Acclaimed Vocalist Libby York Offers a Swingin' Take on classic standardsFrom Porter to Fagen on MemoirFeaturing Warren Vache, cornet, Russell Malone,guitar, John DiMartino,piano, Martin Wind,bass & Greg Sergo,drumswww.libbyyork.com" Ms. York is a jazz singer of cool composure and artful subtlety." — Nate Chinen, New York Times“York has a sound that recalls, without any condescension or gratuitous nostalgia… post war AnitaO’Day, Chris Connor and Sarah Vaughan." — John McDonough, DownBeatLIbby York, like the very best of interpretive singers, has the gift of transforming a song into apersonal anthem. On her new album, Memoir (March 24, 2014, Libby York Music), she probes thelyrical content of a work to uncover inner connections to her own experience and state of being,finding individual relevance in a wide swath of standards from iconic composers including Cole Porterand George Gershwin to present day songsmith Donald Fagen. Her"memoir" may be fashionedfrom the pens of others, but the expressive fervor and creative brio is York's alone.Applying this uncanny ability to bond with a song to celebrated vocal skills highlighted by a honeyedtone, light-as-a cloud swing and insightful phrasing, York delivers a masterwork that renews thelife of familiar classics (“Thanks for the Memory,” “Slow Boat To China,” “I Was Doing Alright” and“How Long Has This Been Going On” and “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” among them) and alertsus to lesser known gems (“My Little Boat,” “Put It There, Pal,” “When In Rome” and Fagen’s “WalkBetween the Raindrops”). What Memoir may best display is the intimacy that can be palpably feltwhen a singer becomes one with a song. “You have to believe the lyric, “ York states, “You have tobe present in the story of the song.”While York’s vocal skills are emphatically the main event, Memoir takes a page from the celebratedlate period projects of Rosemary Clooney by placing York at the helm of a tight small jazz bandstocked with A-list players. With cornetist Warren Vache (an integral Clooney collaborator, alsofeatured on York’s 2008 album, Here with You), pianist John DiMartino, guitarist Russell Malone,bassist Martin Wind and drummer Greg Sergo, York is among guaranteed purveyors of swing,musicians who virtually read her mind as she artfully navigates a tune. “I think of myself as a memberof the band,” York says,” I love listening to them play; the caliber of their musicianship is staggering.”York’s further respect for her collaborators is evident in the spacious solo statements and featuredroles that she offers. Vache’s full-throated yet eminently lyrical horn lines enliven the majority of thesongs, while DiMartino consistently cloaks York’s vocals in just-right chords like a musical secondshadow. Wind and Sergo meld, as the most buoyant of rhythm teams must; featured on three tracks,Malone (who wisely suggested “When In Rome” to York) offers the tasty guitar work that York fans,familiar with Malone’s fine playing on Here with You, have come to expect of his contributions.Page 1For sheer mirth though, nothing tops the vocal duets between York and Vache on “Put It There, Pal,”the old Bob Hope and Bing Crosby zing fest, and “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” the witty displayof verbal disparity by the brothers Gershwin. York says “Put It There, Pal,” on which she and Vachetoss some good-natured low blows at each other, as “the most fun I’ve ever had in a recording studio”and you believe her. Performances such as these remind us that a sense of humor – along with thecomplimentary ability to infuse a lyric with cheer and to never oversell a witticism -- is among the mosthighly prized of gifts that a superior vocalist can possess.Memoir also refers to York’s wistful, but emphatically non-nostalgic, reflections on the music she grewup with, songs that she has now artfully rejuvenated. 1998 saw the release of York’s debut album, Blue Gardenia, followed, in 2004, by her breakthroughrecording, Sunday in New York, which featured Renee Rosnes on piano and Count Basie alumniFrank Wess on tenor sax. The album received an abundance of rave reviews including 4 stars inDownBeat magazine. York’s third CD, 2008's Here With You -- with Russell Malone, Howard Alden,Warren Vache, Jon Burr and Vanderlei Pereira -- earned further acclaim, including praise from NewYork Times critic Nate Chinen who wrote :"Ms. York is a jazz singer of cool composure and artfulsubtlety, as she demonstrates on her fine new album, Here With You.