A solid veteran of Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, Hannah Gill is full of nostalgia and surprises. The singer’s Everybody Loves A Lover (2023) was her debut full-length release from the vintage Turtle Bay Records. The songs are modern throwbacks to the days of speakeasies and the Lost Generation, given a clever twenty-first century flavor.
Gill recorded a holiday recording. Only her holiday offerings were more autumnal orange and black than a winter red and green. While no stranger to Christmas music, Gill has focused on the opener for seasonal celebration, Halloween. Gill’s All Hallows celebration, Spooky Jazz (Self-Produced, 2020), put a whole new spin on the holiday canon. Rechristened Spook Jazz Vol. 1 and remastered by Turtle Bay, this recording had a second life and broader audience.
Spooky Jazz Vol. 1 broke the traditional holiday release mold by concentrating on the opening of the season, rather than its close. Halloween arrives in fall proper, when the temperatures dip and one’s favorite tipple provides a sip of pumpkin spice. The disc’s arrangements and instrumentation reveal a shade of cabaret, all music possessing a confident strut and a litany of low reeds and strings.
Doris Day’s “No Moon At All” features Gabe Terracciano’s tasty violin and Jesse Elder’s sideways piano. Basil Adlam and Billy Rose’s “The House Is Haunted,” first released by Paul Whiteman and Ramona with the Park Avenue Boys on their 1934 Victor shellac. Featured here is a throbbing bass solo courtesy of Steve Whipple. Gill sings with a muscular, yet coquettish confidence, flexing her significant chops at will. Dinah Washington’s “Evil Gal Blues” provides Gill a 12-bar jump vehicle over which to vamp, featuring label mate Ricky Alexander’s taut tenor saxophone spicing things up with Terracciano and Elder’s fine period playing. Eartha Kitt’s “I Wanna Be Evil” provides Gill a perfect song on which to let her hair down.
Writer’s Note: I had previously published parts of this article here in “Hannah Gill - Home For The Holidays” - Bailey, C. M. (2024, October 31). Hannah Gill - Home For The Holidays. Wildmercuryrhythm.com; Wild Mercury Rhythm. https://www.wildmercuryrhythm.com/p/hannah-gill-home-for-the-holidays?utm_source=publication-search.
Thank you for the article, I just went on Bandcamp and bought it, it's lovely !!
I really enjoyed this album as well!