Stephanie Rivers

This is jazz, and it’s soul, cleanly produced and smoothly sung. Rivers offers an interesting mix of rhythms in “Fairy Tales” from the Play Things EP (2008).

According to her own marketing information, on the Stephanie Rivers Web site, she hails from Tulsa Oklahoma. Apparently she was a child entertainer, singing in and around Tulsa, in just about every venue you can imagine. She lists legends such as Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin among her influences, along with more recent but equally talented singers such as Ani DiFranco, Lauren Hill and Mariah Carey.

For some reason, it seems those performers who take some time with classical piano and voice develop natural talent in a unique way. “The Whole” has some exquisite jazz guitar to accompany Rivers’ soulful singing. This writer was about to comment on her “worldly” sound when he discovered that she experienced the hip-hop world in London and tasted the music of some of the best in Italy as well. When she began to work on her own “sound” she brought in Camila Celin on lead guitar, Greg Richardson on bass, Dani Correa to contribute on drums and Keenan Walter for some wonderful keyboard work. Thomas Jacobs adds vocals.

There isn’t a label yet, according to the Web information. But it won’t take long, I’d wager.

Stephanie Rivers on MySpace

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