Review: Champian Fulton FLYING HIGH Delivers Vibrant Jazz & Cabaret at Birdland

Jazz singer-pianist Champian Fulton is a favorite of this reviewer. She is a dynamic young singer with a fairly flawless voice and great jazz chops, both as a pianist and a vocalist.

Fulton is the music director and accompanist for Flying High: Big Band Canaries Who Soared, which made a return appearance at Birdland for three nights in March. This series honors the styles and sounds of some of the greatest female jazz vocalists, harkening back to the days of the big band buses. Fulton typically only accompanies herself and rarely has the opportunity to work with other singers. She peppers these shows with fascinating stories and anecdotes that could be the stuff of podcasts.

The series, which started in 2024, is produced by Suzanne Waldowski of Jazz at the Ballroom. It has played in multiple cities and resulted in an album, with a follow-up set for release on May 3. There’s even some cool swag available at the merch table for these shows.

Fulton generally bookends the shows as pianist and singer and accompanies two female guest singers. For this edition, singers Laura Anglade and Tahira Clayton were the “canaries.” Fulton’s trio consisted of of Klas Lindquist on alto sax and clarinet, Neal Miner on bass, and Charles Ruggiero on drums.

Fulton gave great context to the show, talking about the “canaries” who traveled with big bands back in the ’40s. She described the challenging conditions - no air conditioning or “amenities” - at a time when there were no cellphones or even credit cards. Fulton humorously told of Ella Fitzgerald gambling with the Chick Webb band on their journeys, typically beating the entire band out of large wads of cash.

Fulton opened with a swinging 4/4 instrumental arrangement of “If Dreams Come True” (Edgar Sampson). With a terrific sax solo by the bow-tied Lindquist and a muscular bass solo by Miner, the quartet traded fours for a powerful denouement.

The French-born Anglade, who the same day was awarded the JUNO Vocal Jazz Album of the Year, made her Birdland debut during this run. Her voice is warm and sweet, and it’s easy to see how she won the JUNO. The highlight of her three-song segment was “Secret Love” (Sammy Fain/Paul Francis Webster), which opened with Anglade singing with just Miner’s pulsating bass lines. On his sax solo in “Sentimental Journey” (Les Brown, Ben Homer/Bud Green), Lindquist borrowed riffs from the original orchestration of Les Brown and His Band of Renown’s 1945 recording.

Texan singer Tahira Clayton is a dynamic performer with a sultry sound and delivery. Attired in a red gown and boots, she has the kind of 1940s glamour of an Erté etching. Her opening number, “Swing! Brother, Swing!” (Clarence Williams, Walter Bishop and Lewis Raymond), most associated with Billie Holiday, set the tone. Clayton stayed in the Holiday mood with “Good Morning Heartache” (Irene Higginbotham, Ervin Drake and Dan Fisher). Clayton’s tasty vocals and Lindquist’s dreamy clarinet work made this a standout number. She finished strong with “Social Call” (Gigi Gryce/Jon Hendricks), which gave Clayton an opportunity for some adventurous singing, along with terrific chops from Miner.

The standout of Fulton’s excellent trio is Lindquist, who led an instrumental of a composition written by Swedish jazz vocalist and songwriter Alice Babs between Clayton’s and Fulton’s segments. His wonderfully expressive delivery made this a non-canary show highlight.

Fulton, who has performed professionally since the age of 14, led off her vocal segment with “Just One of Those Things” (Cole Porter), beginning with just her and the piano in rubato, then shifting into a fast, drum-driven swing with the trio that saw Ruggiero let loose on a thrilling solo. Miner’s superb bass work was featured in “I’ve Heard That Song Before.” Fulton closed out her segment with an outstanding rendition of “Just for a Thrill” (Lil Hardin Armstrong/Don Raye) as a jazz ballad, with a very “Dinah Washington” approach to the lyric.

To close out the set, all three “canaries” sang “It Don’t Mean a Thing” (Duke Ellington/Bubber Miley), with Lindquist back on clarinet. With a scat call-and-response at the break by the singers, the swell finale left the audience flying high.

For more information about the Flying High series, visit Flying High — Champian Fulton. To hear clips from the latest album, visit https://flying-high.hearnow.com/flying-high.

Find more upcoming shows at Birdland Jazz Club on their website here.