Nicki Parrott and Her Swingfluencers Frank Roberscheuten Hiptett, Nicki Parrott, Olaf Polziehn, Frits Landesbergen

• 1 Love for Sale 05:30
• 2 Let Me Love You 03:36
• 3 Sinatra Medley (The Best Is yet to Come/Fly Me to the Moon/You Make Me Feel so Young/Come Fly with Me) 06:18
• 4 A Time Goes By 04:54
• 5 Desafinado 05:03
• 6 Burt Bacharach Medley (This Girl's in Love with You/Walk on By) 04:49
• 7 It's a Good Day 03:34
• 8 Bei dir war es immer so schön 04:02
• 9 Samba de Orfeu 05:02
• 10 Once Upon a Time in the West 04:29
• 11 Sunny 04:31
• Total Runtime 51:48

Info zu Nicki Parrott and Her Swingfluencers

Influencer scheint der neue Traumberuf mancher junger Leute zu sein, bei dem man mit seiner Selbst-Inszenierung möglichst viele Follower gewinnt und damit möglicherweise noch viel Geld verdient. Die “Swingfluencers” arbeiten nicht mit narzisstischen Posts, sondern sie überzeugen mit ihrer Musik, ganz ohne große Posen und Worte. Denn Einfluss nehmen kann man z. B. auch mit seiner Musik. Für Nicki Parrott ist es der Swing, im letzten April hat sie ihr Album “Swingfluencers” aufgenommen.

Mit ‚Love for Sale‘ beginnt das Album, nur instrumental mit Frank Roberscheuten am AltoSax, Olaf Polziehn am Piano und Frits Landesbergen an den Drums. Doch wo ist die Sängerin? Ganz einfach, sie spielt den Kontrabass und ist auch gleich mit einem schönen Solo dabei.

Weiterhin sind vor allem Songs aus dem ‚American Songbook‘ zu hören, darunter zwei Medleys; die sie selbst ansagt. Im ‚Sinatra Medley‘ präsentiert sie vier bekannte Songs, da hat man sofort die Stimme von Frank im Ohr. Doch Nicki ist kein Crooner, sie singt viel ruhiger, manchmal fast schon zaghaft, ihre Stimme erinnert an Stacey Kent. Zum ‚Burt Bacharach Medley‘ gehört auch ‚This Guy's in Love with You‘, das der Trompeter und Sänger Herb Alpert 1968 mit dem ‚Tijuana Brass’ bekannt gemacht hat. Nicki nennt Bacharach, der erst vor zwei Jahren verstorben ist, ihren „favourite composer“. Sie singt etwas forscher als damals Herb Alpert, ihre Band ist mit vielen schönen Soli der ‚Tijuana Brass’ haushoch überlegen.

Vier Stücke werden nur instrumental gespielt, darunter die Bossas ‚Desafinado‘ und ‚Samba De Orfeu‘. Bei ‚Desafinado‘ beginnt Nicki mit einem Bass-Intro; wenn dann Frank Roberscheuten mit seinem TenorSax loslegt, denkt man unweigerlich an Stan Getz (1963), denn es klingt genauso, wunderbar! Olaf Polziehn übernimmt dann am Piano mit einem fröhlichen Solo. Nach einer Call-Response-Passage endet der Bossa mit einem bekannten Rock-Pattern, gute Idee.

Eine Überraschung ist ‚Once Upon A Time In The West‘, der Soundtrack von Ennio Morricone aus dem gleichnamigen Film (dt. ‚Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod‘) mit Sergio Leone (1968). Die Filmmusik wurde im Original von einem Orchester gespielt mit Klangteppichen und Crescendi von Streichern und wortlosen Vocals. Opernhaft klingt das immer noch, monumental. Bei Nickis Swingfluencern kommt das Stück ganz anders rüber. Nach der Melodie am Piano mit spannungsgeladenem Becken-Einsatz spielt Frank auf dem TenorSax sehr melodisch und friedlich, keine Rede mehr von Dramatik, eher wie eine Erinnerung an diesen berühmten, bald 60 Jahre alten Film; am Ende ein Zitat auf dem Piano im Outro. Fabelhaft!

Auch ein deutsches Stück ist dabei: ‚Bei dir war es immer so schön’ aus den 1930er Jahren von Theo Mackeben singt Nicki mit typisch amerikanischem Akzent etwas nostalgisch, dazu ein ‚luftiges‘ TenorSax Solo von Frank. (Heinz Schlinkert, nrwjazz.net)

Nicki Parrott, Kontrabass, Gesang
Frank Roberscheuten, Saxophon, Klarinette
Olaf Polziehn, Klavier
Frits Landesbergen, Schlagzeug

Nicki Parrott
Born in Newcastle, Australia, Nicki started her musical training at age four with the piano, followed by the flute, soon after. Nicki switched to double bass at the age of 15.

After graduating high school she moved to Sydney to study jazz at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music where she began to play with Australian musicians such as Mike Nock, Dale Barlow, Paul Grabowsky, Bernie McGann, and Ten Part Invention. She also toured Australia with Russian musicians Daniel Kramer and Alexander Fischer and American trumpeters Bobby Shew and Chuck Findley. She continued her studies with various bassists including visiting artists Ray Brown and John Clayton.

Nicki was the recipient of two awards, a scholarship to Pan Pacific Music Camps at the age of 16, and first place in the 1992 Jazz Action Society's Annual Song Competition for her composition "Come and Get It." She was also nominated for the annual Australian Young Achievers Award by the Arts Council of Australia who granted her the funds to come to New York to study with Rufus Reid. Nicki came to New York in May 1994.

In June 2000, Nicki began performing on Monday nights at the Iridium Jazz Club with the legendary guitarist and inventor, Les Paul. As part of the Les Paul Trio, Nicki worked side-by-side with guitar greats from Paul McCartney, Slash, Steve Miller to fellow Aussie, Tommy Emmanuel.

Since then she has performed with such notable musicians as Michel Legrand, Joe Wilder, Randy Brecker, Clark Terry, Jose Feliciano, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, Dick Hyman, Patti Labelle & the New York Pops Orchestra, Harry Allen, Marlena Shaw, David Krakauer, Ken Peplowski, Ann Hampton Callaway, Bill Mays, Scott Hamilton, Lillian Boutte, Larry Carlton and Houston Person, just to name a few.

In 2007 and 2008, Nicki received back to back honors for Swing Journal's Best Jazz Vocal Album. In 2010 her album Black Coffee received Swing Journal's Gold Disc award. In 2012, Nicki headlined the Fujitsu Concorde Jazz festival.

Frank Roberscheuten
was born in the village of Valkenswaard, The Netherlands, in 1962. Through a friend he became a member of the local woodwind orchestra where he was told to play the clarinet. At age fifteen he formed his first Dixieland band and has been a bandleader since.

In a national radio contest, Frank's band won first prize and the opportunity to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival. In the early 1980's he studied classical clarinet at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and from there went to the Brabants Conservatory in Tilburg studying with the great Walter Boeykens.

He graduated "Cum Laude". In the meantime he was performing with many different New - Orleans style groups like "The David Livingstone Jazzmessengers" and "The Fondy Riverside Bullet Band". His style was influenced by the great traditional jazz clarinettists like Barney Bigard, George Lewis and Edmond Hall.

His first recording session dates from June 1984 with the "Burgundy Street Jazzmen". At the moment he can be heard on over 90 CDs. Eventually, after listening to the famous Swing Era saxophone players like Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Johnny Hodges, Frank became interested in the Swing Era music of the 1930s and 1940s.

He joined the "Jojo Swingband" and started a new group called "The Swingcats". Being a fan of Duke Ellington, he formed and led the band "A Portrait Of Duke Ellington" with which he toured and recorded for the American label Arbors Records in 1999, the centennial Ellington year. Over the years Frank has played at most of the jazz festivals in Europe and visited New Zealand, Japan and the United States several times.

Although rooted in the traditional jazz, his style became more and more personal over the years. This can be heard in his current groups which you can find under "Bands". Apart from playing in these groups Frank has performed and recorded with many great orchestras like "The Metropole Orchestra", "The Dutch Swing College Band", "The Beau Hunks Saxophone Soctette", "Marty Grosz And His Hot Puppies", "Allotria Jazzband", "Les Haricots Rouges" ,"The Johnny Varro Septett", "The Echoes Of Swing Orchestra" and "Trevor Richards Trio". Besides his activities as a performer, Frank is musical director of The Hot Jazz Workshop in Ascona and Jazzin' July in The Netherlands. He also is the musical director of the Hotel Ascona Swing Festival.

He considers himself fortunate to perform with the best jazz musicians around. His current groups are listed in "Bands"

In March 2016 Frank was rewarded with the prize "Keeper Of The Flame" for his work in the field of Traditional Jazz.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet