Jazz Times Review

The Next Jazz Sensation from Canada: Make Room for Brigitte Zarie Classy, cool, sensual, Toronto native Brigitte Zarie is all this and more, she is simply amazing. A true Jazz talent, Brigitte is not only a wonderful singer, she also wrote all the lyrics and co-wrote all the music with producer Neil Jason. The music on this CD will take you back to the golden era of Jazz and Big Bands. All the songs on Make Room for me already sound like Jazz classics. If these songs were written back in the 30’s and 40’s we would be talking about them as part of the Great American Songbook. That is how good these songs are and how good Brigitte Zarie is as a composer. With songs of love and happiness, Make Room for me is an incredible collection of ballads and swinging tunes. To say Brigitte’s voice is beautiful would be an understatement. Paraphrasing a Fiona Apple song, Brigitte’s voice is “sweet like honey and heavy with mood”. Her feeling and phrasing is equally impressive on slow, romantic tracks like See you again, What’s wrong with me, Take it Easy and in the more upbeat tracks, Make Room for me (with a French version), Happiest day of my life and Call on Love. For music of this quality Brigitte have to surround herself with equally quality musicians, and she did just that. That’s the fabulous Randy Brecker on the first track, See you Again. The other musicians are, Zack Danzinger (tracks 1-4, 6-9, 11) and Brian Floody on drums (tracks 5, 10), Peter Zak on piano, Tim Lefebvre on bass, Larry Saltzman (tracks 1,11) and Jeff Golub on guitar (tracks 4,6), Bobby Sanabria with a great work on percussion in the song Money, Money, Money and the latin flavored track Dance with you. In the horn section, John Sneider (tracks 3,6,7,9) and Al Chez on trumpet, Chris Byars (tracks 3,5 10), Lawrence Feldman (solo on track 2) Bruce Kapler and Frank Beisle on sax, Jeff Bush and Brian Bonvissuto on trombones and Tom Malone plays all horns on tracks 8 and 11. I hope this extraordinary CD is only the first taste of more great things to come from this fantastic singer/composer. Tracks: See You Again, What’s Wrong With Me, Make Room For Me, Take it Easy, Happiest Day Of My Life, The Story Of Love, Call On Love, Money, Money, Money, Money, Make Room For Me (French Version), Dance With You, I Love Las Vegas Musicians: Zack Danzinger (drums, tracks 1-4, 6-9, 11),Brian Floody (drums, tracks 5, 10), Peter Zak (piano), Tim Lefebvre (bass), Larry Saltzman (guitar tracks 1,11), Jeff Golub (guitar tracks 4,6), Bobby Sanabria (percussion), John Sneider (trumpet tracks 3,6,7,9), Al Chez (trumpet), Randy Brecker (trumpet track 1), Chris Byars (trumpet tracks 3,5 10), Lawrence Feldman (trumpet solo on track 2), Bruce Kapler, Frank Beisle (sax), Jeff Bush and Brian Bonvissuto(trombones), Tom Malone (all horns on tracks 8 and 11) Reviewed by: Wilbert Sostre