Oct 26, 2017
If you are a fan of the female trio Duchess – and readers of this blog know that I am among them – you know that the three talented ladies who make up the band also have solo careers. One of them, Hilary Gardner, has just released a set of duets with pianist Ehud Asherie on Anzic Records entitled The Late Set.
The title is apt, as the record is permeated by that late night club feel, as the signer and her accompanist make beautiful music. Hilary and Ehud have carefully chosen selections by the masters of the Great American Songbook – Rodgers & Hart, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin – but have chosen tunes that are often hidden gems. When was the last time you heard “A Ship Without a Sail” by Rodgers & Hart, or the lesser known Arlen-Truman Capote collaboration “I Never Has Seen Snow”? Both are here, and they both are given first-class treatment.
Hilary is currently on tour promoting The Late Set, and working with Duchess for an early December gig at the Jazz Standard in New York. Here’s hoping there’s more exciting music coming our way.
Podcast 597 is my conversation with Hilary Gardner, including musical selections from The Late Set, including yearning takes on “After You’ve Gone” and “I Never Has Seen Snow”; and the witty “Everything I’ve Got.” For good measure, there is a tune from the latest Duchess CD Laughing at Life featuring Hilary’s lead on the Ray Charles cover “Hallelujah I Love Him So.”