Review in the Chestnut Hill Local

By MICHAEL CARUSO
Chestnut Hill Local
March 13, 2014

KATIE EAGLESON

Flourtown songstress Katie Eagleson will offer two concert sets to mark the release of her CD, “In My Fashion,” Sunday, March 16, at 2 p.m. in the Jacobs Music Store in Willow Grove on Route 611 just south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

“During intermission,” Eagleson said, “we’ll be serving complimentary refreshments, including my home-made chocolate chip cookies. I’ll be performing with my regular fellows: Lenny Pierro on saxophone, Madison Rast on bass and Grant MacAvoy on drums. We’re happy to be joined by Tom Lawton on piano, Adeline Tomasone on flute and Tom Giacabetti on guitar, all of whom played on the CD.

“Lenny (Pierro) and I choose the material together. That is, we both bring songs to the table and try them out. I choose the song primarily because I like the lyrics, or I like the way the lyrics and the melody fit together. Lenny says he’s usually attracted to the melodic and harmonic content first. But at the end of the day, some songs just grab you, and you don’t know why.”

I found “In My Fashion” to offer a superb selection of numbers from the “Great American Songbook” of pop standards that have been sung by vocalists for decades. Yet, here they are given a contemporary twist. In contradiction of the assurance on “Downton Abbey” by the Dowager Countess that “nothing succeeds like excess,” Eagleson and her band-mates prove that “less can be more.” Amid a bevy of favorites, my primary choice would be her rendition of Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg”s “Over the Rainbow,” made iconic by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz.” Her renditions of “My Shining Hour,” “Nice ’n’ Easy,” “Long Ago and Far Away” and “All the Things You Are” are no less praiseworthy, making “In My Fashion” a gem of a CD.

Tickets for the concert are $12, and seating is limited. All CDs will be sold for $10 on the day of the concert.