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PREVIEW: Laura Anglade with the Ben Rosenblum Trio at Spencertown Academy Arts Center

Her pure tone, sparing use of vibrato, and total lack of affectation are almost startling when you first hear her, because you feel convinced that no singer has ever been so absolutely honest with you.

Spencertown, N.Y. — It should be pretty obvious to anyone with ears that French-American singer Laura Anglade has studied all the great vocal stylists of the last century. And yet she imitates no one. What she learned from the greats are principles, not riffs, and all of this will become perfectly clear when Anglade appears in concert with world-music keyboardist Ben Rosenblum’s trio at Spencertown Academy Arts Center on Friday, September 22.

There is no shortage of female jazz singers in the world. But there most certainly is a shortage of women who sing jazz as naturally and as comfortably as Laura Anglade does. Her pure tone, sparing use of vibrato, and total lack of affectation are almost startling when you first hear her, because you feel convinced that no singer has ever been so completely honest with you.

When Anglade sings in the studio with guitar accompaniment and no discernable reverb, the sound is intimate and disarming, the effect almost dizzying—because one recognizes the danger any singer subjects herself to when working this way. It’s like standing naked under a Klieg light.

For example, if you go to her Bandcamp page, you can hear that sound on tracks from Anglade’s sophomore recording, “Venez Donc Chez Moi,” which she describes as an homage of sorts and a nod to her beloved France. (Two cuts feature Ben Rosenblum’s accordion playing, which is so spot-on that it is no wonder she is touring with Ben’s trio.) Give this album a listen and see if you don’t agree that Anglade’s pristine performances of these sparse arrangements exemplify music that is as pure as it gets.

Still, Anglade isn’t strictly a jazz singer. She does treat the standards with loving care, including show tunes and classics from the Great American Songbook. But she really comes into her own on French chanson, a musical world unto itself that flourishes under her ownership just like everything else in her repertoire.

The Ben Rosenblum Trio will back up Laura Anglade at Spencertown Academy Arts Center on Friday, September 22. Photo courtesy of Ben Rosenblum.

Ben Rosenblum’s résumé as a jazz and pop pianist—leader and sideman—includes stints with such GRAMMY- and Juno-recognized artists as Rickie Lee Jones, Kiran Ahluwalia, Curtis Lundy, and Nêgah Santos. His own music draws from diverse sources: Brazilian forró, Irish reels and jigs, Bulgarian folkloric songs, Dominican merengue, and Middle Eastern traditional rhythms. But it is all rooted in American jazz and traditional music. Ben has received awards for his compositions from ASCAP and Downbeat, and, most notably, his Nebula Project was voted runner-up for Best New Artist in JazzTimes’ 2020 Readers’ Poll, having been well reviewed by over 20 publications, including All About Jazz, NYC Jazz Record, JazzTimes, and JazzLife.

A graduate of the Columbia University-Juilliard joint program, Rosenblum is active as an educator, having led workshops at such universities as Columbia, Tampa, Mount St. Joseph, Minnesota, South Carolina, Central Florida, and at many colleges and high schools.

I asked Rosenblum for details about his Spencertown date with Anglade. He replied by email:

“The band will be Marty Jaffe on bass and Ben Zweig on drums, in addition to Laura Anglade on vocals and myself on piano/accordion. Laura usually sings a set of standards and French chanson. We haven’t decided on exactly what tunes we’ll be doing yet, but last tour we did some of the following:

“Jazz: ‘Young At Heart,’ ‘You Go To My Head,’ ‘I’ve Got Just About Everything,’ ‘Wild Is Love,’ ‘Change Partners’ (Irving Berlin), ‘Dearly Beloved,’ ‘Day By Day,’ ‘April in Paris,’ ‘I Concentrate on You’ (Cole Porter), ‘If Ever I Would Leave You,’

“Chanson: ‘Venec Donc Chez Moi,’ ‘La Valse des lilas’ (‘Once Upon a Summertime’ – Michel LeGrand), ‘Chez Laurette,’ ‘You Must Believe In Spring.'”

You get the idea. This group can do anything. Whatever they play, and whatever Anglade sings, it is sure to be richly rewarding.

Hear Laura Anglade with the Ben Rosenblum Trio at Spencertown Academy Arts Center, 790 Route 203, Spencertown, NY 12165, on Friday, September 22, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $30. More information is available here or by calling (518) 392-3693.

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