Looking at the moon

"The polar opposite of an ingénue, vocalist Allegra Levy drew more than one ace from the deck on her Steeplechase debut. Both tenorist Stephen Riley and cornetist Kirk Knuffke graced her ensemble for that date and an eclectic folio of songs supplied welcome fodder for everyone's talents and interpretation. Looking at the Moon scales back and dials in focus both in terms of content and crew. Pianist Carmen Staaf, guitarist Alex Goodman and bassist Tim Norton converge as a rhythm section that's both responsive to and anticipatory of Levy's needs as songstress and the warm studio sound enriches a program with a very distinct thematic focus".

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"In Looking at the Moon, Levy has assembled tunes, musicians, and arrangements that generally maximize her strengths. She sings in tune, even when tackling long sustained notes, she has a keen sense of dynamics and of how to shape words to suit the feeling of the music. She is at her strongest when purveying certain specific moods - melancholy, playful, even lightly ironic. Moods, come to think of it, that are associated with the moon".

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"Det er forståeligt, at produceren og pladeselskabsejeren Nils Winther er begejstret for Levy, som befinder sig i et behageligt mainstream-land - og det er afgjort positivt ment. Tema-album om månen er hørt før, og ikke alle fortolkninger er lige originale, men blandt andet Neil Youngs "Harvest Moon" og Cat Stevens' "Moonshadow" fremstår stærkt, måske også fordi de er nyere sange, der ikke ofte er blevet behandlet i en jazzkontekst. Så er det en lidt større udfordring at give nyt liv til standards som Rodgers og Harts "Blue Moon" eller Arlen, Harburg og Roses "It's Only A Paper Moon", men det er ikke desto mindre, hvad Levy lykkes med ganske fint. "Blue Moon" tilfører hun et uimodståeligt og finurligt swing, og "Paper Moon" får en let forceret overhaling. Og glimrende med Nat King Cole-instrumentationen piano, guitar og bas, der skaber den rette natklubstemning".