Press
Cathy Segal-Garcia Social Anthems, Volume 1
Origin Records | 2021
Music Review by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Bob Lefsetz keeps saying things are messy these days because music doesn't drive the culture anymore. Part of the problem is that no one is driving the music. SoCal jazz vocalist Segal Garcia reaches back to the 60s to refashion some anthems the kids aren't punching up on You Tube anyway for a new airing with a new audience. Rounding up some real A teamers for her label debut, her renditions take you someplace different that's a place you need to go. Well done.
Contemporary Fusion Reviews by Dick Metcalf
Passionately creative vocals Cathy Segal-Garcia – SOCIAL ANTHEMS VOLUME 1: It’s been a little while since I reviewed Cathy’s wonderful “Straight Ahead To The U.K” album, but that certainly hasn’t slowed her artistry; you’ll see and hear that through her passionately creative vocals on the song “And So It Goes“, with Paul Jost…
…you will find MANY other rewarding jazz vocal styles represented, too, when you SUBSCRIBE to Cathy’s YouTube channel… I did it right away.
Though the songs on the album weren’t necessarily “jazz” when they were released, Cathy and her players (guitarist Anthony Wilson, pianist Josh Nelson, bassist Edwin Livingston and drummer Lorca Hart, as well as vocalists Mon David and Paul Jost) provide the wizardry to jazz the songs up in wonderful ways… their treatment of Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth” opens the album, and will (I predict) be an “instant hit” with DJ’s of all stripes ’round the world!
Josh’s arrangement of the Peter Gabriel/Thomas Newman song “Down To Earth” is among the most sensitive environmental tunes I’ve ever heard, and the piano on this tune is just killer.
I had no doubt what my choice for personal favorite would be after I listened through the album twice… the closer, Marvin Gaye’s “Save The Children“, features Mon David, and will stir you to MOVE to protect the world for our kids… the most soulful cover of Marvin’s tune I’ve ever heard!
I give Cathy and all her players a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) score of 4.99.
Music Review by Paula Edelstein of Sounds of Timeless Jazz
Social Anthems Volume 1 is an excellent rendition of protest songs covered by vocalist Cathy Segal-Garcia. A child of the Sixties, Ms. Segal-Garcia sings some of the most memorable songs of social importance with exemplary new arrangements. Although these songs were mostly introduced as Folk inspired songs, Segal-Garcia’s jazzy updates work really well. Joined by such stellar musicians as Anthony Wilson on guitar, Josh Nelson on piano/keyboards, Lorca Hart on drums, Edwin Livingston on bass, Paul Jost on harmonica and vocals, and Mon David adding vocals, these songs are just as relevant today as they were when first introduced.
Stephen Stills’ anthem “For What It’s Worth” opens the set list. Excellent soloing from Anthony Wilson on guitar and Josh Nelson take the song to a different level via their elements of jazz. Cathy’s vocals are definitely jazzy and bring a heartfelt level of emotion to the lyrics. Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” is a truly innovative duet with its lyrics sung in the soprano range by Cathy and with spoken words in a raspy believable voice by Paul Jost. Arranged by Anthony Wilson, with a haunting harmonica solo from Jost, this is such a lovely song.
Overall, all six songs were chosen by Cathy Segal-Garcia because they resonated with her. Her cool, sensitive approach to the lyrics makes the messages heard on Social Anthems – Volume 1 a sure reminder of today’s current events and issues. Take some time to listen deeply to the lyrics and then make sure to tell your friends about this wonderful recording.
MUSIC REVIEW BY DEE DEE MCNEIL, L.A. JAZZ SCENE
One thing I've noticed about vocalist, Cathy Segal-Garcia. She has a unique and lovely way of re-arranging songs to suit her jazzy perspective. You hear this clearly on her new "Social Anthems" album when she opens with the socially relevant composition, "For What It's Worth." The rhythm section arrangement is absolutely wonderful. Some thirty-five years after releasing her debut album, Cathy continues to record and release a variety of quite diverse music, ranging from large orchestrations to duets. Recently, she experienced an epiphany about the universal situation we face as human beings on a climate-challenged planet full of wars and rumors of war; poor and privileged; protests and prayers. For this project, Cathy has chosen songs that tickle our social consciousness, including one original composition titled, "What Are We Gonna Do?" However, her original composition is quite folksy and not at all like the jazzy arrangement I would have expected. Billy Joel's song, "And So It Goes" comes next. It features Anthony Wilson on guitar (who has arranged many of these songs) and Cathy Segal-Garcia's identifiable vocal sound floats nicely above the track. Cathy is a vocalist with a tone and style all her own. On this cut, there is the unexpected addition of spoken word by Paul Jost, inserted as a thought-provoking surprise as he reads aloud these poignant lyrics.
"I've been experiencing feelings of malaise and angst for quite some time now. And most of my friends have said the same thing. People are afraid for the future. I chose the songs on this album because I felt they are timely and speak to those feelings," Cathy explained her motivation for this recording.
The musical arrangements for "Down to Earth" mirror outer-space sound effects, woven into the track like sparkling silver threads, but the song itself is not anywhere near jazz. Her rendition of "Get Together & Can't Find My Way Home" has qualities, that in an unforeseen way remind me of the great jazz artist, Abbey Lincoln. Once again, this arrangement is far from the original, but fits perfectly into the soul and spirit of Cathy Segal-Garcia's mindset for this album. The tracks themselves are all jazz. The musicians play beautifully and successfully they transform this particular pop tune with improvised freedom and creativity. Josh Nelson has also contributed his brilliance to arranging some of this music. Cathy closes with Al Cleveland, Obie Benson and Marvin Gaye's hit, Motown soul song, "Save the Children." Cathy receives creative assistance from talented, L.A. based jazz vocalist, Mon David on this final song.
Cathy Segal-Garcia is popular in the Southern California area for her 'Open Mic' series she hosted years ago at the once popular Sportsman's Lounge in Studio City. That series lasted, with great community support, for seven years. She moved her Open Mic series from space to space; club to club, giving musicians a platform to perform and practice and introducing audiences to the rich talent that Southern California has to offer. She has been creating work for jazz musicians and singers around Los Angeles for decades. Cathy began her musical career, inspired by her father, who played reeds and was a big band leader and her mom, who was a singer before she married and settled down. Her dad was also a music programmer at a local radio station in Boston, where Cathy grew up. Consequently, she was exposed to all the popular music of the day including Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, The Hi Los singing group, The Four Freshmen and Stan Kenton's band.
"I was a ham from age three. My sisters and I sang together, so we were like this little act, the Segal Twins and Cathy. We grew up in a little corner of Newton, MA, about seven minutes West of downtown Boston," Cathy told me.
After graduation from Berklee School of Music, she settled in San Francisco for a time and finally landed in Los Angeles, where she made the rounds as a struggling jazz vocalist and settled down. With a winning personality and a zest for life in the music business, she exhibited an ability to bring people together. Cathy has put together several groups of singers, poets and musicians. One singing group is "Alone Together" and another is "Fish to Birds." "Fish to Birds" is an improvisational group of voices made up of various professional singers around town. She enjoys singing with acapella groups and has a good ear for harmony. Cathy has traveled internationally and taught vocal coaching in Japan and at home. Her dedication to jazz and jazz artists is undeniable, as is her work to keep jazz alive in our community. That's why this latest release is a bit puzzling to me, because I wouldn't necessarily consider it a jazz CD. I do know, Cathy Segal-Garcia is always pushing the boundaries of music and, like a restless bird circling the scene, she looks for new songs to sing and fresh ways to sing them. Consequently, this album is most certainly a "Social Anthem" whose lyrics tickle our brains. Using creative arrangements that challenge the norm and jazz musicians who bring their best to the project, Cathy Segal-Garcia once again asks us to push past the predictable and to embrace unexpected possibilities. I'm up for the challenge.
MUSIC REVIEW BY MICHAEL DOHERTY, MICHAEL'S MUSIC BLOG
Certain songs from the past seem to address present troubles. Or perhaps those troubles never went away. Jazz vocalist Cathy Segal-Garcia presents her own renditions of a few of these songs on her new album, beginning with Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth," a song that has popped up a lot lately, especially after the police's response to Black Lives Matter protests, and after authorities attacked peaceful protesters in D.C. so that the orange conman could pose with a bible. Cathy Segal-Garcia's rendition is thoughtful and soulful, and features some nice percussion by Lorca Hart. Listen to the powerful and pointed way she delivers the lines "What a field day for the heat/A thousand people in the street/Singing songs and carrying signs." There is also an excellent instrumental section. That's followed by "What Are We Gonna Do," the album's original composition by Cathy Segal-Garcia. The song has a gentle feel, but in it she asks some big questions, including how we are going to justify the human race. "How do we recognize what's wrong and make it go right?" I think we've got a handle on the first part of that question, but not the second. This song features some wonderful work on guitar. When I think of artists who have written social anthems, I don't usually think of Billy Joel, though his "Goodnight Saigon" and "Allentown" address important topics and are seriously good songs (it is best to forget the awful "We Didn't Start The Fire"). The song of his that Cathy Segal-Garcia covers here is "And So It Goes," from Storm Front, and she delivers a touching rendition, joined on vocals by Paul Jost. She also delivers a cover of Peter Gabriel's "Down To Earth" that features a fantastic instrumental section. One of my favorites is her take on "Get Together," which she combines with "Can't Find My Way Home," an interesting choice. Her vocal work grabs us right from the introduction, and is at times haunting, as on the lines "We shall surely pass" and "We are but a moment's sunlight/Fading in the grass." And all the musicians really shine on this track. The album concludes with Marvin Gaye's "Save The Children," with Mon David joining her on vocals.
MUSIC REVIEW BY EDITOR, LA HABITACION DEL JAZZ
For Cathy Segal-Garcia, a love for music in general and jazz in particular comes from afar. His father was a saxophonist and he loved jazz. Since she was 4 years old, she had taken her to big band rehearsals. She sang with her twin sisters for years. After high school, he went to Berklee College of Music, which at the time did not have a voice, so he played the flute and studied arrangement and composition.
Artists like The Beatles, Cream, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendricks, Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, Weather Report, Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, John Coltrane penetrated his artist soul.
His most recent album, "Social Anthems, Volume 1", is his fourteenth CD as a leader. He has been recording albums steadily for almost 30 years, but the pace of his production has accelerated in recent years with the help of his friend, Dan Davilla, who co-produces this album with Segal-Garc'a.
Segal-Garc'a always surrounds himself with first-rate musicians. This time he works with some mainstays of the Southern California jazz scene. Guitarist Anthony Wilson (Diana Krall). The pianist, composer and conductor, Josh Nelson (Kurt Elling, John Pizzarelli, Benny Golson, Sheila Jordan, John Clayton). Bassist Edwin Livingston (Elvin Jones, David "Fathead" Newman, John Beasley, Justin Timberlake, Will.I.Am, Mary J Blige). Drummer Lorca Hart (Bobby Hutcherson, Carmen Lundy, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Jordan). And vocalists Mon David and Paul Jost.
The songs that make up the album do not belong to the jazz genre, but thanks to the arrangements by Wilson and Nelson, the interpretation of Segal-Garc'a and the entire group, they adapt to jazz admirably.
Segal-Garcia stated: "I have been experiencing feelings of discomfort and anguish for quite some time. And most of my friends have said the same thing. People fear for the future. I chose the songs on this album because I felt that they are timely and speak of those feelings. "
The album begins with Stephen Stills' song "For What It's Worth", an icon of social protest from the 60s. Very good arrangements by Wilson, which give this song a peculiar jazzy touch.
"What Are We Going to Do" is a ballad written by Segal-Garc'a and arranged by Nelson. Segal-Garc'a says, "Life doesn't come with a user manual, and I wrote this song on the way to a friend for whom I felt guilty." Theme with country touches.
We continue with "And So It Goes" by Billy Joel and arranged by Wilson. Segal-Garc'a has great admiration for Paul Jost and wanted to include him on the album. She sent him the recording and was pleasantly surprised with his contribution. Segal-Garcia brings his contrasting sensibilities, but they are complemented at the same time, by Jost's whispering and hoarse recitation. A beautiful song with a country-folk flavor.
"Down to Earth", by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, from the movie Wall-e, is arranged by Nelson. Again the sensitive voice of Segal-Garcia is faithfully accompanied by the rest of the group.
The fifth cut of the album consists of two songs, "Get Together" by Chet Powers, a song that talks about the power of love and "Can't Find My Way Home" by Steve Winwood and immortalized by the group Blind Faith (Eric Clapton , Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood, Ric Grech) which is about Winwood's close friend struggling with alcohol and drug addiction.
Nelson arranged the combination of both songs from the 60s, dedicating, of the seven and a half minutes, more than five minutes to the first theme. Good entry from Wilson on guitar. Very good version of both songs.
The record ends with "Save the Children," from Marvin Gaye's 1971 album, "What's Going On." This time arranged by Wilson. Mon David accompanies Segal-Garc'a, forming an excellent duo between them. Precious song that pleads to save our world for our children. A moving version that chills our hearts for nine minutes.
Segal-Garcia transmits emotions with great ease. His warm voice suggests feelings that make us meditate.
As she herself says: "singers are responsible for things like emotions, ideas, concepts, hopes, horrors and the more honestly we do it, the greater the effect. We are capable of changing the people who listen to us ".
The album becomes short and we are left wanting more songs, hoping that "Social Anthems Volume 2" will be released soon.
Cathy Segal-Garcia Dreamsville
Dash Hoffman Records | 2019
Perhaps the most absorbing date in her discography, Dreamsville finds Segal-Garcia flanked by two of the West Coast's finest—pianist Josh Nelson and guitarist Larry Koonse. Both men have extensive experience working with singers and they make for a perfect fit here, eyeing every possibility within these songs and working with—not behind—the vocalist.
This trio lives in and embodies the ethos of the titular space right from the first, on an absorbing take of the Henry Mancini-penned title track. It's a weightless, multihued wonder that flows and floats. "The Three Of Us"—one of two Segal-Garcia originals on the playlist—forwards the idea of a reflective and nostalgic tapestry that carries more and more sway with each sympathetic song that follows: First there's the intimate call of memories on "Canto Triste"; then there's a winding, wordless trip through Domenico Scarlatti's "Sonata in B Minor"; and that's met with a wonderfully-fanciful, counterpoint-infused "September In The Rain."
Much of the material that follows that opening stretch remains wistful in its wandering, and it's beyond beautiful to hear these three capture that spirit in sound. Whether we're talking about a bewitching "Zingaro" with spectral wordless vocals, the sighing sentimentalism of a guitar-and-voice take on "You Are There," or the pensive streaks in "Pensitiva" and "Beyond The Years," these three are in their element. Somehow, overcast skies clouded by the past manage to make Dreamsville appear as an even more idyllic hamlet than a sunnier manifestation might be.
Cathy Segal-Garcia
Straight Ahead to the U.K.
Dash Hoffman Records | 2019
While Straight Ahead to the U.K. is Segal-Garcia's second release for 2019, this music was actually captured a good seven years before the Dreamsville material was recorded. And the backstory stretches back even further, all the way to 1973. That's when Segal-Garcia first met saxophonist Andy MacIntosh, who she would go on to date for a spell when both ended up living in California in 1975. The couple eventually split, MacIntosh moved to England, and that was the end of that. But time and social media have a way of circling 'round to the past, so the end is never really the end. After the pair reconnected via Facebook in 2011, MacIntosh invited Segal-Garcia to cross the ocean and record with some of Britain's best. The vibe at the sessions was positive, but the vocalist was under the weather and the music, which called for some decoration, simply sat on the shelf.
MacIntosh passed away in 2013, leaving behind a legacy in music and memories, and Segal-Garcia never forgot about the recording. Once her close friend, Dan Davilla, heard about the album's existence, plans were put in motion to finally see it through. Segal-Garcia brought multi-hyphenate John Leftwich into the mix to help enhance, clean and dress the material, she recorded new vocals, and a number of additional musicians were brought in to add to the originals. The end results honor what Segal-Garcia and MacIntosh accomplished while updating it for the present moment and standards.
Essentially a straight-ahead session, the biggest surprises come through the mix of material, the seamless overlay of new additions onto the base tracks, and the way Segal-Garcia owns it all with strength of position. Not known for down-the-middle dates, she nevertheless proves incredibly compelling walking this walk. From the shuffling sizzle of Dave Frishberg's "Wheelers and Dealers" and the Brazilian-infused bounce and shimmer of Chick Corea's "Highwire" to the haunting balladry of Shelby Flint's "Something We May Never Know" and a markedly different, bossa-esque "Dreamsville" that connects the two albums under discussion, Segal-Garcia delivers with supreme class. Add to that the churchy good graces of Cannonball Adderley's "Sermonette," the understated cool of John Abercrombie's "Hippityville" (with the leader's lyrics and a guest appearance by Norma Winstone), a few originals and another chestnut or two and you have a real recipe for success. Segal-Garcia, MacIntosh, the U.K. crew that recorded with them back in 2011 and the L.A. studio regulars that came aboard in 2019 all mesh without issue.
While this singer isn't one to dwell on a project, preferring instead to seek out the next horizon, both of these dates deserve a moment. Working different seams and proving admirable for varied reasons, these albums serve as shining examples of imagination, voice and vision acting as one.