Rave Reviews for Champian's *new* album "Live from Lockdown"
“Live from Lockdown” was ranked #20 among Jazz vocal releases of 2021 in the Annual Jazz Critics Poll!
The NYC Jazz Record included “Live from Lockdown” among it’s BEST vocal releases of 2021!
“Appearing live before a café or concert hall audience calls for a different tone than a remote broadcast to people sharing your experience of being trapped at home. She catches that distinct mixture of sentimental hope and bitterness, in both the choice of titles and delivery. The album feels like a phone call from an old friend, the kind that can shake you back into equilibrium…..There is a maturity and timelessness to this album, and it shouldn’t be dismissed as a lockdown era effort.” - Joe Bebco, The Syncopated Times
“Let this be the music we remember from the COVID-19 era, then, instead of something tatty, haphazard, or unnecessarily negative: a father and daughter facing an uncertain future and opting to have a musical conversation. Thank goodness we get to be a fly on the wall.” - Morgan Enos, JazzTimes
“arguably the best piano-playing singer and best singing pianist in jazz…..takes a colorful, sometimes misty, sometimes wry, sometimes joyous line by line approach on the mic and a steady, precise stroll on the piano on the album’s opening cut, I Hadn’t Anyone Till You.” - NY Music Daily
“This partnership [Live from Lockdown] produced empathetic performances that combined Champian’s dexterous pianism and spot-on vocalizing with Stephen who is equally adept at at playing fills behind his daughter and taking expansive solos. They will immediately grab your attention with a fun rendition of “I Hadn’t Anyone Till You.” - NJ Jazz Magazine
“With her strong left hand, mastery of swing standards and distinctive singing, which, while not derivative, could fit easily into ‘40s-50s jazz, one never misses other instruments when she performs by herself. [Champian] has helped keep a tradition alive not by copying the past but by simply being herself.” - Scott Yanow, NYC Jazz Record
“With wit and spontaneity, Fulton's jazz vocals and sprightly playing represent the kind of good times you would have had if you could have gone out to see her. Snappy, snazzy and full of joie de vivre, we need more like her.” - Chris Spector, Midwest Record
“[Champian] has a warm, soprano tone and a sincerity to her vocals that is hypnotic and comfortable…..Ms. Fulton has a great piano technique and its jazz all the way, laced with blues. At times, traces of Erroll Garner’s unforgettable style is evident.” - Dee Dee McNeil, Musical Memoirs
“"Au programme, des standards qui mettent en évidence la maestria vocale de Champian, la qualité hors pair de son jeu de piano en solo et en accompagnement et son sens de la note juste. (...) une maîtrise remarquable. Un disque précieux.” - Alain Tomas, Academie de Jazz
“This is one of those albums on which every track has something to appeal to the attentive listener, a reminder that we shall get through this pandemic by keeping attention fixed on more positive matters.” - The Rehearsal Studio
A new album from Champian Fulton is always cause for celebration, and when she’s joined by her father, the outstanding flugelhorn and trumpet player Stephen Fulton, you can be assured of a warm, complex, and golden-toned musical experience. As a singer, Champian acts as a sort of prism: through her brain and her voice, the melodic playfulness of Billie Holiday and the impeccable intonation of Ella Fitzgerald and the strutting confidence of Sarah Vaughn are all refracted and emerge as a unique expressive identity; as a pianist, she’s like a history book come to life, switching between (and sometimes blending) stride, bebop, boogie-woogie, and cool styles seemingly without effort. This latest album is, as its title suggests, the product of the Fultons’ forced shift from live-in-person performance to livestreamed concerts produced at home. It consists almost entirely of standards, mostly ballads and mid-tempo swingers like “You’ve Changed,” “Satin Doll,” “Look for the Silver Lining,” and “Moonglow,” with a couple of lovely originals thrown in as well. As always, both Fultons play not only with skill but with heart, and with a rare level of interpersonal communication. For all libraries. - The CD Hotlist
“Mais cette chronique ne lui rendrait pas justice sans mentionner quelle chanteuse touchante et articulée se confirme ici la Miss. Le genre d’album intimiste, cosy et soulful à se repasser en boucle au coin du feu tout l’hiver: un authentique baume au cœur!” - Patrick Dallongeville, Paris-Move
“Pianist and singer Champian Fulton is one of many musicians who have kept active during the pandemic by doing a regular series of streaming performances from home. This album continues that concept, featuring Fulton accompanied only by her father, trumpeter Stephen Fulton. As both a singer and player Fulton comes off relentlessly upbeat, but with a knowing worldliness. She is far more out of Dinah Washington than Billie Holiday. She gives a coquettish sass to sad songs like "You've Changed" and "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" and really swaggers on "Blow Top Blues" and "Look For The Silver Lining." Her piano playing is a full-bodied blues and stride style that fits snugly against her father's trumpet. Stephen Fulton can play jolly and bright or lowdown and bluesy as needed and is not adverse to the occasional nod to Dizzy Gillespie or Clark Terry.” -Jerome Wilson, All About Jazz