that also stands the test of time.”
Produced by Amy McConnell & William Sperandei | Engineered and co-produced by Jeff Pelletier | Recorded at Phase One Studios in Toronto | Mastered by Peter Moore, the “E” Room
Arrangements by William Sperandei
Vocals Amy McConnell | Trumpet William Sperandei | Piano Robi Botos | Guitar Rob Piltch | Bass Marc Rogers | Drums Davide DiRenzo
Track Listing
- Where Do I Begin? (6:05) Francis Lai & Carl Sigman
- L-O-V-E (5:06) Bert Kaempfert & Milt Gabler
- Dance Me to the End of Love (3:44) Leonard Cohen
- Wild Is Love (4:23) Ray Rasch & Dotty Wayne
- Ne Me Quitte Pas (3:25) Jacques Brel
- On the Street Where You Live (4:26) Frederick Loewe & Alan Jay Lerner
- If I Fell (4:00) John Lennon & Paul McCartney
- Petite Fleur (3:27) Sidney Bechet & Fernand Bonifay
- Charade (4:50) Henry Mancini & Johnny Mercer
- Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (4:02) Michel Legrand & Jacques Demy
- Don’t Forget Me (2:20) William Sperandei & Irina Mirazizyan
- I Wish You Love (4:12) Charles Trenet, Léo Chauliac & Albert Beach
- Une Histoire d’Amour (French) (6:05) Francis Lai & Catherine Desage