Cyrille Aimée - It’s a Good Day (2014)

'It's a Good Day' is the major label debut by the widely acclaimed young French jazz singer Cyrille Aimée - yet another step forward for the rapidly rising vocalist. Winner of both the Montreux Jazz Festival's Vocal Competition and the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition, Aimée explores a range of musical styles, eras, continents and moods on 'It's a Good Day' with a singular voice on inventive arrangements.

The musical accompaniment on 'It's a Good Day' is as novel as Aimée herself: three guitars (Jazz, Gypsy and Brazilian) with bass and drums. This captivating multi-guitar sound is provided by her close collaborator, Michael Valeanu, a player of French and Italian extraction on a contemporary jazz-style electric guitar; her countryman Adrien Moignard on the steel-string guitar gypsies favour due to its piercing, staccato sound; and the Brazilian guitarist Guilherme Monteiro, who relies on a nylon-stringed instrument which provides the bossa nova its soft and undulating sensuous sound.

Thoughtful arrangements of the thirteen songs - both standards and originals - ensure a sumptuous musical blend. "We worked hard to create a road map for each guitar to make the sound beautiful and exciting - without creating a musical traffic jam," explains Aimée. The flexible and fluid rhythm section of bassist Sam Anning and drummer Rajiv Jayaweera holds it all together. Seamlessly added to the mix are covers of Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall" and Duke Ellington's "Caravan."

Cyrille Aimée (vocals)
Michael Valeanu, Adrien Moignard, Guilherme Monteiro (guitar)
Sam Anning (bass)
Rajiv Jayaweera (drums)