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If Less Is More...Nothing Is Everything | 
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| Artist: Kate Mcgarry
Label: Palmetto Records
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $11.68
You Save: $5.30 (31%)
New (29) Used (8) from $9.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 4199
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 753957213527
EAN: 0753957213527
ASIN: B001CITQKY
Release Date: August 19, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Let's Face The Music | | • | You're My Thrill | | • | Just What I Needed | | • | The Times They Are A-Changin' | | • | Caminhos Cruzados | | • | You Don't Have To Cry | | • | The Priest | | • | Flor de Lis | | • | I Carry Your Heart | | • | Man Of God |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
In a contemporary jazz world that finds itself constantly in self-defense against the purist claim that smooth jazz has bastardized and commercialized the genre, Kate McGarry's If Less Is More… Nothing Is Everything is unusually safe. From start to finish, not much here inspires more than one listen. That said, there are a few saving graces that lift this effort above the typical coffee-shop open-mic performance, particularly some very nice organ accents in "You're my Thrill," "Just What I Needed," and "The Times They Are A-Changin'." "Flor de Lis"--featuring McGarry's not-so-offensive attempt at scatting-- has the most 'umph,' but the fairly bland saxophone solo deflates whatever charge the song builds to that point. The high point comes and goes with McGarry putting music to the e.e. cummings poem "I Carry Your Heart With Me." It's a romantic turn that works well, but grows boring and tiresome if heard in the context of the eight songs that precede it. Better luck next time. --Eric C.P. Martin
Product Description
NOMINATED FOR GRAMMY AWARD - BEST VOCAL JAZZ ALBUM 2009!
Strengthening her leadership role alongside Kurt Elling and Patricia Barber as one of the most captivating and challenging vocalists on the contemporary jazz scene, Kate McGarry delivers, as its title suggests, an album of complex simplicity. McGarry says she has always been drawn to the space of silence between the notes. It is in these silences that the secrets of the songs reveal themselves.
Putting that theory into practice McGarry's opens with reading of LET'S YOU'RE MY THRILL that, in their stark beauty revel in the the intoxicating lure of the unknown. Beneath her cover of The Cars' JUST WHAT I NEEDED trepidation and defensiveness pull like overpowering undertows. The Dylan anthem THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN', which McGarry dedicates to Barack Obama, crackles with the fearless confidence of pure hope The naked adulatory i carry your heart (based on the e.e cummings poem) rides on gentle waves of soul deep contentment. McGarry's vibrant YOU DON'T HAVE TO CRY emerges as a chanting, pulsating, affirmation of self honesty. Most cunning are the intentionally oblique THE PRIEST and MAN OF GOD, wherein the quest for divinity (and the accompanying burden of supposed infallibility) is questioned, but the answer is left for our hearts to individually pursue. - JAZZ TIMES MAGAZINE Oct 08 issue
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
Great album. Amazon editorial reviewer missed the boat on this one. December 20, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm not sure that I could agree with the amazon reviewer's "unusually safe" claim. Sure, this album probably isn't going to cause street riots or anything but "unusually safe"? To me that sounds like the reviewer's saying "boring."
This album isn't boring. Really interesting writing. Great band. Cool tune choices. Kate sounds awesome. This is hip music and it's moving jazz forward while proving that in order to be edgy in jazz, you don't have to be all noisy and weird.
One note on the Amazon MP3 purchase option: you don't get the liner notes. I'd really like to know who did the arranging and who wrote the tunes.
Unimaginable Depth December 9, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The depth of emotion that Kate McGarry is able to convey through her music amazes me with every new effort. She gets inside of each tune in a way that is unlike other singers in the genre... truly remarkable. When I read that this album was nominated for a Grammy, it alleviated any doubt that the Recording Academy lacked a true knowledge of contemporary jazz. Their recognition of this recording shows that they understand the evolution of the music and the potential virtuosity of the vocal instrument -- even at its most pared down state.
Kudos to Ms. McGarry and the other stellar musicians on this offering!
Well-deserved 2008 Grammy nomination for this album! December 5, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
We all have our bad days on the job, even Amazon music reviewers. A really, really, shamefully bad day, in this case. I sure hope that customers considering this album will take the time to read all the other editorial reviews posted here, as well as the listener reviews. But if they don't, maybe the fact that this album was nominated for a 2008 Grammy will make the difference. It is wonderful to see this album get the positive recognition it deserves.
This album blew me away on first listen, but has amazed me more and more with each listen. That's the beauty of Kate, IMHO, I could listen to just one tune over and over and always hear one more thing I just HAVE to play again, to savor, enjoy, and marvel at.
I invite you to do the same.
Kate, On a Roll, With Soul November 17, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Kate McGarry's "The Target" was one of the most noteworthy recordings of 2007; "Moss," a vocal jazz ensemble recording featuring Ms. McGarry (along with Peter Eldridge, Lauren Kinhan, Luciana Souza, and Theo Bleckmann), is one of the best recordings of this year; and now this. Without a doubt, Kate is on a roll!
The idea of the c.d.'s title is supposed to be that Ms. McGarry "sings the silences" of her songs. That she does, but she does more. She quickly finds the emotional essence in everything she does, and delivers her songs with focussed emotion. While she doesn't sound anything like Aretha Franklin or Bettye Lavette, she sings with soul. I mentioned in my review of "The Target" that she is a vocal Miles Davis, in terms of finding the core of emotion with minimal fuss; and this recording certainly supports my conclusion.
Take "I Carry Your Heart (With Me)", an old ee Cummings poem that Ms. McGarry has put to music. She did this on the "Moss" recording, and there it sounded great, albeit a bit academic. Here, it just sounds great; she sings the song here with emotion that she doesn't have to share with other singers.
And speaking of Moss, the most "Moss-like" song here but not on that album is the old Crosby Stills & Nash tune, "You Don't Have to Cry." The rendition here has more pizzazz than just about anything on that recording.
Assisting Ms. McGarry's soulful deliveries greatly are the organ of Gary Versace (esp. "You're My Thrill"), the tenor sax of Donny McCaslin (esp. "Let's Face the Music and Dance")and husband Keith Ganz' guitar (esp. Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'" and "Man of God.") All in all, a beautifully produced affair by Mr. Balitsaris! Highly recommended. RC
12/5/08: Note - This c.d. received a Grammy nomination for best vocal jazz c.d. of 2008. Of the 5 selected, I enjoy this one the most.
Kate McGarry's Masterpiece September 26, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Kate McGarry's stunning new album, "If Less is More...Nothing is Everything," is an autumnal album for the new season, a sometimes harrowing, sometimes whimsical, sometimes thrilling collection of standards (Great American Songbook-era and rock-era alike) and originals. McGarry and her amazing ensemble start things off with a darkly knowing, timely interpretation of "Let's Face the Music." Although the classic Irving Berlin song was written as an acknowledgement of romantic transience ("there may be trouble ahead..."), here, with spooky, shimmering organ lines and McGarry's mournful vocal, it feels like nothing less than a harbinger of "last days." Call it "samba apocalyptica." This track along is well worth the price of admission (check out the moment 3-plus minutes in when McGarry purrs along with guitarist Keith Ganz's solo). But it doesn't end there. Track 2 takes an entirely different approach, with a wonky, quirky "You're My Thrill." You can practically hear McGarry smiling while she's singing. Then, maybe best of all, comes a stirring take on Ric Ocasek's Cars-era hit, "Just What I Needed." The album twists and turns from there, all of it underscored by the superb ensemble playing of her band and overscored by the inventive, thoroughly satisfying interpretive splendour of McGarry's voice.
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