Alma Zygier's LIVE serves as the ultimate advertisement for her tours.
“Please don’t treat me so doggone mean…” – Alma Zygier’s captivating, gritty vocals are backed by sparse handclaps and percussive stomps during opener Be My Husband (a Nina Simone cover).
Recorded earlier this year over three nights at The JazzLab, one of the stages Zygier regularly graces, LIVE successfully curates highlights from her much-lauded shows by showcasing her extraordinary gift for inhabiting and reinventing classic songs.
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Loping, bass-heavy and seductive – you’ve never heard Hound Dog presented this way, human-supplied woofs and all!
Fluttering keys aptly illustrate some of Old Black Magic’s lyrics (“Those icy fingers up and down my spine…”) before sassy brass stabs and shimmering cymbal rolls add vivid sonic texture.
Those solos in St James Infirmary Blues, though! During some banter towards the end of this record, Zygier praises her incredible backing band composed of “really nice people”.
If you don’t get all misty during Maybe This Time, you’re probably dead inside. “It’s gonna happen/ Happen sometime/ Maybe this time…” – Zygier’s hopeful delivery, underpinned by just the right amount of impassioned vibrato, subtly escalates throughout before concluding with a delightful, world-weary sigh.
For set closer Say Goodnight, her dad Willy Zygier’s uke playing provides a gossamer cradle for those elastic, jazz-inflected vocals. Old-worldly, but never naff, this LIVE debut is timeless and elegant. It’s also an excellent ad for her future gigs.
Did you know? Alma Zygier features on What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? from Paul Kelly’s Christmas Train (2021).
LABEL: INDEPENDENT
RELEASE: OUT NOW
