Like a cool refreshing breeze wafting through an open window and delicately fluttering the curtains, Audrey Silver’s confident vocals gently caress the listener’s ear. Here In My Arms is a delightfully smooth aural pleasure perfect to unwind to at the end of the day.
Silver surrounds herself with stellar veteran jazz musicians that maintain the same degree of excellence in keeping the tone mellow yet grooving. No matter the tempo of the tune, whether it is “The Moon Was Yellow” bossa nova or the ballad “All Too Soon,” the rhythm section and the solo instruments unassumingly weave in and out of the texture as Silver effortlessly glides overtop. She expertly throws her voice to add natural breath accents to the chorus of “It’s a Wonderful World” and seamlessly dances around the notes in tasteful turns and mordents. In the midtempo toe-tapper “As Long as I Live” the listener can hear Silver smiling in her vocal execution of this cute love song. Her vocal prowess is further radiated in the fun scatting in the coda.
Aside from her lovely midrange voice and her melodic savviness, Silver is deliberately clear on her enunciation. Every lyric is clean and easily understood. The downfall of this however is evident in the ballad “You’re Nearer.” This song has a noticeable lack of percussion and thus solely relies on the vocals to push the tune forward. Yet, due to its slow tempo, the song almost stalls and comes across as an ethereal musing. No doubt Silver’s vocals are strong enough to carry such a tune; however, the tender sensuality of the song is lost when she sits on the held out endings to the lyrics “nearer” and “winter”. The heavy “er” sound is a bit too harsh to match the mood.
One minor complaint though should not discourage anyone from giving Here In My Arms a listen. Silver’s years of study and natural talent are to be commended with hopes there is lots more music to come from one of New York’s finer jazz vocalists.
Reviewed By Kelly O’Neil
