This past Saturday, our writing staff had the pleasure of watching an acclaimed vocalist, Kellylee Evans, perform at the CBC Glenn Gould Studio in downtown Toronto. The concert inspired today's post, as we will be reviewing her latest release, entitled "Nina". She was born in Scarborough Ontario, however she has had a career based out of Ottawa. While studying law at Carleton University, Evans discovered jazz; as she has stated: "I got lost in the elevators of the Loeb Building and found the Music department on the ninth floor of the A tower." Since then, her career has exploded, with four releases and multiple awards, including a 2007 Smooth Jazz Award, and a 2011 Juno Award, both in the category of vocal jazz. Her latest release, "Nina", is a tribute album to the late Nina Simone. Evans was invited to France by Plus Loin Music to record the album back in 2009. The album's personnel are made up of internationally acclaimed jazz musicians including: Marvin Sewell on the guitars, François Moutin on the bass, and André Ceccarelli on the drums. Despite this, the lineup performing with Evans on her current tour include Dave Thompson on the guitar, Matthew Lima in the bass, and Giampaolo Scatozza on the drums. Some songs to note on the record are "Ain't Got No / I Got Life", "July Tree", and "Sinnerman". In addition, Evans did a wonderful job on her latest release. As well, we could not imagine a more perfect way to honour the great Nina Simone.
Purchase: "Nina"
Kellylee Evans
