Album Review: Ann Hampton Callaway Captures Perfect Love On Her New Album FINDING BEAUTY, ORIGINALS, VOL. 1

Heigh Ho, dear lovely rainbow tribe, welcome back to Bobby’s CD sandbox where we offer our broken-down breakdowns of new music releases. So, strap in and get ready, as Bobby goes on the record ABOUT the record.

This week’s album entry in the BobbyFiles comes from the incomparable Tony-nominated, multiplatinum-selling pop/jazz singer-songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway, whose album of original songs, FINDING BEAUTY, ORIGINALS, VOL. 1, was released late last month. The album is the result of a lot of mining of creative diamonds using her pen and piano, and spotlights moments both rough and smooth in the lives of anyone with a heart. The heartless can stop reading now…

On this road of FINDING BEAUTY, there are gorgeous and powerful love songs, and that’s what Bobby wants to highlight. Opening the album with THE MOON IS A KITE, a modern jazz number with a truly haunting overtone, Ann's smooth, rich voice adds real gravitas throughout. “The Moon Is A Kite I Fly From My Heart” is a gorgeous lyric and an image that pervades the song. Is it a love song or a song about love? - we don’t know. The allegory within the lyrical images is one of personal growth and self-expression, so it could also mean a touch of self-love. La Callaway is a real jazzerina who plays her voice like a musical instrument, making fascinating sounds and unusual tonal images. Oh, and her piano is superb, too. HOLD YOU IN THIS SONG begins with the guitar and her voice melding in minor chords so one knows this will be a heartfelt one. This is a love song about THAT person and about music. “There are diamonds in the tears that I cry,” Ann sings, and the lyric poem is about people who know and have loved each other through the years. AHC’s deeper vocals give such a nice backbone to it all as they expand in volume with power, and then pull back with total control for the softer moments. WHEREVER YOU ARE is the essential duet with her sister, Liz Callaway, and, be honest, we all knew there would be one. These are such different voices - Ann is the distant thunder, Liz is the gentle rain. This love song is two sisters singing of their devotion to each other, and their back-and-forth wishes for peace and a good life. The very last song of this collection is the love song, PERFECT, and is AHC as a balladeer. Less jazz and more a storytelling song, Ann sings of two hearts coming together for the long haul. This is, in fact, her song to her wife, Kari Strand, to whom she has been wed since 2014. In the story, it was a “Perfect Night Of Music” that brought them together, and she makes this a song of long-term love that has grown over the years. Not the flames of passion, but the strong, banked-down coals of glowing and ever-growing love that warms forever. This song is, quite frankly, perfect - so real and so tender. 

This brings little Bobby to what may be his fave AHC song of all time (written in collaboration with the great Amanda McBroom), INFORMATION PLEASE. This is another story song, but more straightforwardly so, told in narrative form without a lot of imagery or allegory. It starts with just AHC and her piano, and then the drums and instruments sneak in, gradually. This is a movingly sad song about a little girl who calls her information operator (411) to talk because she is her only adult friend to whom she feels she can turn. The little girl receives comfort and wisdom from this faceless woman named Sally. Ann sings of the years going by and of this little girl reaching out to Sally in times of trial (skinned knees, lonely moments, pets dying, etc) to receive the comfort an adult with a loving heart can give a child. It’s really so moving, despite what you may read here as schmaltz, my angels. Ultimately, much time and water under the bridge passes between them, and well… you can guess what happens. Finally, the lessons of love make it all so heartfelt and McBroom’s lyrics married to AHC’s music does it all without being sappy. 
 

To let one small raindrop fall with this rainbow, we have to confess that the title song, FINDING BEAUTY, while a sweet tune, did not fire Bobby’s imagination or sense of sentiment. Oh, it’s a fine song, but that’s really all it was, after a couple of listens. With the weighty power behind some of the other compositions, the sweet and lovely tune simply fell slightly behind the curve.  For the rest of FINDING BEAUTY, ORIGINALS, VOL. 1, though, listen for the boundless love throughout. Sit with this VOL. 1 with your favorite sippable and your favorite huggable, and you’ll agree that …

This one is well worth 4 Out Of 5 Rainbows

Jump In The Amazon River & Stream This Album: HERE

You Can See And Hear Everything About AHC On Her Webbysite: HERE

CREDITS & THINGS
Produced by Paul Viapiano & Trey Henry for The Chemistry Set
Engineers: Paul Viapiano, Jim Brady, Charley Pollard, Vijay Tellis-Nayak, Nigel Lawrence
Mixed and Mastered by Paul Viapiano
Recorded at Midlothian Grove (Pasadena, CA), Dragonfly Creek (Malibu, CA),
37 St Joseph (Arcadia, CA), Transient Sound (Chicago, IL),
Nigel Maestro Productions (Atlanta, GA), Tater Tracks (Croton-on-Hudson, NY)
and Jim Brady Recording Studios (Tucson, AZ)
Package Design: Robbie Rozelle
Photography: Bill Westmoreland, Kari Strand
℗©2023 Ann Hampton Callaway, EXCLUSIVELY DISTRIBUTED BY SHANACHIE ENTERTAINMENT.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORIZED DUPLICATION IS A VIOLATION OF APPLICABLE LAWS.
Arranged by Trey Henry
Arranged by Trey Henry and Paul Viapiano (5, 7, 11, 16)
Guitars: Paul Viapiano
Acoustic & Electric Bass: Trey Henry
Piano / Keyboards: Christian Jacob (1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16), Josh Nelson (3, 11), Jeff Babko (4, 10, 12)
Drums: Ray Brinker
Percussion: Brian Kilgore (1, 3, 7), Ray Brinker (6, 7, 16)
Violin: Charlie Bisharat (2, 16)
Cello: Cecilia Tsan (8)
Melodica: Mitchel Forman (7)
Background Vocals & Vocal Arrangement: Jarrett Johnson (4, 10, 15)
Background Vocals: Niki Haris (9)
Additional Keyboards on All Songs: Paul Viapiano and Trey Henry

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