Lazy Afternoon

Released: 2006

BUY CD | ITUNES | Record label

...Lättsamt och okonstlat med hetta och passion...

...En personlig platta...
(Orkester Journalen)

...hon är en i högsta grad hörvärd sångerska med naturlig oförställdhet, perfekt intonation i alla lägen och det berättarsinne i textbehandlingen som ger trovärdighet åt hennes gestaltning av sångerna...

(Nya Wermlands-Tidningen)

"Lazy Afternoon" är Johanna Grüssners andra skiva på Prophone. Hon sjunger här jazzstandards som t ex "It Never Entered My Mind" och "My Foolish Heart" samt även mer souliga låtar som t ex Anita Baker-hiten "Caught Up In the Rapture". Skivan är inspelad i New Orleans av producenten John Snyder som tidigare har samarbetat med bl a Chet Baker, Max Roach och Dizzy
Gillespie.

...So what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this? Johanna goes to New Orleans, of all places. Flew through 4 or 5 time zones, more than once, endured delays, officiousness, and the slings and arrows of air transport just to come to New Orleans and record some music. Maybe it was the food. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s like going to a shrine or some long-ago wounded place, a place of reverence, a great battleground, a place and a feeling and a depth that is beyond us, beyond the individual.
The hurt goes deep in this part of the world. The destruction will not go away for 10 years, if it ever does in some places. We live but we cannot plan much beyond our escape routes. We have our maps, our destinations, our provisions, our pet supplies, all ready to go for when the storm comes again. Why would anyone put herself in harms way like this? Johanna wanted to find out for herself. Exploring is in her character. She wanted to see for herself. She wanted to put some of that into her music, however subtle, however transparent. She doesn’t sing “songs of the South” or R&B classics with the New Orleans beat. She sings songs she loves with musicians from this soil, from this strange and peculiar place, with the smell of jasmine in the air.
She came prepared. With her songs, her arrangements, her honed-technique, her determination. She let the musicians play but she was quick to push them to where she wanted them to go. Her confidence and affection for them caused them to play at their very best, to try to please her at all times, to give life to her music. You’ll hear it for yourself. Will you listen to this recording and think New Orleans? No. You will think warmth, love, honesty,
devotion, and you will be touched. You will feel at home. It will take you from where you are to the beautiful world Johanna inhabits and wants you to be. Welcome, dear listener, to Johanna’s world. Bring your friends. Stay as long as you like...

(Text ur CD-boken av producenten John Snyder)

Johanna Grüssner - voice
Bob Sunda - bass
Ted Broussard - guitar
Mike Burch - drums
David Mahoney - drums