By Tone Hardy of “Jazz On Ice – The Sunday Brunch”
The Doctor Reviews Debora Galan’s latest CD All About Love
Published on June 8, 2018
In a world of overproduced music, synthesized horns and abundant jazz covers of R&B and Pop music, Deborah Galan’s breakout CD All About Love is a welcome breath of fresh air to the lover of real music. Galan is one part Barbara Streisand, one part Sade and two parts Debora Galan. Her Latin origins, her fire, her passion and her vocal range shine thru, providing an authentic Latin Jazz listening experience. Every song is an original composition, something almost unheard of in this day and age.
Her vocal excellence notwithstanding, I think I was equally impressed by Ms. Galan, the Executive Producer. Her collaboration with multi-instrumentalist, producer and arranger Allan Phillips and the incredible band she has behind her, lends tremendous credibility to Debora as a band leader and director. I look forward to eventually seeing her perform live, whenever she graces the East Coast with her Queenly presence.
There is no title track for All About Love. Rather, each song is a stitch of the tapestry of her description of love, in all its facets, that she weaves throughout this artwork. “Love is the greatest and most powerful emotion that everyone relates to,” Ms. Galan stated in a recent interview on the radio show, “Jazz On Ice – The Sunday Brunch” on WNLK in Norwalk, CT and WSTC in Stamford, CT. Love between a couple, familial love, spiritual love, love between friends and brokenhearted love are all covered in this remarkable compendium of musical genius.
Just like Sade, who did her own thing in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, Ms. Galan does her own thing on this recording. “I wanted to be different, by not having cover tunes”, she stated in the aforementioned interview. Different, is an understatement. Unique, is a far better description of what I have listened to over the last week or so.
The song “Arms of Love” describes the enchantment of love. It’s accented by a smooth soprano saxophone solo by Kamau Kenyatta. Ricardo “Tiki” Pasillas sets the Latin tempo with his masterful percussion play.
“Luz Del Sol (Light of the Sun)” is one of two songs Debora sings in the Spanish language. In my opinion, this adds to the authenticity of the song, and further immerses the listener in Latin culture. I felt like grabbing a Mojito and joining the party. The horn section punctuates the song, most notably Derek Cannon on the trumpet, John Rekevics on the saxophone and Daniel Regan on the trombone.
There are two version of the song “So This is Love? (A Esto Le Llamas Amor?), one in English and one in Spanish. Listening to the two versions back to back several times, I found myself drawn to the authenticity of the Spanish version. I closed my eyes and was immediately transported to any number of Latin countries or Latin American communities in the United States where I had some of the best times of my life.
“Unconditional Love” is an anthem to true love, as she triumphantly sings about her man. It’s the kind of positive message lacking in music today, and it makes you believe true love is possible for you too.
“I’ll Be Here” describes the love of a friend, and the background vocals of Natalya Phillips sprinkled throughout are encouraging and soothing. You can hear the Barbara Streisand influence in “Love Sublime”. The beauty of her voice is highlighted in “Through the Eyes of a Child”. As a father, my mind went back to the days when my only son was a toddler. Thoughts of getting down on the floor and crawling around with him, looking at the world from his vantage point, the way he saw it, is what she beautifully describes in this song. After listening, you will be moved to hug your child, regardless of their age.
This project is the child of Debora Galan’s discipline of prayer and meditation, or “divine inspiration”, as she describes it. If you are looking for beautiful arrangements, original compositions, cultural diversity, originality and a really, really, really good time, All About Love should absolutely be a part of your music collection today.
