Album Name: What Love Is
Artist: Erin Boheme
Year/Label: 2006 / Concord Records
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Review by Amy Lotsberg Producer of Collected Sounds
If I wasn’t already blown away by her voice and songwriting, I certainly was when I read that she’s only 18 years old. She sounded to me like an old pro and here she’s a kid from Wisconsin. Crazy. Oh did I mention she’s gorgeous? She is.
I’ve always said that I’m not well-versed in jazz and I’m still no jazz scholar. But I’ve certainly heard and reviewed more jazz-tinged stuff than I had a few years ago.
After reviewing what I considered a jazz record previously I was given the ‘what-for’ by a reader who wondered how I could dare call said singer ‘jazz’ when she clearly was not. I don’t want to make that mistake again so I’ll just say, this sounds like jazz to me. And I like it.
Boheme’s voice is lovely, it’s soothing and clear but also has that sultry smoky sexy sound to it. I could listen to her sing all day. And with my “repeat” button I have that option.
While Boheme co-wrote many of the songs here she also does some great covers. These range from Peggy Lee to Tracy Chapman. But my favorite on here is “One Night with Frank”; a sort of fantasy story, if you will about what it would be like to hang with The Chairman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra ) for a night. It’s quite clever, as she’s interjected his song titles in with the lyrics. It’s a sweet song.
I really like this record and it’s one that feels pretty timeless for me so I’m sure I’ll be listening to it for awhile. Dare I say, a standard. If you’re at all interested in beautiful vocals, melodic songs, lovely piano and other great instrumentation you should really give “What Love Is” a whirl.
Posted on April 25, 2006
Track Listing
1. Someone To Love
2. One Night With Frank
3. Let’s Make The Most Of A Beautiful Thing
4. What Love Is
5. Teach Me Tonight
6. Make You Happy
7. Give Me One Reason
8. Anything
9. Let’s Do It
10. I Love Being Here With You
11. Don’t Be Something You Ain’t
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