You do one of THE best versions of So Many Stars I have ever heard....in fact there is not a bad tune on the album.
- Eric Cohen, Music Director, WAER Jazz 88, Syracuse, NY

It can take years for a jazz singer to find just the right vibe, finesse it and have an audience follow.

That stimulating process - I believe it’s called a career - continues for Laura Chalk, who performs from 7:30 to 11:30 tonight at Jardine’s, 4536 Main.

The Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors’ Jam magazine has traced Chalk’s progress: "Laura continues to take chances with melody and timing ... She has a way of fading off the notes that can make a phrase slowly dissipate ... She also has her own way with rhythm, treating it like a rubber band, stretching and contracting to add contrast..."

The former Shawnee Mission North High School student’s debut album, "My Favorite Things," shows how far she’s able to spread her vocal gifts - from Rodgers & Hammerstein to Sergio Mendes.

Tonight at Jardine’s, Chalk will draw upon the backing talents of pianist Paul Smith, bassist Bob Bowman and drummer Tim Cambron. Best of all, there’s no cover. Call (816) 561-6480.

- Brian McTavish, Kansas City Star, August 22, 2006

Vocalist Laura Chalk is beginning a long Tuesday and Wednesday stay at the Fairmont. The evening that I caught her with Paul Smith on piano, Steve Rigazzi on bass, and Tim Cambron on drums, I noted that her playbook is ever expanding. Highlights included some nice vocalese on "Boplicity" and "Summertime," which she took in a swing tempo, faster than we usually hear it. Laura continues to take chances with melody and timing, and it usually works.

- Roger Atkinson, JAM Magazine, August/September 2005

My Favorite Things is Laura Chalk’s debut recording, and it proves to be enjoyable. Backed by the stellar Danny Embrey (Danny also arranged all of the tunes except for the title cut), Paul Smith, Bob Bowman, and Todd Strait (with Rod Fleeman bringing his acoustic guitar to several tracks), Laura brings her clear voice to a program of bossa novas, ballads, and standards.

Chalk’s vocals have several characteristics that add to the selections. She has a way of fading off the notes that can make a phrase slowly dissipate into mix. She also has her own way with rhythm, treating it like a rubber band, stretching and contracting to add contrast with this dead-on-time rhythm section. I can’t quite put my finger on who her voice reminds me of, the closest I have gotten to it is Lani Hall (who sang on many of Sergio Mendes’ late 1960’s recordings), but the voice is less airy than what Lani brought to those recordings.

The four Brazilian tracks are all highlights. Laura opens in English and finishes in Portuguese on "Meditation" and "O Barquinho (My Little Boat)". Embrey’s rhythm guitar sets the mood on both. Chalk scats in unison with Danny on the latter to fine effect. "Like A Lover" is a scrumptious ballad. And "So Many Stars" (with Fleeman taking the guitar chair and providing a sweet opening with Chalk) is as pretty a tune as you’ll hear. Chalk seems to be staring into a clear night sky on this reading.

"My Favorite Things" is Chalk’s arrangement, a weaving of the 5/4 of "Take Five" into the lope of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic. It opens with the typical "Take Five" rhythmic intro, then slides into the more familiar "My Favorite Things" time. Like the Coltrane classic on this tune, there is a vamp between choruses, but here it returns to the 5/4. The Smith and Embrey solos are to "My Favorite Things", then Strait burns a 5/4 solo before a scatting Chalk takes it out. This arrangement works.

"Willow" brings Bob Bowman to the forefront; he opens this classic and then accompanies Chalk on the first bars. The Bowman lines continue to provide interesting counterpoint throughout the tune. Paul Smith’s solo reminds me of Red Garland. After a Bowman solo, Chalk weeps over Bob’s bass to close.

Chalk is almost staccato on the swinging "East of the Sun". The exchanges at the end are not your typical "fours": for a half chorus a unison voice and guitar trade fours with piano before Paul finishes the chorus. The following choruses are drums and guitar trading eight bar solos, with Strait’s drums taking the lead 8 rather than the more typical reverse.

Chalk has her way on each tune, from the whimsy of "Frim Fram Sauce" to the easy swing of "Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me" to the closing ballad "Maybe You’ll Be There". The supporting cast takes much credit for the success of this disc, also. They play almost as one. Strait needs little help with time, which frees Bowman to provide alternative melody lines on the bottom. Fleeman does the same thing for Bowman on "Do Nothing" with his guitar setting the pace.

This is a recommended introduction to the voice of Laura Chalk.
- Roger Atkinson, JAM Magazine, June/July 2004

JAZZ singer

After two years of performing, Shawnee woman records first CD

By ANITRA ROWE

The Kansas City Star

"There is a joy she conveys when she performs that is easily picked up by the audience."

Jazz artist and daydreamer Laura Chalk tunes out the world when she coos the lyrics of her favorite song.

The dawn is filled with dreams, so many dreams, which one is mine?

The universal questions poetically posed in "So Many Stars" by Sergio Mendes struck a chord with Chalk in her first listening of the song more than a year ago, and she immediately added it to her performance list.

Chalk is a sucker for songs - particularly Brazilian jazz pieces - that wade in visions of the moon and stars and love. In fact, the clouds have always held a special place for Chalk.

As a child, she enjoyed being off by herself reading or playing outdoors.

"Laura, don’t dally!" a parent once yelled as she trailed the kids in her neighborhood on their customary walk to elementary school.

The 30-something Shawnee resident still sees herself as a dreamer, but her presence on the Kansas City jazz scene is very real, noted most recently by the release of "My Favorite Things," her debut album.

***

Jazz wasn’t part of Chalk’s family musical score, although as a child growing up in Overland Park, she perked up at the sound of jazz-pop standards playing in restaurants and stores.

Chalk sang in her youth and earned the female lead in the musical "The Man of La Mancha" at Shawnee Mission North High School. Several years passed before Chalk took another stab at singing publicly, joining the 40-voice Overland Park Christian Church sanctuary choir in her early 20s.

One Sunday, as Chalk nervously warmed up for her first solo at church, her voice grabbed the attention of Randy Schott, the church’s new minister for worship and the arts.

Schott, an Overland Park resident and private voice instructor, was struck by Chalk’s sense of interpretation and style and her smooth and flexible voice. At the time, Schott was putting together a contemporary Christian music group.

"I was in the hunt for good voices and strategically thinking about young people, as well," Schott said. "(Chalk) met the criteria on both accounts."

When Chalk told Schott that she wanted to sing in a lounge someday, he laughed, because Chalk was young at the time and hadn’t frequented such clubs. However, over the years, Schott watched Chalk’s wide-eyed idealism evolve into a real game plan for singing professionally.

He encouraged Chalk to talk to people in the business, and she followed his advice. Two years ago, she made a jazz demo and took it to club managers. She got some gigs but stopped using the tape when she realized her style was changing.

"I put it on the other day," Chalk said. "It’s horrible."

Her voice today is lower in pitch and has less vibrato, or quiver, to it. Chalk attributes her more mellow and mature style to avid jazz listening and natural evolution.

"It’s easy to over sing," Chalk said. "It’s harder to create art."

Schott said Chalk has a distinct storytelling voice, and that is a mark of a good jazz communicator. She also has an engaging face, Schott said, a huge attribute for an artist.

Chalk sites Billie Holliday and Brazilian bossa nova musician João Gilberto as influences.

"It takes a few years to figure out who you are," she said.

***

In January, Chalk was listening to live jazz at Jardine’s Restaurant and Jazz Club in Kansas City when she bumped into Danny Embrey, a KC jazz acquaintance she had worked with once before.

"Why don’t you have a CD yet?" Embrey asked Chalk.

One month later, Chalk entered Soundtrek Recording Studio in Kansas City with area musicians (Embrey included) and recorded the 11 tracks of "My Favorite Things."

Soundtrek president and founder Ron Ubel said Chalk surrounded herself in the studio with high-caliber musicians, and she easily adapted to the recording process.

"She was a quick study, no doubt about it," Ubel said.

In June, Chalk released the album, a collection of American and Brazilian jazz cover songs. She arranged "My Favorite Things" and co-arranged "So Many Stars" with Embrey.

Paul Smith of Independence has played piano jazz professionally for 39 years and played on Chalk’s album. He said Chalk offers a very light, delicate approach to her music, which is part of the charm of her delivery.

"There is a joy she conveys when she performs that is easily picked up by the audience," Smith said. "She has a love for the music."

To reach Anitra Rowe, call (816) 234-7725 or e-mail arowe@kcstar.com.

- Anitra Rowe

Laura and I played one gig together and it was instant simpatico. She has the gift for conveying the true meaning of a lyric, and is equally at home with swing, ballads, blues and Brasilian grooves. She has a delightful sound & sophisticated sense of phrasing and time feel. When she asked me to arrange and produce her first CD, I was excited and honored. Laura brought in a group of musicians who have worked together for years and it felt so comfortable that we got all the basic tracks down in one day! Quite rare. She has been a joy to work with. I know that you will enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed laying it down.
- Danny Embrey