ELAINE DAME

REMINISCING

Independent label

Elaine Dame, vocals/co-arranger/flute; Chris Madsen, co-arranger/tenor & soprano saxophone; Tom Vaitsas, piano/Hammond B-3 organ/ Fender Rhodes; Sam Peters, upright bass; Jon Deitemyer, drums; Neal Alger, guitar; Art Davis & Victor Garcia, trumpet; Alyssa Allgood & Christy Bennett, harmony vocals.

Elaine Dame has a distinctive tone to her voice and an infectious energy.  She opens with the Chaka Khan/Stevie Wonder collaboration, “Tell me Something Good.”  Elaine sings it in her own unique way, letting bassist, Sam Peters set the groove and tempo. He locks arms with Jon Deitemyer on drums and they create a mix of Latin and funk in the sweetest kind of way.  Tom Vaitsas adds his rhythmic piano part to the mix.  On the hook, they break into a Latin fest that is jazzy and completely intriguing.

Elaine Dame has taken a handful of pop tunes and converted them to jazz arrangements.  I love the trumpet solo and the undertow of Latin rhythms that drags this tune happily forward in a way that seems natural and perfect.  It’s a great arrangement!

The ensemble follows with Bill Wither’s composition “Use Me.”  Once again, the ingenious way that Dame and Madsen have creatively arranged this familiar hit song, crowns it royally as a jazz arrangement.  Elaine is the queen of interpretation.  She sings soulfully, pulling from her mid-western roots, clearly showing how you can transform a pop song into jazz. These arrangements are brilliant, fresh, and easy on the ears.

“I’ve been listening to 70s music over and over since my high school years.  I think it’s some of the best music ever invented, so incredibly diverse.  I could have done three records of these songs,” Elaine Dame writes in her liner notes.

Ms. Dame and her co-arranger (Chris Madsen) show us that if a song is well-written, it can translate to any number of arrangements and genres. She completely turns around the Pink Floyd tune, “Wish You Were Here” and does the same with the Little River Band’s tune, singing the title of her cd, “Reminiscing.”  This vocalist knows how to sell a song.  She gets to the heart of each composition she performs.

Dame released her first jazz album in 2005 (Comes Love) and followed up with “You’re My Thrill.” She knows how to put the soul into a blues song.  On a former album she recorded “I Want to be Loved” in a very passionate way.

Dame grew up in Michigan.  Her talented mother was a flautist and singer. Young Elaine Dame followed in mom’s footsteps.  She studied classical flute, singing, and theater at Pepperdine University in Southern California and completed her education at California State University, Northridge, participating in the school’s inaugural Theatre Repertory Program.

Afterwards, she returned to the Midwest, joining the Chicago theatrical scene. It wasn’t long before she realized that jazz singing was her path and not theater. You can hear her natural essence and comfort level when she sings jazz.  During this unique presentation of 1970s pop songs, she and her talented band members reimagine them as modern jazz that entertains and surprises the listener.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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