Michelle Nicolle & Larry Koonse - The Silent Wish
(Purple Lead Music, 2025)
Australian vocalist Michelle Nicolle led a band down under for 25 years, recording 10 albums, and then, suddenly, see gets a wild hair to record with guitarist Larry Koonse in Studio City California, with Cathy Segal-Garcia (Social Anthems, Volume 1 and Volume 2) producing. Next, Judy Wexler is noting on Facebook the pair appearing at Au Lac DTLA in Los Angeles and, then, they are everywhere!
Enamored with guitar-singer duos like Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass and Tuck and Patti, Nicolle wanted to catch the Zeitgeist generated by such a confined and intimate creative climate. In that climate, Nicolle found her soulmate in Koonse. The two artists bring two different things to the table. Nicolle brings a fearless sense of creative adventure and a finely tuned emotional barometer to her performances. Koonse brings an encyclopedic guitar knowledge and a keen sense of applying that knowledge. As these two skill sets collide, a powerful synergy emerges with the title The Silent Wish, the singer’s eleventh offering.
The ten-song assembly might be called eclectic, except that is not dense enough. What Nicolle, Koonse, and Segal-Garcia (who shares production credit with engineer Jonn Leftwich and Nicholle) put together a collection of standards that avoid the maudlin (“Over The Rainbow”), sloppy sentimental (“The Nearness of You”), and the down-right used up (“My Funny Valentine”). Instead, Nicholle launches a cappella (after being centered by a select Koonse chord) into E. A. Swan’s “When Your Lover Has Gone.” When Koonse enters, it is from an avant garde angle, remaining so for the rest of the song. Nicholle and Koonse spar, trading 16 bars in a thrilling performance. This is how to start a recording.
The two work through the rest of the recital, where Koonse and his choice of guitar and dynamics set the mood of each piece. “I Hope I Never” was a hit in Australia by the Split Enz. Koonse three tracks his guitar, producing a dreamy soundscape over which Nicholle delivers a devastating kiss-off. “I’m Glad There is You” is a Jimmy Dorsey/Paul Madeira song introduced by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra in 1942 on Decca Records featuring Bob Eberly on vocals. Nicolle sings the song straight, paying much attention to the melody, molding the song to her will.
Nicolle’s original, “Putting It Off,” is an ear turner, with Koonse doubling the singer’s voice on the guitar. This is the most effective collaboration on the recording. Rickie Lee Jone’s treatment of “My One And Only Love” from Pop Pop (Geffen, 1991) influenced Nicolle’s version presented here. Nuanced phrasing accented by Koonse’s deft and informed playing seasons the song, complementing the Nicolle’s fine vocals. This duo approach deeply affects a swinging, emotive reading of “All the Things You Are,” one of the best represented songs from the Great American Songbook.
The Silent Wish provides listeners with a potent introduction to Michelle Nicolle and her exquisite craft. Larry Koonse proves to be a heady catalyst to the project, which is one of the finest vocal releases this year.