Houston, TX, August 10, 2011 –  Had he heard it, Tianna Hall’s latest album, “Never Let Me Go,” might have enthralled and inspired even the late, great Frank Sinatra. Featuring songs worthy of the romantic 1940s hit film “Casablanca,” this CD can almost make one imagine Tianna performing in Rick’s Café Américain, as Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund exchange furtive, but longing glances. In this, her latest release, Tianna’s rich, sultry voice is supported by Mike Wheeler & Mike Nase’s exotic guitar melodies and the strains of Lisa Vosdoganes’ moody cello.

Tianna Hall

As many jazz connoisseurs already know, Tianna captivates her audiences with her endearing feminine persona and a passionate flair for the dramatic—not to mention that she boasts one of the most beautiful and exquisite voices in jazz music today. Having heard Tianna in concert several times, this author can say with some authority that “Never Let Me Go” embodies these qualities of Tianna’s live performance, and perhaps a little bit more. Making things even more interesting, during the album’s studio recording sessions, Tianna and her husband Matthew Hitchens were eagerly anticipating the birth of their first child.

"As [our soon-to-be-born son] was lending his internal percussion on the album,” Tianna told Joey Guerra of The Houston Chronicle, “I was singing the swing tunes. On the ballads and bossa novas, he relaxed and just hung out. It was pretty funny. That little boy was on all my gigs with me until I neared the end of my pregnancy and was put on bed rest.” Not long after, she and Matthew became the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy, Lex, who was born in January this year.

“Never Let Me Go” opens with the bouncy jazz ditty, “Blue Heaven.” There’s something about the rhythm guitar dancing around each melodic verse that gives this tune an almost Hawaiian feel. The title track, “Never Let Me Go,” is a yearning, melancholy love song in which brilliantly exemplifies Tianna’s emotive vocal prowess. Soft cello strains weave a mournfully expressive undercurrent, while the intimate guitar accompaniment gently transforms the song into a gentle lullaby filled with longing and romance.

The defiant, “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” is another tune that captures Tianna’s broad emotional palette. An ornate guitar solo, further heightened by subtle nods to the blues, ripples through the song like a wistful, fluid undercurrent.  Another distinctive song is “Charade,” distinguished by its mysterious, Spanish-influenced sonic colors. Tianna waltzes through its exotic minor-key melody with a distinctively haunting grace.

Two songs on the album, “Samba Do Aviao” and “Fotografia,” are sung in Portuguese. Whether one speaks the language or not, one can readily pick up on Tianna’s exquisite vocal inflections and story telling prowess while still enjoying the richly romantic instrumental accompaniment. The later verses of “Fotografia” are sung in English, leaving the listener with a paradoxically dreamy yet regret-filled tale of love and loss.

The album wraps up with the comically pessimistic song, “Everything Happens To Me.” Tianna squarely nails the nostalgic yet sarcastic mood of the song right from the first vocal bar. “I fell in love just once,” she croons dolefully, “and it had to be with you. Everything Happens to Me!”

Though “Never Let Me Go” may be Tianna’s debut release on the Blue Bamboo Music record label, the Houston vocalist has already built an impressive three-album catalogue including her Grammy recognized CD, “Ballads & Bossas.” That recording also features guitarist and arranger Danny McKnight.  Her self-released 2007 debut album, “Lost In The Stars,” included instrumental work by The Mexico City Jazz Trio.

Meanwhile, “Never Let Me Go” is currently enjoying international airplay. It’s currently spinning on the virtual platters of Sirius XM's Real Jazz station as well. The track listing on the recording includes authentic Brazilian songs (which Tianna croons in Portuguese), intermingled with nostalgic swing jazz standards from the Great American Songbook.

If you’re looking for music that’s deliciously different from standard contemporary fare, you might want to give Tianna’s latest effort a try. Conventionally jewel cased versions of all Tianna’s albums are available for purchase via Tianna’s official website. For digital music and iPod fans, downloads and individual MP3s are available through iTunes -from Washington Times "Communities"

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"Tianna Hall had a "little" unexpected help while recording new album Never Let Me Go. Her then-unborn son, Alexander "Lex" Hitchens.

"He’s a big boy and loved to stick his butt into my lungs. It made me sound a little different on this album, almost breathless at times. But I like it," Hall says.

"As he was lending his internal percussion on the album, I was singing the swing tunes. On the ballads and bossa novas, he relaxed and just hung out. It was pretty funny. That little boy was on all my gigs with me until I neared the end of my pregnancy and was put on bed rest.

Lex even gets an "internal percussion" credit on the disc, which features a smoky, assured mix of standards, in English and otherwise. Hall deftly handles a pair of of Brazilian bossa novas by the legendary Antonio Carlos Jobim, including standout Fotografia.

"Samba do Avião, is really a song about that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you’re coming home," Hall says. The cello really sets the stage on Fotografia. The lush arrangement has an air of romanticism -- a terrace in Brazil overlooking the ocean at night, a closing bar, a full moon."

Hall adds some bounce to the Johnny Mercer/Henry Mancini classic Charade and Doris Day's Secret Love. She even namechecks guitarists Mike Nase and Mike Wheeler on sublime kickoff track My Blue Heaven.

"We’ve worked together at various venues throughout the city," Hall says. "This song embodies our easy camaraderie on the bandstand -- and it just makes me grin like an idiot. I love that."

Multi-gig weeks are a regular part of Hall's schedule. Her calendar includes Sundays at the Tasting Room in Uptown Park; every other Monday at Sambuca downtown; and pick ups at Cezanne, Hotel Sorella and any place hip to her jazz eleganza.

"Oh, honey, that ain't nothin', she says. "Two years ago, I had two nights off a month. Now, that was nuts."

"It’s been difficult for me to take the time for myself to go and work my gigs around town with my little guy here now. He’s five months old. But I think he understands and enjoys the boy time he gets to have with his dad. They'll both be at the CD release at Cezanne to cheer me on. I love my fellas." -The Houston Chronicle, Joey Guerra

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"Never Let Me Go is Houston-native vocalist Tianna Hall's third release, and first for Blue Bamboo Music, following her self-produced Lost in the Stars (2007) and Ballads and Bossas (2010). Hall has preferred the intimacy of smaller accompaniment on her first two recordings, a preference she carries to Never Let Me Go. The singer is support by guitarists Mike Wheeler and Mike Nase, cellist Lisa Vasdoganes and percussionist James Metcalfe in a style that is equal parts Hot Club, Carnegie Hall, and Grand Old Opry.

Hall's performance style is one of Americana, paralleling that of fellow singer and Houstonian Jacqui Sutton and her Frontier Orchestra (Billie & Dolly (Toy Blue Typewriter, 2010)). The music's personality is a bit sepia-toned with contemporary notes of modernity. Americana is not all that is featured as Hall's Portuguese is impeccable and she can spin a web with composer Antonio Carlos Jobim.

On Never Let Me Go, it is about standards and Hall's steamy-sardonic take on the Broadway writers Arthur Schwartz—Howard Dietz classic "You and the Night and the Music" from the 1934 Broadway show Revenge With Music removes the love song to a more complex and provocative level. Well-covered, the piece is propelled into full swing mode by Wheeler and Nase, who provide an orchestra of support. One guitar provides a bass line and rhythm and the other filigree with Hall rushing the lyrics just ahead of the beat, giving her singing a laconic, matter-of-fact tone.

Hall's voice is a solid alto with sensual grit, not too little and not too much: just enough love dust to get the point across. She sings as an impatient lover comforting her insecure love object in seduction. The projected sentiment is compounded and compelling. Wheeler and Nase both solo to great effect within these small confines proving often less is more. The piece is a triumph of minimization, where brevity wins every time." -AllAboutJazz.com

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"Tianna Hall has released a new album called Never Let Me Go(Blue Bamboo Music), and if you enjoy hearing someone sing with a smoky, slightly husky tone that is both alluring and warm, you will love her.

What I like about this album is that these songs are just accompanied with a guitarist or two, so while the guitars help to create and perfect the mood, it is Hall who is the commander of the ship. The songs feel more intimate because of the minimalistic feel of it, so one tends to want to hear her words and how she sings songs like “I Can’t Get Started (With You)”, “You And The Night And The Music”, and “You Don’t Know What Love Is”. I’d love to be in a town unknown walk into a club, see and hear this lady onstage as my only means of sanity for the night. Hall is a very good singer, and while I wouldn’t mind hearing her with a wide range of musicians, this is the quiet storm that I will find myself satisfied with." -ThisIsBooksMusic.com

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