Andy James feat. ALEX ACUÑA, Jon Cowherd, Marcus Gilmore & Chico Pinheiro - Happy People (2025) [Hi-Res]

After many years as an internationally acclaimed flamenco dancer, based in Madrid, and traveling the globe with some of the genre’s most acclaimed musicians and performers, Andy James made an artful transition into jazz, both as a singer of heartfelt originals and stellar interpreter of timeless classics and cool renditions of the Great American Songbook era and beyond.

From her debut album, Caravan, through her latest release, Let Me See Your Heart, Andy’s impactful emergence as a vocalist and songwriter is the culmination of a lifelong passion that began when she was growing up in Melbourne, Australia. She was influenced by the exquisite tastes of her flamenco-loving father and jazz singer mother, who would play their favorite music every morning around the breakfast table. Always believing that “Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald were in my soul at birth,” Andy has equally fond memories of singing with her mom, Lois Lorraine Lang, from the age of three and hearing Sarah and Ella records all day long during those formative years.

The deepest, most soul-satisfying expression of Andy’s ever-evolving artistry to date, Let Me See Your Heart, showcases her romantic intimacy and sly swing-ability via a dynamic and eclectic mix of originals penned by Andy with her husband and co-producer Piero Pata and pianist/arranger John Cowherd. The album also includes fresh twists on well-known Songbook and pop standards, including “Bali Hai” from South Pacific, a rare, otherworldly vocal version of Dave Brubeck’s “Take 5,” and a bluesy, high-spirited, powerhouse romp through Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.”

Encouraged by her life and creative partner Piero, Andy’s ongoing evolution as a songwriter is a wonder to behold, spotlighted here on three compelling tunes - the lively, optimistic “Let’s Talk of Love,” which Andy calls “our take on a 1940s style swing tune, a nice little happy gay romantic ditty”; the haunting, melancholy “Let’s Try”; and the charming and life-affirming, mid-tempo bluesy ballad, “Let Me See Your Heart.”

Yet the emotional core of the collection comes with Andy’s takes of six beautifully arranged and produced tunes recorded once upon a time by Vaughan, starting with the tender and heartfelt Michel Legrand/Alan and Marilyn Bergman “mini set” that includes the album’s first lead single,“I Was Born In Love With You,” and the melancholy closing track, “I Will Say Goodbye.” The other “Sarah songs” are a wistful, breezy and sweetly exotic spin on Dori Caymmi’s“Photograph,” the hopeful, torchy ballad “For Every Man There’s A Woman,” a hip, whimsicalstroll through “All Or Nothing At All” (which was also once recorded by Ella Fitzgerald), and a haunting, deeply emotional immersion into “Danny Boy,” complemented by Cowherd’s stirring piano.

“While we laid the foundation for the album with the three originals, we were always thinking about Sarah and how she would have compiled an album built on gorgeous ballads,” says Andy, who makes her home in Las Vegas. “To best honor her, we thought about the wonderful things she did in her career and contemplated what she might do now.”

It is a testament to the esteem Andy has generated in the jazz world these past years, that she once again works with some of the genre’s most venerable and legendary studio musicians on Let Me See Your Heart. Her ensemble includes four greats who also played on her most recent project, 2022’s acclaimed Rhythm in New York – Cowherd, drummer Nate Smith, percussionist Alex Acuna and bassist John Patitucci, who also collaborated with the singer on her 2021 live album An Evening with Andy James & John Pattitucci.