Al Porcino (Lead trumpet player of Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Louis Prima, Judy

Whether you're hearing double-talent Annette Neuffer for the first time, or following her musical progress for some 10 years as I have, you're in for a special treat with her latest release. She swings effortlessly with her lovely sonorous alto voice, never getting shrill or over-selling a good tune. This is real jazz singing. Along with the wisely selected rhythm section of Bernhard Pichl, Rudi Engel & Jens Düppe, Ms. Neuffer creates just the right mood on selections as diverse as the bossa-nova "So Nice", and the deep bluesy "Baby All The Time". Check out her savvy handling of the seldom-heard verse to"Someone To Watch Over Me". And let's not forget her really fine trumpet alongside top tenorist Claus Koch, certainly one of the most swinging inventive saxmen out there today.

Who could ask for anything more?

Keep up the great work, Annette! - Al Porcino

recorded at by Lori Lorenzen at

Musicians:

Annette Neuffer: voc, flugelhorn

Claus Koch: tenor

Bernhard Pichl: piano

Rudi Engel: bass

Jens Düppe: drums

The Art Of Chet (2004)

yvp cd 3119

Photo: Oskar Henn

recorded at by Lori Lorenzen at

Musicians:

Annette Neuffer: voc, flugelhorn

Claus Koch: tenor

Bernhard Pichl: piano

Rudi Engel: bass

Jens Düppe: drums

Come Dance With Me (2002)

yvp cd 3103

Musicians:

Annette Neuffer: voc, flugelhorn

Claus Koch: tenor

Bernhard Pichl: piano

Rudi Engel: bass

Hendrik Smock: drums

Come Dance With Me - Liner Notes by Mike Hennessey

What comes across most vividly when you listen to this album is the pleasure that Annette Neuffer and her musicians derive from making music. This is jazz played with evident joy, feeling and commitment and the programme of selections from the Great American Songbook - some familiar, some very much neglected - plus a typically catchy original from Horace Silver, ensures that the musicians' joy will certainly be shared by the listener.

The Annette Neuffer Quintet makes a point of including the enduring melodies of master composers like Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Rodgers & Hart and Hoagy Carmichael in its repertoire, uses imaginative arrangements and plays them with great spirit and panache.

The group has been together now for four years and this album marks its recording début and Annette's first record date as leader.

Annette Neuffer began studying jazz trumpet at the music high school in Graz. Two years later she attended the Stuttgart music high school and studied with Claus Stötter, gaining a diploma. She also took other music courses before embarking on her professional career and playing with Pete York, the Bobby Burgess Bigband Explosion, Jimmy Woode, Curtis Fuller, the Sunday Night Orchestra and Milt Hinton, among others.

Meanwhile, and quite unexpectedly, she discovered that she had a natural talent for singing and she was engaged as a vocalist by the Munich-based American bandleader and trumpeter, Al Porcino.

Saxophonist Claus Koch also attended the music high school in Graz and obtained a master's degree. Later he studied in New York with jazz pianist, composer and educator Barry Harris Koch has worked with Charly Antolini, Dusko Goykovic, Harald Rüschenbaum and Al Porcino.

Bernhard Pichl has made a number of albums under his own name and has also played with Benny Bailey, the Al Porcino Big Band, James Moody and Valery Ponomarev. He currently teaches jazz piano at the Nürnberg music high school.

Rudi Engel teaches double bass at the music high schools of Würzburg and Nürnberg and his musical associates have included Ernie Watts, Bill Elgart and Benny Bailey.

Hendrik Smock is one of the most gifted drummers of his generation and has played with Jean Shy, Marla Glen, Ingrid Jensen and the Sunday Night Orchestra

The programme opens with a catchy Horace Silver original,

"Strollin' ", which featured on Silver's July 1960 album, Horace-scope. Here it is taken at an appropriately strolling tempo and Annette's free and easy vocal gets tasty backing from Claus Koch, who follows with a solo that has more than a hint of Dexter Gordon in its laid-back style.

"It's You Or No-one", written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn back in 1949, has long been a favourite of jazz musicians - but the verse to the tune is rarely heard. Annette gives it a slow rubato reading with just piano backing and then moves into brisk tempo. She follows her vigorous vocal with two nimble, warm-toned choruses on flugelhorn, the hard-swinging rhythm section providing her with great support, as it does throughout this album.

Claus Koch's tenor outing here begins in a measured, relaxed mode but then gains intensity as it progresses. After an exchange of eights between Annette, Claus and Hendrik Smock, Annette takes the tune out, finishing with the almost mandatory tag.

"Detour Ahead", written by Herb Ellis, John Frigo and Lou Carter in 1956, was a great favourite of American singer Irene Kral for whose vocal artistry Annette has a great respect and affection. She sings this ballad of a failed love affair with great emotional intensity and Koch contributes a soulful tenor solo.

The mood now changes as Annette delivers, a carefree, happy-go-lucky version of the title song - again re-discovering a rarely heard verse which she sings with just piano backing. The bass then sets a loping tempo and Annette gives an extrovert, high-energy reading of the refrain while Koch offers a discreet obbligato. Next comes a blues-tinged flugelhorn solo from Annette followed by a delightfully relaxed chorus from Koch. Pichl contributes a tasteful 16 bars and then Annette takes the song out from the bridge.

"Because The Real Thing Happened To Me", an obscure but estimable 64-bar song, gets an up-tempo treatment and a dynamic arrangement and Annette invests it with real vocal vitality. On this track Koch plays what is arguably his best solo of the session, technically adept and harmonically sure. There is a crisply percussive chorus from Pichl and, after Koch and Smock swap fours for half a chorus, Annette comes in on the bridge to wind up proceedings.

Annette's concern to rescue song verses from obscurity again reveals itself on "Goodbye Little Dream", one of Cole Porter's lesser-known creations. The chorus is introduced by the horns harmonizing on a two-note motif reminiscent of Miles Davis's "So What". Annette gives a passionate rendering of the refrain and follows with a mellow, moving solo on flugelhorn. There are fine solos, too, from Koch and Pichl before Annette returns to close out the song and the two-bar motif is repeated at the end over Pichl's improvised lines.

On Cole Porter's "Dream Dancing", which is taken at a good, groovy tempo, Annette once again includes the verse and the solos from Koch and Engel make imaginative use of the tune's appealing harmonic structure.

Smock's brushes provide a four-bar introduction to "My Heart Stood Still" and Annette sings the first 16 bars accompanied only by the drums. The bass comes in at the bridge and then, as Annette delivers a freewheeling second chorus, tenor saxophone and piano join in. There are adventurous two-chorus solos by Koch on tenor and Annette on flugelhorn then, after bass and drums swap fours, Annette reprises the vocal chorus and finishes with an extended scatted coda.

Annette's rendering of "Stardust" gets pleasing, low-key tenor saxophone accompaniment and the half-chorus solos by Koch and Pichl maintain the same gentle mood.

"Nobody Else But Me" is taken at a lively pace with tenor and piano phrasing in unison on the 16-bar intro. Annette sings with great zest, there is a fluent solo from Koch who then exchanges fours with Smock. Annette returns for the last chorus and the piece concludes with a repeat of the introduction.

On the Jerome Kern/Johnny Mercer evergreen, "I'm Old Fashioned", Annette sings the first half chorus with just bass accompaniment, then piano and drums join in. Annette's flugelhorn solo is mellow and inventive, and Koch and Engel make eloquent contributions before Annette returns to round off a most enjoyable, melodic and swinging début album.

Mike Hennessey

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