Friends,
Hoping this posting finds you well. These are hard and trying times. It’s difficult to feel good about so much in the world right now and I’m not sure the ability to share music is the answer for the urgent, acute matters of life or death right now. Because that’s where we are. We are watching massive death unfold all around the world and I feel powerless to stop it.
So, I try to hold on to the joy, any joy I experience right now, especially if I can experience that joy with others. One of my utmost joys at the moment is the response to ‘Life Is Funny That Way’ Herbie Nichols SUNG, my current release (see last post), out on Tao Forms.
The response has been extraordinary (check below), the emphasis on joy in Nichols music was what I wanted to expose more than anything. Not just how great his compositions are as compositions, but that they harness something more that make them part of the essence of what jazz is, what it means to me. My ideas around this and how I arranged the songs to reflect this very fact has been resonating with press and seems to review new avenues to explore Herbie Nichols’ music.
Press for Life Is Funny That Way
Fay Victor is the rare singer who can demonstrate and interact with the deep vocal tradition while also delving into the daring freedoms that have long been the province of instrumentalists to explore. She does all of this while telling stories with her lyrics as well. To top it off, her vocal tone and control have never sounded better.This is Fay Victor’s best recording to date, not because it encounters “the tradition” but because it looks at a great composer from the past and reimagines the tradition as part of the music’s daring vanguard.—Will Layman, Popmatters.com (9/10)
An avant-garde Nina Simone with the performance punch of Betty Carter, Victor’s unabashed acrobatics mesmerize… 4 STARS—Andy Cowan, MOJO Magazine
“In 2013, Victor formed Herbie Nichols SUNG, the first Nichols repertory project led by a black or female musician. It’s very much her vision – and the arrangements are as inventive as they are tight. In an inspired move, Victor has set lyrics to Nichol’s compositions, adding new layers of meaning”–Steve Smith, The Wire
“He (Herbie Nichols) was not well known in his lifetime, but today he’s considered one of the great unsung jazz composers. Victor started writing lyrics for his tunes, performing them with the Herbie Nichols Sung band she put together in New York City in 2013. She’s now recorded 11 of these compositions and they’re outstanding.“
4 STARS –J. Poet, DownBeat Magazine
There are several fine Herbie Nichols tributes around, but this one has a unique soul and earthiness created by Fay Victor’s otherworldly singing and the adventurous spirit of her band. This is a superb album, one of the most delightful releases of the year so far.”–Jerome Wilson, All About Jazz
“Victor with her unique vocal approach somewhere between straight and quite free …and the band, this is a real collective excursion, has shed a great light on a treasure that has almost been forgotten – or that was almost never remembered. Fay Victor – and Herbie Nichols – certainly deserve another round of attention.”–Thor Hammerø, Nettavisen
“Life Is Funny That Way” offers a rich portrait of Nichols, and it highlights the contemporary aspects of his music. Ms. Victor’s versatile band includes saxophonist Michaël Attias, pianist Anthony Coleman, bassist Ratzo Harris and drummer Tom Rainey. Their range is a good fit, and her vocals embrace straightforward singing, scat, vocalese and poetic recitation; it’s a style that enables her to explore deeper meanings in songs and broaden their cultural connections. Her influences include both classic jazz singers like Betty Carter and late 20th-century innovators like Jeanne Lee.—— Martin Johnson, The Wall Street Journal
