When an artist is as diversified
as Libbie Jo Snyder, it’s often difficult to pull
all the creative elements together to do justice to one’s
talents.
In the case of this, Ms.
Snyder’s first major recording, she has succeeded
in whetting the listener’s appetite for more of her
superior musicality.
Long known in the Los Angeles
area as a front-line flutist, it has only been during
the past few years that she has chosen to utilize her
very distinctive vocal abilities. Growing up in a household
where music was predominant (her mother was a dance teacher
and her father, a pianist), Libbie Jo gravitated toward
the marvelous standard material of the day, as well as
developing a taste for jazz, heard via Chicago radio.
Libbie Jo told me: “My singing is influenced by the
romantic ballads and singers that impressed me when I
was growing up in Michigan.” This aspect of her personality
comes through beguilingly in such ballads as “My
Old Flame,”
“You’re My Everything,”
“You Go To My Head” and “S’Wonderful.”
On the other hand, we hear
originals by both Snyder and pianist-producer Jane Getz
-- “Toot Da Flute” for instance, and “Treasure
Island,” penned by Getz and Jon Strider. Of “Close
Encounters/Only A Dream,” Libbie commented:
“Jane wrote that lyric
for me to a Phil Ranelin instrumental which has become
popular.”
The opening track of the
CD, “Shepherd’s Blooze, ”is a tribute to
the mythic Greek Pan of the pan pipes. Libbie told me
she had dreaming of how she felt about the flute and the
mystery of improvising – “and the lyric just
came to me, of a piece and I added the melody later.”
It’s an intriguing start!
“Put Your Lips Together
and Blow,” an original by Libbie Jo and Jane, is
a
tango featuring the alto
flute. Noting that the choice of “Whistle A
Happy Tune” from the
Broadway musical “King and I” is rather unusual
for a jazz artist, Libbie said: “I wanted to do an
upbeat and a little bit funky track – something to
dance to. I’d only heard that song in a musical comedy
vein and thought it deserved a hipper rendition.”
“Summer At Last”
written by Libbie Jo with an assist from Getz and guitarist-composer
Michael Campagna, was a last minute addition to this CD.
Libbie Jo’s cousins
Lynne and Brooke Adams were filming the movie titled Made
Up at the time and on hearing this song unanimously agreed
it was the song they had been looking for for one scene.
The film went on to win the Independent Voice Award at
the 2002 Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Libbie’s resume is
extensive, including musical performances with such notables
as Paul Horn, Buddy Collette, and the San Francisco Ballet
Orchestra; as dancer and actress in productions directed
by Paul Mazursky and Uta Hagen; and as a studio musician
in Los Angeles.
Always a presence on the
local California jazz scene, recent appearances have been
in Santa Barbara at Soho (during the above-mentioned film
fest), in Riverside at the Mission Inn (with bassist Henry
Franklin); a popular San Fernando Valley hangout, Monteleone’s;
Chaya Beverly Hills, and a year long residency at a coffee
house in the toney Larchmont area of Los Angeles.
Recently she was selected
to provide music for the Canadian Media Marketplace convention
held at the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena in April 2002
Her choice of Kotter, Franklin,
Paul Kreibich and Tom Sala (in addition, of course, to
friend Jane Getz) to accompany her on this maiden voyage,
was superlative. Each contributes to what has turned out
to be a highly satisfying menu of tempting tastes. The
set closes with the appropriately titled “It’s
Over,” by Michael Hoppe spotlighting Snyder and Getz
at their most relaxed and inventive – simply flute
and piano.
