Reviews of Debbie Gifford

Here is what the critics are saying about

Debbie Gifford...

It has long been true that there is great jazz talent to be found in virtually every major American city. Cleveland may not be known as a jazz mecca but it is the home base for Debbie Gifford, a fine jazz singer. On So Many Songs About Love, she interacts with some of her favorite musicians from both New York and Cleveland ... the emphasis is on the singer's warm sound and sensitive interpretations of the standards. Highlights include "Close Your Eyes," "What A Difference A Day Made," Fats Waller's "Dreamer's Holiday," "Sway," "When I Fall In Love" and the singer's own "So Many Songs About Love." Debbie Gifford's improvising is subtle and enthusiastic, she knows very well the words she sings and she has an attractive tone. This CD shows that Debbie Gifford is a talent well worth discovering.

Scott Yanow, Author & Critic
Los Angeles Jazz Scene Publications

Cleveland, Ohio has given us an amazing jazz interpreter in the person of Debbie Gifford, a lady who deserves to be heard on both coasts and everywhere between. Her new CD, So Many Songs About Love, not only heralds the dozen love songs digitized therein but is also the title of her own composition which leads off the lineup.

This recording was made in two different sessions. The first half was set down in New York with a piano – bass – drum trio of Linda Presgrave, Harvie S and Allison Miller. The second set, recorded in Ohio, features Debbie regular band of guitarist and bassman Bob Fraser and drummer Ricky Exton.

Debbie and the New York ensemble’s 6/8 minor key “I Didn’t Know What Time it Was” is worth the price of the CD by itself. Listening to this very sweet vocal arrangement one can almost picture composers Rogers and Hart somewhere smiling and popping their fingers! On the title cut Presgrave, Harvie S and Miller also swings very nicely as Debbie pairs her great lyrics with the catchy meter. Also from the New York session, “Close Your Eyes” exudes a special intimacy in Debbie’s voice paired with Harvie’s clean paced walking bass.

A personal favorite is Debbie’s duet with the guitar of Rob Fraser on “When I Fall in Love.” Here the lady has infused Victor Herbert’s classic ballad with a special intimacy all her own. The guitar and voice duet works a very tasty magic as well on the song “Dreamer’s Holiday.” On the Latin classic, “Sway” Fraser’s guitar and Debbie’s voice really will start your hips swaying to the rhythm.

Debbie Gifford is not afraid to liven up her material with interesting and experimental tempos. “What a Difference a Day Makes” moves just up-speed from the ordinary hearing of this 50’s standard so the joy of the different day is readily apparent and Debbie’s take on the rock standard “Moondance” bounces more than swings with a quirky jaunty gait.

All in all, So Many Songs About Love is a delightful jazz adventure from a creative lady that deserves a lot more recognition on the music scene.
K R “Skoot” Larson

All About Jazz – Los Angeles, CA

Debbie’s So Many Songs About Love is a fresh, new approach to some familiar evergreens we have all heard before but there is a difference. Debbie has given these songs a new reading. Listen to “Sway” or “Dreamer’s Holiday” and you’ll know what I mean.

There is something else that really stands out and that is Debbie’s talent…Her voice is sincere and she interprets a song as if Mr. Gershwin, Van Morrison, or Harold Arlen wrote it just for her And there is one more quality about this CD that has to be mentioned: it seems like a lot of former pop stars are doing the Great American Songbook lately singing the same songs but without the feeling they deserve. Debbie Gifford performs these songs the way the composed wrote them, but in her style. If I had to pick two of the 12 songs on this CD I like best I couldn’t… Maybe 12 out of 12!!! Because they’re all winners!

Jim Stone

Host of Big Band Swing,

WLNZ 89.7 FM

Lansing, MI

Debbie Gifford is a classically trained singer who can belt out a jazz standard brimming with personality, as if the lyric and melody were written just for her. It can’t be easy to re-fill “Over the Rainbow” or “Summertime” with vim and fresh stardust- but Debbie Gifford pulls it off. You can tell by her openhearted performance of songs like “What A Difference A Day Made” that this is a lady who holds nothing back. Her latest CD “So Many Songs About Love ….the sound is ultra-smooth, fitting snugly around the curves of Gifford’s elegant, dressy vocals. You can’t stop a diva, not even a really nice one like Debbie Gifford…the thrill isn’t gone, as B.B. King lamented- Debbie took it and shares it with audiences every time she’s near a microphone.

Douglas Max Utter

Editor

Artefakt Magazine

New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio

DEBBIE GIFFORD - "So Many Song About Love". The title says it perfectly…my audience loves it. Debbie handles everything well and keep these standard extremely interesting.

                                                                    "The Enjoyment of Jazz"
                                                                    Jerry Atkins, Music/Jazz Director
                                                                    KTXK FM 91.5
                                                                    Texarkana, TX

Cleveland Jazz Singer Debbie Gifford is both a well-trained veteran and a relative novice. But when it comes to jazz, Gifford is making her mark. Her second CD “So Many Songs About Love” showcases her grasp of the genre, with feathery, unforced interpretations of such standards as “Moondance”, “Summertime”, and “When I Fall in Love”. Tracks like “Sway” and “Quite Nights of Quiet Stars” with their rhythmic Latin flavor play to her strengths: nuanced phrasing and a sultry sunniness that’s intimate without being sappy.

Anastasia Pantsios, Staff Writer

Cleveland Free Times

Some say song lyrics are secondary for many jazz singers. Like the instrumentalists they perform with, many are more interested in exploring a song melodically and harmonically than dealing with the story of the song. Debbie Gifford is NOT one of them.

"Every song I sing," She says, "I try to tell the story of the song to the audience and hope they feel my emotion." Unlike many jazz singers, she usually alters the melody of the song only slightly, but loves to elaborate on the phrasing and put accents in different places.

She attributes her approach to advice she received from Hank Geer, the patriarch of Cleveland jazz musicians, who told her, "You have to have good ears to perform jazz." After spending years in classical music, musical theatre and big bands, Debbie says, "Only when I got to jazz did I feel my ears really developed listening skills."

Like any jazz musician, she interacts with the instrumentalists performing with her, but she does not permit the performance of the song to overpower the story she is telling. It’s a refreshing approach in an era when so many jazz performances go so far out, melodically and harmonically, that the original song is almost forgotten.

Joe Mosbrook

Cleveland Jazz Historian

WCPN 90.3 FM

Debbie Gifford is one up-and-coming singer/composer doing much to bring the role of women in jazz to the forefront… Born and raised in South Euclid, Ohio, Debbie garnered national and international acclaim with the release of her first CD, You Taught My Heart to Sing in 2001 and is gaining even more attention from the jazz world with the recent release of So Many Songs About Love. With all the great press this CD (So Many Songs About Love) is getting about its uniqueness, it appears that Debbie Gifford is coming into her own as an international jazz singer and recording artist. It looks like there is no stopping this talented lady – the sky is the limit for Debbie Gifford and Cleveland is proud of this raven-haired songstress as she carries on the tradition of women’s contribution to jazz!

Cat Lilly, Staff Writer

North Coast Voice

Cleveland, Ohio

“I have always enjoyed your singing style, but you out did yourself. I particularly enjoyed your arrangements. They were very different and delightful. I tend to think that many people can simply "read" the songs quite well, but the real jazz vocalist listens, interprets, and makes the music come alive through their improvisational arrangements not only with melody, but harmony and rhythm also."

Carl Aukerman

Jazz Fan

Cleveland, Ohio

“Gifford’s voice is both smooth and engulfing, wrapping itself around every note and mesmerizing the listener with subtle charm.”

John Benson

Entertainment Correspondent

The News Herald

"Her sensual style of phrasing and timing are the very essence of her creativity. Debbie is spellbinding – she holds the audience in the palm of her hand.”

Mike Young,

WKHR 91.5 FM,

Cleveland, Ohio

"When Debbie sings a song, she changes the words from poetry in melody to a sensual _expression of the emotional ideas suggested in the lyrics. Every lover in the audience resonates with her as she casts her spell. She changes the romantic lyrics from ideas to core feelings so strong that they cannot be unrealized. Debbie makes people realize that love is still a heart pounding reality in this crazy world."

Jack Dicks

Jazz Pianist

For Booking Information: (440) 413-7386 or debbie@debbiegifford.com