Shawn Conley (left), Cyrille Aimée and Dani Danor perform material from Aimée’s new Mack Avenue album, Let’s Get Lost, in St. Louis on Feb. 4. (Photo: Devin Rodino)
Posted 2/5/2016
Terry PerkinsVocalist Cyrille Aimée has made a strong impression on the international jazz scene over the past year and a half. The release of 2014’s It’s A Good Day, her Mack Avenue debut, helped earn Aimée the award for Rising Star–Female Vocalist in DownBeat’s 2015 Critics Poll, and a top 10 finish in the Female Vocalist category of last year’s DownBeat Readers Poll.
Aimée’s recent recognition is well earned. She moved to the New York area more than a decade ago to study jazz at SUNY Purchase, and gradually built her reputation on the club scene. A third-place finish in the 2010 Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition and first place in the 2012 Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition generated a great deal of media attention—and led to her contract with Mack Avenue.
Touring in support of her new album, Let’s Get Lost, Aimée and her backing quartet—guitarists Adrien Moignard and Michael Valeanu, bassist Shawn Conley and drummer Dani Danor—stopped in St. Louis last week for sets at the Ferring Jazz Bistro.
Speaking in the club’s green room before her first set on Feb. 4, Aimée talked about showcasing the new record in live performance—as well as the unusual two-guitar, no keyboard approach she is now using.
“As jazz musicians, when we get in the studio, we feel like we’re playing a gig and every song is seven minutes long,” said Aimée. “But our producer for this record, Fab Dupont, taught us there is the studio and there is live—two really different ways of making music. In the studio you’re under the microscope with every little detail and every measure.
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