Maria fell in love with jazz many years ago.
In her live singing and on her new CD - Love Makes The Changes, she combines her love of jazz, "the music of her heart," with her experiences of story-telling as a theater and cabaret artist. Her "musical mission" is that her audiences get to experience the musical texture of this great, collaborative art form, as well as the stories these classic songs, some of them familiar, some of them undiscovered gems, tell.
Listen: No More Blues
Love Makes The Changes, Maria's recording debut includes songs from
favorite jazz composers and lyricists (Bill Evans, McCoy Tyler, Michel Legrand, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Herbie Hancock, Gerry Mulligan and others) which speak to her in a very personal way. More recently she has appreciated the story telling nature of cabaret vocalists who can draw you into the lyrics of a song and make you feel and experience your own story and emotions. Produced by David Friedman, she is joined by top shelf musicians Gregory Toroian (piano, arranger, musical director), Skip Ward (bass), David Silliman (drums) and Mark Fineberg (saxophone and flute).
Review: Dee Dee McNeil
Maria Corsaro has a voice that bridges jazz and cabaret. She was raised in the world of classical music. For years, she grew her musical career in theaters, films and amidst the cabaret circuit.
“I remember the first time I heard a jazz tune, it was ‘My One and Only Love’ performed by Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane. I listened to that recording over and over again. I became hooked on jazz. I love the rhythms, the unique chord progressions, the improvisations, the scat singing, using nonsense syllables instead of words and vocalese,” she recalls in her liner notes.
Corsaro opens with “If You Never Fall in Love with Me” swinging the tune and complimented by saxophonist, Mark Feinberg. Drummer David Silliman sings the tune down on his trap drums, dancing his sticks across the skins with accuracy and joy. A great drummer can always sing the melody.
Her medley combining “Secret Love” with “Never Said (Chan’s Song)” is unique. It flaunts her ease with vocal range, while also blending a cabaret presentation with the freedom jazz offers. The arrangement moves from a warm ballad to a slow swing on “Never Said” and it changes seamlessly thanks to pianist, arranger and Musical Director, Gregory Toroian.
“Never Said is music by Herbie Hancock and lyrics by Stevie Wonder. It was suggested to me by my musical director, Gregory Toroian. Putting it together with Secret Love was the idea of my producer, David Friedman,” Maria explained how that medley was created.
The sexy, sultry saxophone introduction by Mark Feinberg to the popular jazz song, “No More Blues” snatches my attention. After her rubato beginning, the band kicks into a Latin flavored arrangement. Toroian’s piano solo ebbs and swells.
Her rendition of “You Taught My Heart to Sing” is lovely. It features her talented trio, with the spotlight on Toroian at the grand piano. Like any great storyteller, Corsaro sells every song. You feel like you’ve eave dropped on the breakup of a close friend when she sings “Portrait in Black and White.” But it’s her rendition of “Stolen Moments” that pulls the jazz singer out of Maria Corsaro, like a flower clipped and separated from her Cabaret roots. Skip Ward offers a brief but moving bass solo.
Here is a woman who has chosen an emotional and heartfelt repertoire of beautiful music and poignant lyrics. The arrangements are rich and creative. This is a project both cabaret lovers and jazz aficionados can enjoy.
Listen: I Have The Feeling I've Been Here Before
Her mission in doing this CD,
and in her performing of late, is to combine the best of these two art forms in her performances. So, it is her hope that jazz lovers will find satisfaction and joy listening to these jazz classics, and will get a little more appreciation of how story telling techniques add to the music, while the cabaret lovers find the satisfaction of hearing the stories I tell through these songs, while perhaps developing a greater appreciate of jazz. Everybody wins!
