Cyrille Aimee & the Surreal Band Review

Music Review

By Patricia Britt

East Lansing, MI, USA - The seventeenth annual East Lansing Summer Solstice is a fantastic free event to attend with artists from all over the world.

International recording artist, Cyrille Aimee and the Surreal Band mesmerized the audience with slow melodic selections, and intense instrumentals in the glow of pink, and purple background lighting. They played classics, and original compositions.  Cyrille’s vocals are soft, delicate, and penetrating as she sings, and scats somewhat in the tradition of Ella Fitzgerald, Nora Jones, and Basia. A few of Cyrille Aimee’s achievements are the 2007 Montreux Jazz Festival Voice Competition, 2012 Sarah Vaughn International Vocal Competition, and has 5 CD’s to her credit (www.cyrilleaimee.com) .  She attended Purchase Conservatory in New York. The Surreal band is composed of drums, a stand up base, clarinet, piano, and trombone that thrilled the audience with the interplay of instruments. The piano set the tone with tinkling keys, while the horns drove the rhythm.

The audience was enchanted throughout the performance with the standards “You the Night and the Music,” and “Straight No Chaser” in a traditional jazz style. “You, and the Night and Music” had terrific vocals and a soft piano melody.

Cyrille said, “One More! I want to end with one of my favorites. This one goes to Rodney Whitacker!” The up tempo classic “Oya coma va” (translation : listen to my rhythm ) originally orchestrated by Tito Fuente was performed by Cyrille and the Surreal Band in a very elegant style.  Someone from the audience felt the spirit move,  and went yeeeeeyow!

Cyrille Aimee’s (birthplace : Fountainbleau, France) Friday performance was loved by all. I’m sure many intend to come back Saturday to see more terrific jazz from the Vocal Jazz Summit with Lansing’s own Betty Joplin, R. Collins, M. Thomas & B Baxter ; Professors of Jazz ; The Frederick Sanders Trio (New Orleans) featuring Germaine Bazzle ; Cool down in the evening breezes and the full moon with Grupo Aye, and an interlude by Paul Bratcher Quintet on Saturday.

Summer Solstice is sponsored by the City of East Lansing, Michigan State University’s College of Music Jazz Studies, and the Wharton Center. Summer Solstice Jazz Festival artistic director, Rodney Whitacker gathers talent from here, and there and everywhere for the annual June concert series. www.professorsofjazz.org, www.msu.edu/schoolofmusic/jazzstudies www.eljazzfest.com . For more summer music go to www.cityofeastlansing.com/communityevents.

Copyright 2013 ~ Patricia Britt, Zimation Arts & Letters Ink : Poetry Concepts