COMPOSERS: Mélanie de Biasio
LABELS: Play It Again Sam
ALBUM TITLE: No Deal
WORKS: Works by Mélanie de Biasio
PERFORMER: Mélanie de Biasio (vocals, flute), Pascal Mohy (piano), Dre Pallemaerts (drums)
CATALOGUE NO: PIASR690CDP
Emerging from Belgium, singer Mélanie de Biasio is starting to make an impact far further afield. And it’s easy to see why. Her voice has an arresting quality that holds the listener from the outset. She cites singers like Nina Simone as a formative influence and that certainly comes across in the opener ‘I Feel You’. She displays crystal clear diction, such as in ‘Sweet Darling Pain’ and her eerie darting flute runs add to the bestilled atmosphere throughout. The dense percussive broodiness of Pallemaerts’s brushed drums and pulsing piano of Mohy are particularly striking on the instrumental track ‘With Love’.
De Biasio honed her jazz style as part of a trio but this album’s accessibility should hook in listeners from outside the jazz genre. No Deal is an album to get completely immersed in. And this is clearly ajazz artist who is poised for well-deserved success.
Neil McKim