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Pamela Rose Celebrates Jazz Roots in “Just for a Thrill”
Beloved Bay Area Vocalist’s Fourth CD released in January 2006
SAN FRANCISCO -- For years, accomplished San Francisco jazz vocalist Pamela Rose has thrilled audiences with her infectious brand of swinging jazz. Now, for her fourth and latest release, the appropriately titled “Just for a Thrill”, Rose delivers a thoughtful and inspired blend of original songs, standard classics, and some undiscovered gems.
Every track on the CD is delivered by way of buoyant and mature arrangements, and spiced up with Rose’s confident and resonant voice that is five parts distilled jazz and one part sultry blues. Whether she’s swinging hard to “Lover Come Back to Me” or delivering the searing title track of this recording, Rose has the rare ability to find and deliver the very essence of the song.
Rose is not only an accomplished jazz and blues vocalist but a savvy student of the idiom. And in “Just for a Thrill,” Rose listeners will find a satisfying collection of soulful and romantic songs.
In addition to five new tracks co-written by Rose and producer partner and guitarist Danny Caron (Charles Brown), Rose provides fresh renderings of classics such as Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose”, and the almost-lost jazz gem, “Old Piano Plays the Blues” (co-written by none other than the venerable Steve Allen).
The result is an album more mature and intimate than anything Rose has recorded before. Every one of the album’s twelve tracks unfolds with a confidence and subtlety that can only come from someone who has had as much club and concert experience as Pamela Rose.
Originally from Southern California, Rose has been a staple of the San Francisco music scene for years. Her striking talent has taken her from lead singer of the legendary Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra to the stages of the Bay Area’s top jazz venues, working with some of the deepest players on the West Coast.
Rose enticed some of the very best of these musicians to work with her on this release, including John R. Burr on piano, John Wiitala on bass, Jason Lewis on drums, Jeff Ervin and Charles McNeal on sax, Wayne De La Cruz and Tony Stead on Hammond B-3, and Danny Caron, who shares Rose’s jazz/blues sensibilities, on guitar.
But it’s Rose’s voice, honed and seasoned by countless live performances, and captured in the studio with all its soulfulness that drives “Just for a Thrill.” The first time you spin the album, it might be just for a thrill, but you’ll return again and again to savor the songs cooked up by Pamela Rose.
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