NELLIE McKAY — Get Away from Me (2004) 2CD-SET | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

A striking mix of radical and traditional, raw emotion and literate expression, hip-hop and vocal pop, Nellie McKay's Get Away from Me is the kind of feverishly inventive, sprawling album that only comes from young artists. Though it could've easily fit onto a single CD, it's a double-disc set designed to reclaim the feeling of flipping over a record; the back cover proclaims that McKay "is a proud member of PETA." While McKay's age (21 at the time of the album's release) and sound make comparisons to Fiona Apple, Nelly Furtado, and Norah Jones easy -- she even named her album Get Away from Me as a preemptive strike against it being lumped in with Jones' Come Away with Me -- McKay is a more esoteric and hyperactively creative artist. She seems determined to prove how smart and wide-ranging she is on the album, and for the most part, she carries it off. Juxtaposing songs like the swoony torch song to New York, "Manhattan Avenue," and "Sari," a rap song about everything that gets on McKay's nerves (including McKay herself), certainly demonstrates the extremes of her music. However, these rapid-fire stylistic shifts and the sheer amount of information that McKay puts in her songs sometimes makes the album more dizzying than dazzling. But Get Away from Me succeeds, sometimes in spite of itself, as a musical document of all of the contradictions of a 19-year-old young woman with more than half a brain in her head. Some of McKay's songs deal with fairly typical themes like coming to terms with womanhood, sexuality, and relationships, but McKay attempts to cover as much lyrical ground as she does musical territory, with mixed results. On "Work Song," it sounds like McKay has heard how soul-sucking a nine-to-five can be, but it doesn't have the ring of truth that some of her other songs do. "Ding Dong," on the other hand, deals with depression in a surprisingly sprightly way, and the similarly witty "Clonie" turns human cloning into a story about self-obsession. The traditional feel of McKay's songwriting style and voice and her subversive lyrics often give Get Away from Me the feel of being the soundtrack to some long-lost feminist musical. "It's a Pose" and "Won't U Please B Nice" (sample lyric: "If we part I'll eat your heart") apply McKay's sharp wit to men and love; "I Wanna Get Married" casts a languidly scornful eye on traditional notions of marriage. These songs, along with the equally charming album opener, "David," and closer, "Really," have a lighter touch that avoids the clever-cleverness that drags down some of McKay's work, but is still miles away from the mild-mannered coffee-table jazz she loathes. Get Away from Me is an exciting debut that could become a cult favorite among pissed-off girl-women of McKay's age; if she can focus her creative energy without sacrificing any of the bite of her debut, she'll become an even more impressive talent. Heather Phares
Tracklist 1 :
1.    David    2:47
 Nellie McKay
2.    Manhattan Avenue    3:38
 Nellie McKay
3.    Sari    3:27
 Nellie McKay
4.    Ding Dong    3:11
 Nellie McKay
5.    Baby Watch Your Back    3:28
 Nellie McKay
6.    The Dog Song    3:04
 Nellie McKay
7.    Waiter    4:15
 Nellie McKay
8.    I Wanna Get Married    4:01
 Nellie McKay
9.    Change The World    3:58
 Nellie McKay
Tracklist 2 :
1.    It's A Pose    3:30
 Nellie McKay
2.    Toto Dies    4:02
 Nellie McKay
3.    Won't U Please B Nice    2:09
 Nellie McKay
4.    Inner Peace    2:53
 Nellie McKay
5.    Suitcase Song    2:33
 Nellie McKay
6.    Work Song    4:08
 Nellie McKay
7.    Clonie    1:56
 Nellie McKay
8.    Respectable    4:07
 Nellie McKay
9.    Really    3:56
 Nellie McKay
Credits :
Accordion – Norman Panto
Bass – Corin Stiggall
Cello – Richard Locker
Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone – Andy Snitzer
Concertmaster – Belinda Whitney
Double Bass – Ari Roland
Drums – Billy Kaye
Flute, Alto Saxophone – Charles Pillow
Guitar [Spanish] – Jay Berliner
Guitar, Drums [Jun Jun] – Jade Synstelien
Harp – Emily Mitchell
Orchestrated By – Paul Holderbaum
Trombone – Birch Johnson
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Jim Hynes
Violin – Andy Stein, Carol Pool, Cenovia Cummins, Joyce Hammann, Patricia Davis, Rob Shaw
Vocals, Piano, Organ, Recorder, Vibraphone, Chimes, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Synthesizer, Percussion, Arranged By, Written-By – Nellie McKay

NELLIE McKAY — Sister Orchid (2018) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 

Given her jazz-influenced sound and knack for thoughtfully chosen cover songs, it's surprising that Nellie McKay had never released a complete jazz standards album until 2018's smoky, intimately rendered Sister Orchid. The closest the idiosyncratic singer/songwriter had gotten previously was her brightly attenuated 2009 Doris Day tribute, Normal as Blueberry Pie, which found her investigating songs heavily associated with the iconic actress and singer. Similarly, on 2015's My Weekly Reader, McKay took on some of her favorite '60s pop tunes by bands like the Kinks, Herman's Hermits, Moby Grape, and others. Here, McKay takes a deftly straightforward approach, performing a set of well-chosen standards that wouldn't be out of place on an album by Blossom Dearie (another McKay touchstone) from the 1950s. McKay, who arranged and played all of the songs on Sister Orchid, recorded the album in New York with engineer Chris Allen. Allen has worked with a bevy of jazz, folk, and pop artists including Kurt Elling, José James, Ingrid Michaelson, Andrew Bird, and others, and brings a soft, natural warmth that never interferes with McKay's performance. Primarily, these are spare arrangements, often just McKay accompanying herself on piano, as on the haunting "Angel Eyes." Elsewhere, as on her dusky reading of "Where or When," she weaves in a mournful cello. There are also jaunty bits of ukulele, as on "Lazybones," which also features her overdubbed backing vocals. The Broadway-tested McKay also displays her love of cabaret as she intersperses crowd chatter and clinking glasses to theatrical effect on "Everything Happens to Me." Despite her penchant for artifice, McKay reveals her strong musical chops on Sister Orchid, launching into a mad-eyed boogie-woogie section on "Where or When" and delivering a spine-tingling, synth-accented take on "In a Sentimental Mood" that conjures the neon-soaked atmosphere of David Lynch's Twin Peaks. Matt Collar  
Tracklist :
1. My Romance 2:21
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers 
2. Angel Eyes 2:01
Earl Brent / Matt Dennis 
3. Small Day Tomorrow 3:32
Bob Dorough / Fran Landesman 
4. Willow Weep for Me 5:54
Ann Ronell 
5. The Nearness of You 2:17
Hoagy Carmichael / Ned Washington 
6. Georgia on My Mind 3:34
Hoagy Carmichael / Stuart Gorrell 
7. Lazybones 3:10
Hoagy Carmichael / Johnny Mercer 
8. Where or When 2:41
Matt Dennis / Lorenz Hart 
9. Everything Happens to Me 2:55
Tom Adair / Matt Dennis 
10. In a Sentimental Mood 3:47
Duke Ellington / Manny Kurtz 
11. My Romance (Reprise) 2:42
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers 
Credits : 
Arranged By, Performer – Nellie McKay 

NELLIE McKAY — Obligatory Villagers (2007) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The irony inherent in Obligatory Villagers, the shortest of Nellie McKay's first three albums, is that it's her most difficult to understand, comprehend, or even take in. This despite the fact that, unlike her first two albums, these nine songs don't sprawl stylistically. Except for a light pop opener -- granted, that opener is a mocking satire of conservatives called "Mother of Pearl" with an opening line ("Feminists don't have a sense of humor") that deftly counterbalances McKay's later call for a dance break -- the album is Broadway all the way. With McKay's voice and piano, plus heavyweight help from jazz horns including David Liebman, Phil Woods, and Bob Dorough (the latter a singing horn), the album charges by with lightning speed. Her nimble Broadway orchestrations step and kick so quickly that it's nearly impossible to decode McKay's lyrics until after several listens -- even keeping up with the lyric book is difficult. (On his features, Dorough plays it up perfectly, a bemused and befuddled onlooker to the madness.) The fact that Obligatory Villagers does eventually coalesce into a unified and pleasurable listening experience is primarily a testament to Nellie McKay's sizable skills in arrangement and orchestration; writing original charts to provide the meat, then quoting from show tune tradition where she needs to lighten the mood, she makes the entire album a treat, an entertaining experience that listeners will want to sit through over and over until they figure out all of the points -- large and small -- she's making in these songs. If only there were a Broadway musical companion for Obligatory Villagers that listeners could actually sit through, either to visually unite the songs or merely to watch while they listened, Obligatory Villagers would be an amazing soundtrack. John Bush  
Tracklist :
1 Mother of Pearl 2:10
Nellie McKay
Bass – Paul Rostock
Drums – Marko Marcinko
Vocals, Piano, Ukulele – Nellie McKay
2 Oversure 3:20
Nellie McKay
Baritone Saxophone – Tom Hamilton 
Bass – Paul Rostock
Clarinet, Alto Saxophone – Nelson Hill
Drums – Marko Marcinko
Guitar – Spencer Reed
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – David Liebman
Trombone – Cameron MacManus
Trumpet – Ken Brader III*
Tuba, Bass Trombone – Jim Daniels
Vocals – Bob Dorough
Vocals, Piano, Wind Chimes [Chimes], Timpani, Gong, Xylophone, Glockenspiel – Nellie McKay
3 Gin Rummy 2:58
Nellie McKay
Baritone Saxophone – Tom Hamilton 
Bass – Paul Rostock
Clarinet, Alto Saxophone – Nelson Hill
Drums – Marko Marcinko
Guitar – Spencer Reed
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – David Liebman
Trombone – Cameron MacManus
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Ken Brader III
Tuba, Bass Trombone – Jim Daniels
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Organ [Wurlitzer], Wind Chimes [Chimes], Xylophone, Glockenspiel – Nellie McKay
4 Livin 0:23
Nellie McKay
Baritone Saxophone – Tom Hamilton 
Bass – Paul Rostock
Clarinet, Alto Saxophone – Nelson Hill
Drums – Marko Marcinko
Guitar – Spencer Reed
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – David Liebman
Trombone – Cameron MacManus
Trumpet – Ken Brader III
Tuba – Jim Daniels
Vocals, Piano, Xylophone, Glockenspiel – Nellie McKay
5 Identity Theft 3:27
Nellie McKay
Alto Saxophone – Nelson Hill
Baritone Saxophone – Tom Hamilton 
Bass – Paul Rostock
Bass Trombone – Jim Daniels
Drums – Marko Marcinko
Guitar – Spencer Reed
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – David Liebman
Trombone – Cameron MacManus
Trumpet – Ken Brader III
Vocals, Piano, Xylophone, Synthesizer – Nellie McKay
6 Galleon 3:21
Nellie McKay
Alto Saxophone – Nelson Hill
Baritone Saxophone – Tom Hamilton 
Bass – Paul Rostock
Bass Trombone – Jim Daniels
Drums – Marko Marcinko
Flugelhorn – Ken Brader III
Guitar – Spencer Reed
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – David Liebman
Trombone – Cameron MacManus
Vocals – Bob Dorough
Vocals, Piano, Gong, Xylophone – Nellie McKay
7 Politan 4:18
Nellie McKay
Alto Saxophone – Phil Woods
Bass – Paul Rostock
Bass Trombone – Jim Daniels
Drums – Marko Marcinko
Flute – Nelson Hill
Guitar – Spencer Reed
Tenor Saxophone – Tom Hamilton 
Trombone – Cameron MacManus
Trumpet – Ken Brader III
Vocals – Bob Dorough, Nancy Reed
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Wind Chimes [Chimes], Gong – Nellie McKay
8 Testify 5:40
Nellie McKay
Accordion – Eric Doney
Alto Saxophone – Nelson Hill
Baritone Saxophone – Tom Hamilton 
Bass – Paul Rostock
Drums – Marko Marcinko
Guitar – Spencer Reed
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – David Liebman
Trombone – Cameron MacManus
Trumpet – Ken Brader III
Tuba, Bass Trombone – Jim Daniels
Vocals – Vicki Doney
Vocals, Organ, Piano, Ukulele, Wind Chimes [Chimes], Timpani, Gong – Nellie McKay
9 Zombie 5:56
Nellie McKay
Bass – Paul Rostock
Drums – Marko Marcinko
Featuring [Additional Assistance] – Agnieszka Rybsha, Bob Dorough, Brian Sullivan, Eric Doney, Evan Wichman, Jack Jolly, Jack Young, Kristen Jolly, Linda Kistler, Marko Marcinko, Marsha Cahn, Paul Rostock, Peter Koravesis, Peter Pappalardo, Samantha Lyon, Vicki Doney
Tenor Saxophone – Nelson Hill
Vocals, Organ [Wurlitzer], Organ – Nellie McKay