NELLIE McKAY - Obligatory Villagers [2007] FLAC (tracks+.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. by 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 (2), 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

NELLIE McKAY - Obligatory Villagers

 [2007] Hungry Mouse / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

O Púbis da Rosa

NELLIE McKAY - Sister Orchid [2018] FLAC

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.  by 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 - Sister Orchid 

[2018] Palmetto / FLAC / scans

 O Púbis da Rosa