With a Song in My Heart - Gill Manly - Sempre Audio (translation)

The recording took place on 19th and 20th February 2008 in Underhill Studios, London. Gill Manly was supported by Simon Wallace on piano, Mark Hodgson on bass, Ralph Salmins on drums and the trumpeter Guy Barker. Mark Murphy delivered a short guest appearance joining Gill on vocals. The aim of the album "With a Song in My Heart" was to capture Gill Manly's personal reflections on the work of Ella Fitzgerald. The album therefore includes jazz standards such as Midnight Sun, Daydream, Taxi Driver, A Night in Tunisia or Take Love Easy and Lush Life. All of course in immensely interesting, accessible and catchy interpretations.

With every track Manly throws into the ring her experience gained through years of live performing. She succeeds, effortlessly, in drawing the audience - here the listener - under her spell within a few bars. Her training as a actress must likewise have been very helpful in developing the feel for how one can have a great effect with little accents and small gestures. Thus the artist baffles you as the listener with constantly new facettes and details, just when you mistakenly think there is nothing more to surprise you.

The album, produced by Simon Wallace and Gill Manly herself, is beautifully mixed by Simon Wallace and Mark Murphy, and refined by Philip Hobbs' mastering. Hobbs is also responsible for creating the excellent surround sound mix which is used on this hybrid SACD alongside a high resolution stereo mix. But even as a pure CD this recording makes a very good impression, especially as it is encoded as HDCD and therefore on the corresponding systems that special something shines through with more dynamism, polish, fullness and brilliance.

As already mentioned, Linn Records make the album available not only in hybrid SACD format but also as a download from their website. You can choose between studio master quality (24 Bit, 44.1 kHz) and CD quality, each in the following formats - FLAC, WMA and MP3 (320 kBps and 44.1 kHz).

In "With a Song in My Heart" Gill Manly has achieved a fantastic piece work. The album is like a good book which you can't put down till you've reached the last page. And having reached the last page, leaves you wanting more . . .