Reviews are coming in for "Meet Me At Birdland!"
Champian’s new album “Meet Me at Birdland” is OUT and available where ever you stream / download / purchase music.
NAMED BEST VOCAL ALBUM AND BEST LIVE ALBUM OF 2023 IN THE NYC JAZZ RECORD
Read the extensive feature interview in London Jazz News with Morgan Enos HERE.
“Meet Me at Birdland” featured on WBGO, read / watch the interview with DJ Brian Delp here.
“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
Champian featured on WBGO for “Meet Me at Birdland”
“On se souvient d’avoir découvert Champian Fulton en concert quelques années auparavant dans un club lyonnais qui a fermé depuis. Nous avions noté son aisance pianistique et ses capacités vocales pour le moins convaincantes. On la retrouve ici en trio, enregistrée en public au Birdland, avec les qualités précitées. Comme à son habitude, elle se permet des parties instrumentales où s’affirme son sens du swing et une approche personnelle fort bienvenue. Quand elle chante, elle le fait avec une précision et un savoir-faire qui la classe dans le panier des musiciennes de jazz accomplies. C’est toujours clair et concis, cela module à la perfection et le phrasé dans son ensemble est très efficace. Nous l’avons dit plus haut, elle sait ce que swinguer veut dire. Sa rythmique fait le job avec rigueur et détermination. Les soli sont tous de très bonne facture. C’est du jazz fait par des amoureux du genre et, ma foi, plutôt bien fait. On ne révolutionne pas le jazz dans cet album mais on le met en lumière avec habileté et goût. Cela parait toutefois normal car elle a été bercée au jazz par des parents musiciens qui avait pour pote des gens comme Clark Terry, entre autres. De quoi satisfaire bien des oreilles.” - Culture Jazz FR
“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
Champian featured on Neon Jazz
“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
Featured in Broadway World: A 10 Video Retrospective of Champian
“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
Champian in the Absolute Sound, 2023
“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
“A sensational set from a consummate professional.” - Pierre Giroux, The NYC Jazz Record
5 STARS for music / 4.5 STARS for audio sound
“The smile on Champian's face floats through the speakers as you listen to this live recording! You hear the occasional amused giggle with the artist expressing her sense of joy in performance with bassist Hide Tanaka and drummer Fukushi Tainaka. Champian is equally an exceptional vocalist and pianist, and it can be surprising to realize she's doing both at once at such an elevated level of artistry.
Incredible multitasking, and she makes it sound casy! On the opening track "Too Marvelous for Words," it's a pleasure hearing the word "much" extended as she lingers and plays with the ending of the word. The whisper sound when she sings "Could you care?" in "I've Got a Crush on You" is breathtaking. There is such musical beauty when Champian sings and plays rubato verses before the trio breaks into collective tempo. Vocally there are kittenish swoops and bends which have become part of her vocal style. She drives the energy with the trio catching various rhythmic shots and motifs with glissandos, rolled chords, flourishes, and punches to lean into those swing grooves. A stunning arrangement of "Just Friends" begins as a ballad waltz and then digs into a punctuated swing groove. Champian is a charmer!” - Karin Plato, Absolute Sound
Meet Me at Birdland, recorded in September 2022 in the legendary club finally brought back to life, offers a striking contrast and proclaims the artist's need to physically reconnect with the public. In trio with her faithful Hide Tanaka and Fukushi Tainaka, 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. The swing is present from start to finish, the themes tastefully chosen (“Theme for Basie” by Phineas Newborn, “It's Been a Long, Long Time”, “I Don't Care” by Ray Bryant…) and the original by the singer, “Happy Camper” with Latin colors, is not to displease either.
Here are two more good records to be put to the credit of Champian Fulton, a musician of remarkable consistency. - Jérôme © Jazz Hot 2023
“While she displays a variety of influences (such as Dinah Washington and pianists Wynton Kelly and Red Garland), Ms. Fulton has always essentially sounded like herself” - Scott Yanow, the Syncopated Times