Rave Reviews for Champian's New Album BIRDSONG
“It’s just a lovely album – so perfectly played and produced. Not a note out of place and yet never sounding ‘too clean’. Opener, Just Friends, really sets the tone – a calm and simple waltz riding on a terrific vocal, and then, suddenly, subtly, the musical tone shifts to 4/4, the brushes are discarded for sticks, the piano starts in on a great bit of blues vamping; the band all alone for the ride.” - Simon Sweetman, OffTheTracks
“[“Birdsong”] buttress’ Parker’s strong position and broadens Fulton’s standing as a supreme stylist and interpreter. Blending relaxed and romantic tides with athletic strides that seduce and swing, her music—pure Parker with personal touches—wins as it begins.” - Dan Bilawsky, NYC Jazz Record
“There is a reason Fulton has managed to find an audience across the jazz fan spectrum. She can get to the heart of a song, those roots, and she knows how to work a band. .She plays classic jazz in the truest sense, at the melodic heart of what jazz is” - Joe Bebco, the Syncopated Times
Named Album of the Week by WRTI Philadelphia! Read the complete review.
Named Album of the Week by ABC Australia!
Named Dinner Album of the Week by JazzFM!
“As a vocal interpreter of standards, there’s simply no room for many who are doing it any better right now.” - Maureen Malloy, WRTI
The New York Times calls BIRDSONG “buoyant”
“Birdsong is a recording which achieves so much, for the legacy of Bird and for Champian Fulton as a musician….The results offer the essence of Charlie Parker but not his ghost.” - Sammy Stein, Something Else
“Champian Fulton es una excelente pianista, ingeniosa, con un potente ritmo, que pasa del be bop a la balada sin el menor esfuerzo. Como cantante es dulce, elegante, clásica y vanguardista al mismo tiempo, de la que podrían tomar nota alguna que otra voz consagrada (y no diré nombres).” - La Habitacion del Jazz
“Bird’s music is indeed timeless and although it’s unusual to hear a vocal album of his material, this is well conceived and delivered in that same spirit that her dad coined as “the most beautiful music there ever was.’ - Making a Scene
“The Champian Fulton-led ensemble has a relaxed and fluid swing. Fulton's vocals feature syllables stretched like warm bread dough interspersed with interludes of a horn like sassiness…. 4 STARS” - Dan McClenaghan for AAJ
“Ever inspired, Fulton’s renditions of these tricky favorites radiate warmth and charisma.” Suzanne Lorge, The New York City Jazz Record
“In Champian, we have as near perfect a take on Bird as any "bird" singer has ever done. A uniquely original voice that gets into the music in a manner that even Sheila Jordan and Carmen McRae didn't quite match. Plus her piano playing is up there too. It is simply fantastic. Ms Fulton does more than run the changes - she supercharges them!” - Bebop Spoken Here
“Fulton finds ingenious ways to honor Parker…Birdsong instigates foot tapping.” - Plastic Sax
TSF Features “BIRDSONG” in their programming: “Nous passerons ensuite un coup de fil à la pianiste et chanteuse new-yorkaise Champian Fulton. Elle a été bercée durant toute sa jeunesse par la musique de Charlie Parker, et elle lui consacre son nouvel album, Birdsong.” CLICK HERE for Podcast from TSF.
“what’s so great about [Champian] as a pianist and bandleader is that she can switch from quicksilver bebop virtuosity to florid romanticism at the drop of a beat.” - CDHotList
“Pour finir, remarquons que Champian Fulton n’est pas seulement une chanteuse qui s’accompagne au piano. C’est une remarquable instrumentiste dont le jeu ancré dans la tradition la plus authentique porte les influences de Teddy Wilson, Bud Powell et Erroll Garner qu’elle a su synthétiser en un tout cohérent. Pour s’en convaincre, il suffit d’écouter ses improvisations porteuses d’un swing énergique (Quasimodo) et sa manière d’accompagner en block chords qui reste d’une redoutable efficacité. Un bel hommage au musicien exceptionnel que fut Charlie Parker.” - Alain Tomas, Couleurs Jazz
“Champian Fulton et Scott Hamilton (bien accompagnés) possèdent suffisamment d’expérience et de créativité pour que l’évocation mémorielle ne soit jamais ennuyeuse. A écouter pour le plaisir simple du jazz atemporel.” - Yves Dorison, CultureJazz
“There are times on Champian Fulton’s new Birdsong when her vocals linger so far behind the beat that I feared that the pianist couldn’t stay with her. Except that Fulton is the pianist, and she’s terrific, channeling not only Errol Garner rhythmic games of chicken, but also such pre-bop masters as Teddy Wilson and Billy Kyle. Few instrumentalists play like this anymore since this elastic approach to rhythm was all but swept away by the bebop charge led by Charlie Parker, whose centenary today this release celebrates. It didn’t disappear entirely, though, surviving in the vocal styles of Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson and Betty Carter, who took rhythmic elasticity to an extreme. Fulton has a lighter, less bluesy voice than those luminaries, but she uses it playfully and is a fearless improvisor. Her music making fairly overflows with joy on this program of 11 songs associated by Parker and it’s often thrilling to hear her highwire act. Saxophonist Scott Hamilton is an old hand at this kind of material and Fulton’s father, Stephen, adds trumpet on a couple of songs. The rhythm team of bassist Hide Tanaka and drummer Fukushi Tainaka ticks along deferentially in a way that today’s more assertive rhythm sections abjure. If all this suggests a record that might have been made in, say, 1961, well, you’re not wrong. But there is something almost radical in the way Fulton and her mates bring to this material something that jazz could use more of these days: charm.” - John Chacona, Roll Call
“Champian Fulton’s choice of songs exhibit her technical mastery of the piano. Her tender and imaginative vocal interpretations are compelling. Fulton hopes, with this album release, to expose Charlie Parker’s music to a multitude of young audiences and at the same time, show that one-hundred years later, Bird’s music is truly important and timeless.” - Musical Memoirs
“you just can't be a straight ahead jazzbo and not dig this.” - Midwest Record
“Fulton is a strong piano soloist with an electric streak.” - Jazzwise Magazine
“Attempting a mood of heightened sensuality in her arrangements, Fulton unconventionally opts for languid tempi, her vocal delivery displaying stylistic nuances of Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae and her piano-playing influenced by Erroll Garner.” - London Jazz News
“Whether singing or playing, she always swings while doing justice to the songs that she interprets.” - Scott Yanow, JAZZIZ
“Fulton is a swinging and accomplished pianist and wonderful and emotional singer, who gives these songs a new life and a fresh paint.” - Wulf Muller’s Music Blog
Champian was featured on the cover of the weekend edition of The Oklahoman. Read the story here.
“Champian has secured her place as a first-rate stylist who can seduce listeners and swing her brand of personalized jazz entries She is in a league with some of the best performers from the golden age of jazz……
Champian Fulton has found ingenious musical ways to honor Charlie Parker through her art and along with some flawless musicians (a well-deserved shout-out goes to driving bassist Hide Tanaka). She has been called a supreme stylist and interpreter. The album has made it to several “best” lists. That says it all. The disc is a real find. Ms. Fulton is a classic jazz artist worthy of her many accolades.” - John Hoglund, Cabaret Scenes
LISTEN to Champian’s Interview with Jason Crane and the Jazz Session, Posted November 4. https://www.thejazzsession.com/2020/11/04/the-jazz-session-536-champian-fulton/
“Fulton takes a painterly approach, parsing the lyrics line by line. The take of Just Friends, shifting subtly from a jazz waltz to balmy swing, is a good choice of opener. As silky and expressive as her vocals are, her jaunty Errol Garner-ish piano solo is even more adrenalizing.” - NY Music Daily
“Avec Scott Hamilton, la jeune femme s’est trouvé un partenaire de choix dont elle partage un abord enraciné du jazz, imperméable à toute mode. Cette fraîcheur et cet enthousiasme naturel dans sa relation au jazz est ce qui rend Champian Fulton très appréciable.” - Jérôme Partage, Jazz Hot
TOP 20 RELEASES OF 2020, ABC AUSTRALIA
“Listening to Birdsong, it is evident that whether you consider CHAMPIAN FULTON a fine jazz singer or a jazz pianist supreme, you will be correct.” - Jersey Jazz
“This self-accompanying vocalist can allow her expert piano skills to dominate by taking a deceptively offhand approach to phrasing, singing with a modicum of heft or drama. But there's canniness in the quirky minimalism. She bites into some words while floating breathily over others. This gives some phrases punch or slyness.” - Rob Lester, Talkin Broadway Sound Advice