Antoinette Montague Summer 2010 Performance Schedule

    FAIRFIELD, CT, July 21, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Antoinette Montague swings into the heat of summer with some blistering hot Jazz and Blues performances for Jazzmobile and the Summer Breeze Concert Series with her fabulous quintet, featuring Bill Easley.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Jazzmobile
Antoinette Montague Quintet with Bill Easley, Tommy James & Payton Crossley, et al
135th Street between 7th and 8th Aves.
New York, NY
Host: 135th Street Precinct

Tuesday, August 17, 2010
7:00 pm
Summer Breeze Concert Series
Antoinette Montague Quintet
City Hall Plaza
Mt. Vernon, NY

Friday, August 27, 2010
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Jazzmobile
Antoinette Montague Quintet
with Bill Easley, Tommy James & Payton Crossley , et. al
The Jackie Robinson Bandshell
149th Street, NYC

Buy the "Behind the Smile" CD here:

J&R Music
http://www.jr.com/product/music/pm/_1281922/

Allegro Media Group
http://www.allegro-music.com/online_catalog.asp?sku_tag=IGV3212

Amazon
http://tinyurl.com/2g9qbfj

Barnes & Noble
http://tinyurl.com/2b3p6e5

DOWNBEAT REVIEW:
Antoinette Montague
"Behind The Smile"
In the Groove Records

Antoinette Montague's name and elegant physical appearance have the touch of royalty. It's silly to take the regal comparison too far, yet her singing on her second album suggests a fitting for a tiara isn't out of the question. Focused and with purity of intent, she skillfully advances stories that are open-hearted gifts to listeners rather than exhibits of showy technique or solipsistic disclosure. Long under the spell of Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, mentored by Carrie Smith and Etta Jones, Montague has the vocal command and depth of feeling to make you believe the words to songs, even potentially mawkish ones.

Impeccable in her choice of material, Montague brings the right expressive qualities to Duke Ellington's neglected "Lost in Meditation" and "23rd Psalm"; her reverie over a lost love in the former is pitched emotionally between romantic fantasy and hopelessness, while the inner strength taken from her time singing gospel fuels her delivery of the lyrics to the Bible-inspired song for Mahalia Jackson. Also underscoring Montague's appreciation of classics are the revival of the standard "The Song Is You" and the makeover of Ray Noble's "I Hadn't Anyone 'Till You" as a sprightly bossa nova.

The singer, who usually performs in New York, might have invited disaster doing Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," but she wins out by making lyrics about the turbulent 1960s sound pertinent to the present time. The rather bold decision to interpret bluesman Big Bill Broonzy's mildly disreputable "Give Your Mama One Smile" pays off; her controlled excitement sits well with Bill Easley's clarinet. She sounds stagy, false in feeling, only on the chestnut "Somewhere In The Night." With Easley, Mulgrew Miller and Peter and Kenny Washington alongside, Montague is in good company. But she may actually be over-appreciative of the musicians as the arrangements sometimes give too much room to soloists at her expense.

- Frank-John Hadley

For bookings, please contact Blues Straight Ahead: 203-820-8819
www.antoinettemontague.com

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