The Great City Hilary Gardner

• 1 No One After You 03:17
• 2 Brooklyn Bridge 03:34
• 3 The Great City 03:34
• 4 Autumn in New York 04:52
• 5 Drunk on the Moon 04:06
• 6 Sweetheart (Waitress in a Donut Shop) 04:42
• 7 You Came a Long Way from St. Louis 04:18
• 8 This Little Town Is Paris 03:28
• 9 Chelsea Morning 03:23
• 10 (Ah, the Apple Trees) When the World Was Young 03:24
• 11 Manhattan Avenue 03:18
• Total Runtime 41:56

Info for The Great City

Acclaimed singer Hilary Gardner grew up in Wasilla, Alaska infatuated with New York City. In 2010, Hilary was chosen by the Frank Sinatra estate to appear as the live, onstage singer in Tony-award winner Twyla Tharps Come Fly Away. Backed by a 19-piece big band, Hilary sang solos and duets with Frank Sinatra in a performance hailed by critics as wonderful (Huffington Post), elegant (USA Today), and terrific (New York Observer).

I’ve always been a New Yorker at heart, despite my Midwestern roots and upbringing in rural Alaska. My life as a New Yorker officially began, however, one sunny spring morning in a Greenwich Village bookstore. I was browsing the shelves when a gentleman struck up a conversation; upon learning that I had only recently moved to the city, he bought me a copy of E.B. White’s 1948 essay, Here is New York.

“I want you to have this,” he said, pressing the book into my hands. “I hope you’ll love New York as much as I do.”

Grateful and somewhat stunned, I opened the book as the man departed and came upon this passage: “No one,” counseled E.B. White, ”should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky.”

E.B. White’s advice was (and is) sound. New York City can infuriate, mystify, exhaust, and delight a person—sometimes all in the same day. Serendipity abounds, though, if one is simply willing to be lucky, which is the story at the heart of The Great City, my first solo recording.

In literal and abstract ways, these songs form a narrative of life in New York City, replete with its myriad contradictions, complexities, and moments of unexpected beauty. I humbly offer you this album in hopes that, as a kindly stranger once said to me, you’ll love New York as much as I do.

" . . . an absolutely first-class singer. She swings effortlessly without making a big deal of it, and she has a knack for hunting down off-center tunes . . . Yet she's just as adept at making something fresh and surprising out of an oft-heard chestnut." (Terry Teachout, author of "Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong" and "Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington")

"The album has both variety and consistency . . . the capper is 'Chelsea Morning' enlivened with Pan-American percussion and transformed into a mashup of Joni Mitchell and Ahmad Jamal." (Will Friedwald, The Wall Street Journal)

Hilary Gardner, vocals
Tatum Greenblatt, trumpet
Jason Marshall, tenor saxophone
Ehud Asherie, piano
Jon Cowherd, Hammond C-3 organ
Randy Napoleon, guitar
Elias Bailey, acoustic bass
Jerome Jennings, drums

Recorded and Mixed by Joe Marciano at Systems Two Recording Studio, Brooklyn, NY
Assisted by Max Ross & Zak Kazanski
Mastered by Gene Paul at G&J Audio
Produced By Eli Wolf

Hilary Gardner
Acclaimed singer Hilary Gardner grew up in Wasilla, Alaska infatuated with New York City. Her stunning Anzic Records debut, The Great City, is part love letter, part lament to New York and the big dreams it represents. The Great City can be heard on radio stations across the country, and the album has garnered effusive praise from the jazz community, including DownBeat Magazine, which named Hilary "an artist to watch in 2015" and a Rising Star Female Vocalist.

Hilary is a founding member of DUCHESS, a Boswell Sisters-inspired vocal trio with Anzic Records label-mates Amy Cervini and Melissa Stylianou. In addition to their two critically lauded albums, Duchess and Laughing at Life, they have launched a podcast, Harmony & Hijinks. Duchess has performed at the Ottawa Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, Saratoga Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, and the Jerusalem Jazz Festival. The trio has also enjoyed sold-out appearances at Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Rubin Museum.

The Frank Sinatra estate chose Hilary to appear as the live, onstage singer in Tony-award winner Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away. Backed by a 19-piece big band, Hilary sang solos and duets with Frank Sinatra in a performance hailed by critics as “wonderful” (Huffington Post), “elegant” (USA Today), and “terrific” (New York Observer).

Hilary performed with Jeff Goldblum and his band at the Café Carlyle, prompting New York Magazine to call hers "a voice worth seeking out." In the wake of her appearance with Goldblum, Michael Feinstein invited Hilary to be his guest on NPR's Song Travels with Michael Feinstein. She was also a guest on Judy Carmichael’s SiriusXM program, Jazz Inspired.

Hilary has appeared as a guest soloist with symphonies across the country, including the Minnesota Orchestra, Carolina Philharmonic, Rochester Symphony Orchestra, and the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra. Hilary performs as a leader throughout New York City and the United States.

This album contains no booklet.