(Vocal Jazz) Audra - The Truth of the Matter - 2014, MP3, 320

Californian songstress delivers a mix of original and cover songs with a touch of blues, swing, soul, gypsy jazz, and folk.
Audra invites you to enter her world as an American songbird in Paris. Her earliest memories inlcude singing along to her grandfather's 78 swing records and making up funny songs with her uncle and his guitar. She would later graduate from Chapman University with a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance. She brings her classical sensibilities and natural musicality to this collaboration - her first album - which seamlessly blends elements of swing, blues, gypsy jazz, and soul.
The magic was born one night in the city of light when Audra met multi-instrumentalist Pascal Segard. With a shared appreciation of Django Reinhart, The Beatles, Chet Baker, Elvis, and Ray Charles to name a few, what came next was 'The Truth of The Matter'. The sultry and jazzy album opener 'Waiting' paves the way for a myriad of originals and carefully selected covers, creating a melting pot of easy listening numbers.
While Audra's velvety, mezzo vocals are at the heart of the record, she is joined by some of Paris' finest musicians. Pascal himself, having worked with Madeleine Peyroux among others, moves between jazz, classical and traditional folk music with perfect lilting stride. Félix Belleau, classically trained virtuoso accordionist of the swing manouche genre, is also featured here as well as in the 2007 film, La Vie en Rose (La Môme). Clarinetist, Bernard Furiet, brings his expertise on New Orleans Jazz and its great players of the 1920s - Johnny Dodds and Sydney Bechet.