Reviews and Articles
Easy to Love
Close Your Eyes
Aloisio is Back!
Enchanting April
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Easy to Love
| Feb 01, 2006
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Cincinnati Gentlemen Magazine
April Aloisio's exotic and soulful voice entrances you as the first smooth notes of Brazilian jazz fill the room. She has a natural feel for jazz and its rhythms, drawing in the audience with flawless soprano voice. This Cincinnati jazz artist, born to Italian-American parents in Chicago, was destined to take the stage since birth. "My mother was a professional big band singer," she says. "My childhood was surrounded by music. I began modern and tap dancing at 21/2-years old to 'Darktown Strutters Ball' and 'Tea For Two.' My mother says I could sing before I could talk; she always knew where I was because she could hear me singing."
Aloisio's talents blossomed during her teens as she sang folks songs and played harmonica and guitar. Her family later moved to Cincinnati and she attended Ohio State University. After joining a country rock band, she formed her own trio "playing everything from Lovin' Spoonful and Dan Hicks' Hot Licks to Monk and Miles."
"The advantage of sitting in with Cincinnati jazz players like Jimmy McGary, Kenny Poole and Dee Felice gave me experience and confidence about singing jazz," she says. "I learned how to scat with horn players and think of my voice as another instrument in the band."
Aloisio, who always loved Brazilian music, studied Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Cincinnati and University of Lisbon to help her sing the songs in their native language.
She moved to Chicago in 1986, remaining there for 14 years and releasing three CDs on the Southport label, including the phenomenal Easy To Love. She worked with many of Chicago's best, including former Ramsey Lewis sidemen Eldee Young and Red Holt, and the elder statesman of Chicago jazz, saxophonist Von Freeman.
She returned to Cincinnati in 2000 and has recorded Close Your Eyes with Guitarist Kenny Poole, bassist Mike Shade and others. The album has an overall Latin feel, as eight of the 12 songs on the CD are Brazilian, five of them by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The breadth of her talent is apparent to all as she masterfully weaves wordless vocals in time with the music on some of the tracks.
Yes, the lady has it all: a captivating voice, killer smile and entrancing stage presence.
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Close Your Eyes
| Feb 11, 2004
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Don Henke - Dayton City Paper
That face. That smile. Those eyes. That voice. April Aloisio has the whole package. A native of Chicago, she moved to Cincinnati with her family while in high school.
After attending Ohio State University, she sang around Cincinnati for a while and then decided to try her hand in her hometown. She recorded three CDs on the Southport label, which included such notables as Von Freeman, L.D. Young and Red Holt.
Eventually, the big city became stifling and she moved back to the Queen City. Close Your Eyes is her first recording in the local area.
April learned to speak Portuguese in order to sing Brazilian songs. Eight of the 12 songs on the CD are Brazilian, five of them by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The entire album has a Latin feel to it.
The opener, 'Speak Low,' by Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash, is up-tempo with Wayne Yeager playing electric piano, Michael Sharfe on bass and Randy Winters on drums. Gary Winters has a nice flugelhorn solo as well.
Back in the 1960s, when Astrid Gilberto had a minor hit (with Stan Getz) on 'The Girl From Ipanema,' she sang it in the third person. The girl strolled down the beach and all the boys sighed. Then, Ella Fitzgerald got ahold of the tune and personalized it as 'The Boy From Ipanema.' Ever since, it has been done strictly by females and exactly the same way. April sings it in a way that would make most men want to be that boy. Kenny Poole plays beautiful guitar and Joe Gaudio does his best to imitate Getz.
Yeager, Sharfe and Winters are back for Dizzy Gillespie's 'A Night In Tunisia.' April does a wordless vocal on this one. It's not scat; it's using the voice as an instrument on the melody and the improvisation.
On Jobim's 'Insensites,' she's accompanied only by Poole. The best parts of the CD are when she performs with Poole only. That's not to take away from the others; it's just that her voice and his guitar go so well together. She sings the Portuguese lyrics first, then Norman Gimbel's English lyrics.
'Brazil,' which was a big hit in the 1940s, again features April and Kenny. There is also a flute solo by Sandy Suskind that may have been added later. In fact, all three of the horns play such a minor role that it's tempting to think they were all overdubs. Their contributions are important, but they probably weren't in the studio with her.
Another Jobim piece, 'Dindi,' has George Simon on guitar and Nick Radina on percussion, along with Sharfe and Gary Winters. She sings this one in English, including the rarely-heard verse.
Two non-Jobim Brazilian pieces follow, Edu Lobo's 'Casa Forte' and 'E Preciso Perdoar.' The latter is another voice/guitar tune, sung in Portuguese with Poole. The former is a somewhat up-tempo piece with Yeager on organ, Sharfe on electric bass and Stan Ginn on drums and percussion. It's another of her wordless vocals, beautifully done.
The title tune, 'Close Your Eyes,' has the same instrumentation as 'Dindi,' but Suskind's flute is heard instead of Winters' flugel. Again, there is the samba beat on a tune that wasn't written as such, but it works very well.
'Lover Man' is a voice/bass duet in which Sharfe complements April beautifully and also takes a solo. The tempo is different from the way this piece is usually done.
Two more Jobim tunes close out the recording. On 'No More Blues,' she sings Jon Hendricks' English lyrics and is accompanied by Yeager on organ, Sharfe on electric and Ginn on drums and percussion. It sounds like two singers, maybe an overdub or an echo chamber because there is no harmony. On 'Once I Loved,' it's just her beautiful voice and Poole's beautiful guitar with Sharfe supplying percussion touches. She sings this one in both languages.
In sum, it's a very good album, produced by Sharfe and recorded in his studio. The sound quality is excellent and the various musicians all contribute to the overall tone. But it's the voice that carries the day.
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Aloisio is Back!
| Feb 05, 2004
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Rick Bird - Cincinnati Post
April Aloisio's singing career has taken her on a musical journey from the Queen City to the Windy City and back again. For now, the Cincinnati vocal music scene is a little brighter that she's been back in town.
This week Aloisio is releasing her "Close Your Eyes," a sensual and soothing collection of her Brazilian-inspired jazz stylings elegantly arranged with an all-star local cast of musicians. Among those on the CD are Joe Gaudio (sax), Kenny Poole (guitar), Sandy Suskind (flute) Wayne Yeager (keyboards), Gary Winters (fluegelhorn) and Michael Sharfe (bass).
Originally raised in Chicago, April moved here with her family, where she graduated from Green Hills High School. She left town to pursue what became a solid 14-year singing career in Chicago, releasing three well-received CDs on the local jazz label, Southport. April decided to move back here a year ago to be closer to her family. These days she is a nurse for a plastic surgeon by day, singer by night.
"My father had passed away and it was a year of going into the studio and emotionally getting it out," she said about the recording project, produced by Michael Sharfe.
April got her singing start in Cincinnati jazz clubs in the '80s. In fact, she said she once worked as a cocktail waitress at the Blue Wisp.
"So many great performers came through every weekend. I figured I'm always coming in here to pay to watch these people. I might as well get some money while I'm doing it."
Her first recording was a vinyl record done in Cincinnati before she headed off to Chicago, ironically working with many of the same musicians she used for her latest effort. April hopes to re-release that original vinyl recording on CD later this year.
"It was great coming back here and recording with them again. It was a great way to reconnect with these players in Cincinnati," she said. "So much of the CD was just the first take. It has a very live feel. I personally love to hear some of those human mistakes on a recording. I don't like the glossy sound. I like a pause or a pop."
No worry about many mistakes on this effort, which showcases her gentle soprano vocals backed by exquisite, understated musicianship. April is a tender vocalist who caresses her lyrics; diction is important. She doesn't even slur her scat singing.
She has always had a fondness for Brazilian sounds, even though she is of Italian heritage on her father's side. "I think I was Brazilian in a past life," she said with a laugh.
"My other CDs were kind of eclectic in that they'd go from a swing tune into a Latin tune. I wanted this to stay a consistently Brazilian feeling. I usually end up doing that with my standards anyway. I turn them into Bossa Novas."
April Aloisio has scheduled a CD release party for 8 p.m. Sunday at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club, 318 E. Eighth St., downtown, featuring many of the musicians who played on her album. She also will perform Friday at the new Washington Platform Oyster House, at 921 Monmouth St. in Newport, with the Michael Sharfe trio, and Feb. 14 at the Dilly Deli, 6818 Wooster Road, Mariemont.
Beatles tribute: It will be a "really big shew" 10 p.m. Friday at the York Street Café, Newport, when a dozen local bands cover Beatles tunes to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the group's American debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show," Feb. 9, 1964. Organizers will even have an Ed Sullivan impersonator to introduce the acts. While hardly any of the musicians playing were alive for that initial telecast, the Beatles remain one of the few older bands to still be "hip."
"Absolutely," said organizer Danny Souder of the band Trent Affair. "I'm more on the indie-rock side of the fence and we are all influenced by the Beatles tremendously. There was just something about those four guys together, the harmonies and the complexity of the musicianship."
Souder said he got a new appreciation for the Fab Four just preparing for the tribute gig.
"We sat down and tried to learn songs for the shows and we couldn't figure out what key it was in. We eventually figured they had to have sped up the tape just a half tone."
All proceeds from the evening will benefit the Leukemia Department at Children's Hospital. Bands performing include Andrew, Beanpole on Ice, Bob Burns, Chaselounge, Clabbergirl, Kohai, Odd Man Out, Patient Zero, Screaming Mimes, Spiff, Trent Affair, and Wussy.
Happenings: Veteran folk singer Holly Near comes to town, performing 8 p.m. Saturday at St. John's Unitarian Church, 320 Resor Ave, Clifton ($40). The event also features MUSE, the Cincinnati women's choir -- Modern rock gig of the week finds thistle, Covington, Caterpillar Tracks and Alone at 3am with the four-band bill Saturday at Radio Down, Covington -- .The Stapletons team up with Columbus band Two Cow Garage Friday at Jack Quinn's, Covington.
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Enchanting April
| Feb 04, 2004
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Mike Breen - Cincinnati's City Beat
Jazz singer April Aloisio will host a release concert Sunday at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club to celebrate her fourth CD effort, Close Your Eyes. Smoldering, slow-burning torch songs with a delicate exotic flair, the disc (available online at cdbaby.com) features deftly performed, sophisticated versions of American and Brazilian Jazz standards, highlighted by Aloisio's sultry, tranquil style.
Her lush, dulcet tone and alluring, gentle phrasing are more than ably supported by a stellar backing group, including local Jazz greats like flutist Sandy Suskind, guitarist Kenny Poole and bassist Michael Sharfe. Casual Jazz fans who adore the work of Diana Krall will really enjoy this intimate recording, while hardcore jazzbos will appreciate Aloisio's command and impressive vocal elasticity. With Valentine's Day around the corner, Close Your Eyes' seductive, smoldering sway is being released at just the right time.
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