A Way With Words  ★★★★

From a review that appeared on the Italian site, De Baser:

The great jazz vocalists have shaped the kind of features which should blend in a song: the feel for rhythm of a true musician; the interpretation of the melody; a unique delivery of the lyrics, and; playing off the other musicians and improvising. This is an art of the past, ‘classical’ and very demanding, which few singers achieve today. Consider singers like Anita O’Day, the sacred three Billie/Ella/Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, Mark Murphy and Sheila Jordan. This art is perhaps carried out today only by Kurt Elling.

A few years ago, sifting through foreign music magazines in a shop, I read rave reviews of a new album by a self-produced singer from California in the jazz journal Downbeat (four and 1/2 stars). Apparently this was a ‘new’ singer who performed standards, both known and obscure, and who often relied on just her voice and a bass to deliver detailed and unique performances! The few times I’ve heard singers with the courage to do this with great results, it was Sheila Jordan, Nancy King, and early Tierney Sutton, whose voices and interpretations are absolutely extraordinary.

However, a few weeks later I managed to get the cd. The enthusiasm was entirely due, no less. Karen Marguth has a light voice, decidedly agile, mobile, and accurate. She has the rare, great capacity for true champions of instrumental jazz singing to surprise and fascinate. With a strong improvisational verve, she can scat and deliver tongue twisters at breakneck speed, playing with the sounds of words and managing rapid chord changes without neglecting a subtle, playful joke or falling into triviality. Her skill at vocalese is reminiscent of Annie Ross.   Her virtuosity is clear in any weather, from the fastest tunes with the whole band or alone with a bass, to slower ballads, to songs from vaudeville. Her touching version of “Everything Happens To Me” for voice and mandolin is truly worthy of historical interpreters of the past.

Karen plays with a group of guitar, bass, mandolin, and drums, called Espacio, which creates around her voice a sound that is rhythmically driving but airy and light, almost Gypsy jazz to my ears.  This record is a gem. It is so not only because Ms. Marguth IS that kind of incredible, gifted performer; but the more so because her whole group here is tight and strong, plain and rough in the best sense, with its own peculiar sound. I wish her good luck on her new album, hoping that the unpredictable beauty and originality of this impeccable self-produced CD does not go astray.

Karen Marguth: Swinging in Pacific Beach

Marguth has all the tools, and she knows how to use them.

Vocalist Karen Marguth breezed into the new Dizzy’s on Saturday, January 26th, fronting a kind of California-All-Star group featuring LA woodwind specialist Nate Ketner, San Francisco bassist Sam Rocha, Fresno drummer Nathan Guzman and San Diegan Jason Wanner, for a superbly paced evening of consistently swinging jazz.

Marguth is the real deal, spot-on intonation, crystal clear enunciation, and, above all, a flawless sense of phrasing.

Opening with “Old Black Magic,” Marguth hit the ground running– over the propulsive bass of Rocha, her resonant voice soared, swooped and most of all, swung while Wanner soloed with melodic velocity and Ketner roared with a Dexter Gordon-esque verve.

Proving that she’s equally adept at “straight-eighth” material, she tackled the bossa-nova groove of “I Have A Feeling” with a lithe and natural ability before transitioning into a barrelhouse treatment of “Comes Love,” which found her taking long, held-tones and stretching them like saltwater taffy. Ketner’s alto saxophone featured piercing wails trailing wide arcs of the blues. Rocha’s solo motored along with a vocal unison and short glissandi, while Wanner seemed to come from a pre-bop era, with a series of rollicking trills.

She can also handle a ballad, her pitch-perfect voice stripped free of artifice on “So I Love You”, over the tinkling piano harmonies of Wanner, yielding to the resonant purr of Ketner’s tenor, which decorated the changes with a comfortable élan.

Marguth took Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird,” over bass-only accompaniment, and segued into “Bye-Bye Blackbird,” without raising an eyebrow.

She was generous with the solo space as well, giving Ketner an opportunity to soar like Johnny Hodges on “Stardust” and burn like an arsonist on Bird’s “Au Privave.” Wanner had a marvelous feature on “In A Sentimental Mood,” which fit his retro style like a glove.

Guzman, who spent most of the night in super-quiet support mode, finally got a chance to bust out with a superlative solo on “Lagrimas Negras,” sounding like multiple drummers locked in a shoot-out.

Marguth is a true professional, and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Robert Bush, January 28, 201