What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella

Caity Gyorgy – Hello! How Are You? (self-released)

Vocalist Caity Gyorgy (pronounced “George”) is back after one of my favorite vocal records of 2023 (Featuring…) with a new album called Hello! How Are You? Much like the last album, it’s an almost all-original affair. She’s joined on the new disc by pianist Anthony D’Alessandro, bassist Thomas Hainbuch and drummer Jacob Wutzke.  Gyorgy is clearly inspired by the lyrics of David Frishberg, the singing of Blossom Dearie and Anita O’Day and the scatting of Ella Fitzgerald. The net result is an album of witty songs sung by a technically gifted singer with an empathetic band. Songs like “Hello! How Are You?” and “Colloquially” are charming and impressive. On all three of the standards here, “They Say It’s Spring,”, “Baubles, Bangles and Beads,” and “It Never Entered My Mind,” she doesn’t take many chances, but these are lovely readings of those songs. As an original composer, arranger and performer, though, Caity Gyorgy is going to be a talent to keep an eye and ear on.

Luther Allison – I Owe it all to You (Posi-Tone)

Luther Allison is a pianist who recently released his debut album for Posi-Tone Records called, I Owe it all to You. Alongside bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Zach Adleman, this trio covers an impressive amount of ground through its ten tracks. Four of the songs on the album are Allison’s: “I Owe it all to You” and “The Things We Used to Say” are both smack dab in the middle of gospel-tinged, greasy, swinging pocket. “Until I See You Again” is gentle and delicate, but not quite a ballad, and “Lu’s Blues” ends the album on the appropriate note. As for the selections by other people, Allison certainly is listening to all of the right pianists of relatively recent history, playing songs by James Williams (“Say Dr. J”), Mulgrew Miller (“From Day to Day”), Donald Brown (“New York”) and Harold Mabern (“There but for the Grace of…”), and their influence shines through on an album of hard grooving and engaging performances. That this is a debut excites me. It means we’ll almost certainly be hearing more from Luther Allison in the future, both as a sideman and, hopefully, as a leader, too.

Jeff Rupert – It Gets Better (Rupe Media)

Saxophonist and professor at the University of Central Florida, Jeff Rupert assembled an all-star crew for his latest album, It Gets Better. Kenny Barron’s the pianist, Peter Washington is the bassist, and Joe Farnsworth is the drummer for the disc, and it sounds exactly as good as the personnel might suggest. Even better, we get a Billy Strayhorn rarity in the mix, “Lana Turner,” which is about as pleasant of a song as you can ask for. I’ve always loved that “Like Someone in Love” is one of those rare standards that can go in a million different directions, and probably sound great on the vast majority of those paths. “Not My Blues” is a charming, modern sounding, mid-tempo swinger, and “Pharoah’s Daughter” feels highly influenced by the groove to the Dexter Gordon classic “Tanya.” All in all, it’s a fine album that many of our hosts on the air here at WDCB are going to love playing for you.