Hot Hot Tunes for the Cold Cold Stretch

Welcome to the first edition of Music Mondays. Be sure to mark this day of the week on your calendar. All manner of music reviews will be appearing on our favourite local library blog. And this week do we have a treat for you! A music disc is with a sweet DVD. On this DVD there is a concert and a documentary. Let's begin!






Nikki Yanofsky. Her name is fast becoming one recognised around the world. You may remember her from an outdoor performance at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal in 2006 when she wooed audiences. She was 12. Now she shines on a recording of a wondrous live show from 2007 as a top notch young lady with an amazing voice, wild scat singing ability and an impressive style. Whether one listens to the concert recording and hears the three bonus audio tracks, including the catchy as all get out "Vote for Mr. Rhythm" and a swell rendition of "With a Little Help From My Friends" or watches the concert on the DVD, it is a grand romp through sundry joints of Jazz, a bit of Blues and even a modicum of Mambo. After several consecutive listens one is able to pick up on various elements in the arrangements and one of my favourites is "A Tisket, a Tasket," with its swinging style and swell call and response.

If you happen to be hankering for more information about the sundry elements behind the scenes, carry on with the DVD for a 24 minute documentary with interviews and snippets of studio recordings unfolding before your eyes. Combined with the concert for your eyes and the compact disc version for your ears, this really is a triple packet of positively priceless entertainment for listening outright, or as a backdrop for a social soiree, or as a personal soundtrack to accompany one in daily life.