Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
RECORDED LIVE IN THE BIRDLAND THEATER, SEPTEMBER 2022.
Swing pulses through New York-based jazz vocalist and pianist Champian Fulton’s veins. Since her arrival on the scene in 2003, Fulton has been lauded for her poise and allure. A live Champian Fulton performance ensures a radiant ambiance pronounced by the multi-talent’s clarion vocals and lush keys. Birdland Jazz Club was witness to this glory in September of 2022, when Fulton enjoyed a four-night stint without repeating a single tune, all while documenting what would
become her latest live album. Those tapes yielded the polished Meet Me at Birdland, Fulton’s sixteenth album as a leader, due out April 7, 2023.
In 2015, Scott Yanow wrote that Fulton “grows in stature with each recording,” after the release of her prized date, Change Partners. Now a veteran on the scene, this seasoned jazz messenger presents a collection of sophisticated standards sprinkled with one prolific instrumental original on her cultivated new offering. Breathing charm into the turn of each lyrical and instrumental phrase, Fulton soars in the company of bassist Hide Tanaka and drummer Fukushi Tainaka.
Suspending listeners into the simulation of a live show, Meet Me at Birdland opens with an introduction from Birdland club owner Gianni Valenti as he welcomes and thanks the audience for supporting live music. Fulton is bubbling from the beginning on “Too Marvelous for Words,” a melodic route that demands and effectively serves dexterity from an intuitive rhythm section.
Optimism is stamped across Fulton’s repertoire, something she considers essential to her purpose as an artist. This uplifting spirit culminates on the original “Happy Camper,” a scintillating instrumental and deft showcase of rhythmic acuity. Tainaka enjoys a particularly brilliant episode to round off the advancing melodic navigation.
While Fulton is full of cheer and known for it, it’s on heartfelt tunes such as “It’s Been A Long Long Time” where she so earnestly unveils her intimidation factor—at once, she narrates two points of view as a singer and pianist, both without sacrifice. The 1935 tune “Every Now and Then” is another example, where Fulton bathes in slower tempos while her piano prowess asserts itself as singular rather than complementary to her voice. “I Didn’t Mean A Word I Said” is yet another prime example of Fulton’s piano ingenuity, and she recognizes it with a humble laugh at the sound of the audience’s applause. Listeners will naturally sympathize with the gradual velocity on her commanding arrangement of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” considering the timely mid-season delivery of Meet Me at Birdland.
Fulton’s devotion to early jazz tradition is vividly transparent on “Evenin’”. The savory and playful track boasts elongated solos from each band member as they recreate the improvisational bebop style of Kansas City jazz of the 1930s.
Count Basie, Erroll Garner, Fats Waller and Clark Terry are a few of her musical heroes, whom she pays homage to throughout Meet Me at Birdland on her rendition of Phineas Newborn’s instrumental “Theme for Basie,” as well as the blues-infused “I Don’t Care.” In the album liner notes, GRAMMY® Award-winning scholar Ricky Riccardi cites Fulton as one of few living pianists capable of evoking Erroll Garner affectionately.
The savvy performer reinvents the breathtaking standard “I’ve Got a Crush on You” with a fresh intimacy, while the waltz “Just Friends” inevitably swings at times. As she introduces the traditional “I Only Have Eyes For You” at the finale, Fulton is cheeky in her efforts to invite the audience back tomorrow. “Every set is totally different..we never know what’s going to happen,” an ironic forward to a tune with a definitive title, which she dutifully commits every end of her vocal range to. Though at this point, no matter what makes up Fulton’s phrase, we can’t help but to trust her as we continue to listen and bask in the luminosity of a bright star....more
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
6 panel CD with photos by Leslie Farinacci and liner notes by Grammy Award winning Ricky Riccardi. Design by Ian Hendrickson Smith.
Includes unlimited streaming of Meet Me at Birdland
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 2 days
$20USDor more
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited edition 12" Vinyl of "Meet Me at Birdland" ! 140 gram vinyl
Mastered for vinyl by Mike Marciano, Systems Two Studios
TRACK LISTING ON THE VINYL:
Side A:
Too Marvelous for Words
Every Now and Then
Happy Camper
Side B:
Evenin'
Just Friends
Theme for Basie
It's Been a Long, Long Time
SHIPPING BEGINS NOVEMBER 2, 2023
ONLY SHIPPING TO THE USA
(if you order an LP and you are in the EU, Japan, etc., you will receive a refund as these orders cannot be shipped at this time. Questions? Send a message)
“Stylized singing brings out attitudes, manifested in distinctive pronunciation and note-stretching, evoking a few jazz and blues stars of yore–a blended homage…. and the trio dazzles with muscularity–going for fierce fleetness, not pastel pretty sweetness. So, as things build, the reaction is more a gasped "wow!" than an emotion-triggered sigh.” - Talking Broadway with Rob Lester
"the pianist-singer performs the standards (which come according to inspiration) with naturalness and again in total complicity with her partners. Or a Champian Fulton as we appreciate it, blossoming in the warmth of live performance and to the sound of applause." -JazzHot
Includes unlimited streaming of Meet Me at Birdland
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
...more
“While Fulton is full of cheer and known for it, it's on heartfelt tunes such as "It's Been A Long Long Time" where she so earnestly unveils her intimidation factor-at once, she narrates two points of view as a singer and pianist, both without sacrifice.” - Broadway World
“Meet Me at Birdland will be a wonderful addition to any jazz vocalist collection. The live energy is captured on the recording, and Fulton’s phrasing is something special.” - Jazz Sensibilities
“Meet Me at Birdland” proves that [Champian] has deservedly earned her place as a featured performer at one of the premier jazz clubs…” - Joe Lang, New Jersey Jazz Society
“The album captures the energy of a live recording, especially the depth of Fulton’s sensual vocal style and elegant piano playing.” - NiteLife Exchange
“No matter what song she takes on, Champian has fun, and her joy is infectious.” - Marc Myers, JazzWax
“Shows off Fulton’s playing and inventive phrasing.” - Downbeat
“Stylized singing brings out attitudes, manifested in distinctive pronunciation and note-stretching, evoking a few jazz and blues stars of yore–a blended homage…. and the trio dazzles with muscularity–going for fierce fleetness, not pastel pretty sweetness. So, as things build, the reaction is more a gasped "wow!" than an emotion-triggered sigh.” - Talking Broadway with Rob Lester
“Meet Me at Birdland” is DISQUE DU JOUR on TSF Jazz, Paris
“In addition to being an excellent piano soloist, Fulton is an outstanding self-accompanist. The recording levels put the piano and vocals on equal ground, which emphasizes the little motives she plays between phrases as well as the countermelodies she devises to support her vocals……With her wide-ranging repertoire and her engaging vocal and instrumental personas, Champian Fulton is playing an important role in the preservation of classic, swinging jazz.” - Tom Cunniffe, Jazz History Online
“Her gentle yet knowing vocal sound is ideally suited to her choice of songs and she interprets lyrics with mature understanding.” - Bruce Crowther, Jazz Journal UK
Liner Notes: Ricky Riccardi
Photos: Leslie Farinacci
Graphic Design: Ian Hendrickson Smith
Recorded Live at Birdland Theater, mixed and mastered by Mike Marciano at Systems Two, Brooklyn NY.
Joy is contagious when a performer exudes it. Pianist- vocalist Champian Fulton generously and consistently dispenses that quality, delivering sophisticated, swinging turns whenever she plays.
This schorching live set from legendary trumpet player Freddie Hubbard captures the bebop icon at the peak of his powers. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 8, 2023
