FRAN McINTYRE: LUCKY IN LOVE
ECLECTIC NEW CD FROM A FRESH VOICE
CD RELEASE PARTY @ SAINT PETER’S CHURCH MARCH 25
Vocalist/percussionist FRAN McINTYRE has culled a collection of tunes from the catalogs of the Great American Songbook, Duke Ellington, pop and r & b hits, Stevie Wonder, jazz and especially from her Gospel roots. She calls it “Lucky In Love” [CAP 1002,
www.jazzbeat.com]
CD Release Party: “Lucky in Love” will be celebrated in the Living Room at Saint Peter’s Church, --the Jazz Church-- Lexington Ave. @ E. 54th St., NYC (in the Citicorp Center) on Sunday, March 25. Festivities begin at 7:30 p.m. Camaraderie, live music and refreshments will abound. Suggested donation: $15.
About the CD: Aided by airy, sometimes intricate arrangements by pianist & organist James Weidman, McIntyre brings fresh interpretations to such as Wonder’s hit recording of For Once In My Life, Ellington’s Solitude, r & b hits Hold On I’m Comin’ and I Almost Lost My Mind. The title track comes from America’s top forty as does Candy and Midnight At The Oasis. She adds her own lilt and lyrics to the Gospel Who Threw the Whisky, We’ll Try to Understand It, and her signature song Rock Me Daddy. Fran sings the English lyrics to Solamente Ma Vez (You Belong to My Heart) as well as Bobby Hebb’s Sunny. Then there’s the rarely heard No One Ever Tells You, one of a triplet of duets with her personal guest the great pianist Dick Katz. Together they do In the Wee Small Hours from the Sinatra Songbook.
Fran McIntyre sings at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Las Vegas casino lounges and supper clubs, and in venues in New York and New Orleans. Fran has appeared at Carnegie Hall with the Connecticut Choral Society and the New York Pops, the late Skitch Henderson conducting. In addition to Gospel singing, currently she is part of I.C. Express, a New York-based large ensemble.
Wearing yet another hat, McIntyre is an independent television producer/director and erstwhile performer at New York’s Manhattan Neighborhood Network. She plays hand drums of every skin including some from her Canadian Indian roots.
Now she adds CD producer to her resume as she has handled everything from artists & repertoire to mixing with expert advisory from Mitch & Ira Yusep at M & I studios. A rundown of the artists she has chosen and who agreed to participate in the recording might give you a better idea of the respect she commands in the business: Gary Smulyan. baritone sax; Bill Saxton, tenor & soprano saxes; Ross Konikoff, trumpet & flugelhorn; Marcus McLaurine, upright & electric bass guitar; Warren Smith, Bernice Brooks and Michael Dawson, drums & percussion. There are even back-up singers. Plus Weidman and Katz.
To those of a certain age, the term for a female singer was “thrush,” reference the bird. If you’re thinking just another female singer, not only do you need to think again, you need to listen to “Lucky In Love,” at least twice. Fran McIntyre is anything but another thrush.
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