Geila Zilkha “appearance” (Jump World/ Superboy 2011)
ギラ・ジルカ Geila Zilkha – vocal
竹中俊二 Shunji Takenaka – guitar
中島徹 Toru Nakajima – piano, trombone, melodeon
コモブチキイチロウ Kiichiro Komobuchi – acoustic bass
岡部洋一 Yoichi Okabe – percussion
南博 Hiroshi Minami – piano
矢幅歩 Ayumu Yahaba - vocal
Website: http://www.geilajazz.com/
Transplanted from Israel, Geila Zilkha has been singing for years in Japan. Anyone who has heard her live shows is thankful she’s here. She’s a pleasure as a performer and a knockout as a singer. On her latest release, she jumps right in to the fun just like she does at her live shows. The opening number, “Closet,” invites you right in to, well, her closet! It’s a sexy, grooving number that lets her character and charm come right to the surface.
On “I Love You Madly,” Geila is sexy without being submissive. That sets her apart from many singers whose coyness can be off-putting. Geila is all woman, but not at all passive. She is girlish in the right amount, more as an entrée to her fluid, delicate singing. She sets each note poised in place, yet completely natural.
On the Jobim standard, “One Note Samba” her voice rides high and strong over the agile Brazilian percussion. She really zips along on this number, interspersing cool restraint with a wide-open samba style. You wonder how many takes this must have required to get just right, it so fast. Yet, then again, her control is such that she bursts easily into scatting, trading melodies with the musicians, and then back to the lyrics as if they are all one. She gives this well-worn number a brand-new vocal stamp.
She also updates other numbers. “Round Midnight” is given a club groove. It sounds hipper and funkier than ever before, with electric instruments and hip beats. She opens up this urban groove again on “More,” an original, and again with “Perfect Situation,” a danceable number ladled with funk. “Appearance,” written with pianist and collaborator, Minami Hiroshi, moves in the other direction, towards calm, reflective space for her higher registers. Her voice here is flute-like, pretty and calming, with the full range of a wind instrument.
“Drinkin’ My Tea” and “Open Arms” are likable, inflected with an intimate pop feeling. “I Feel the Earth Move,” perhaps a tribute to the 3/11 earthquake, is easy to love. The arrangement here is particularly well done, as it is on every tune. This is a recording that took a lot of care and attention. But it’s her take on “Fly Me to the Moon,” maybe a tune that “just happened” in the studio or during a live show, that shows her vocal appeal best. This version is slow and gorgeous, with just piano backing and her voice out front.
Jazz purists might find some of the polished production too much, but even on those slicker numbers Geila sings her heart out, with a little Rickie Lee Jones, a hint of Diane Schuur and bits and pieces of singers who she likes. The pop feeling will bring in lots of new fans, but will not lose diehard jazz fans. The standards here are freshly realized and her originals a real pleasure. This recording, “appearance,” follows two earlier recordings and 2010’s “all Me,” which is similarly appealing. “appearance” taps a bit deeper into her talents, and those of the great supporting band, and sets her fully into the spotlight she deserves.
(October 11, 2011)