Barlow who lives in Toronto (Canada) is a fairly young singer, so it prompts the question, why is she attached to standards that belong to an era long before she was born. “I like to sing jazz and specifically the American Songbook, because the songs are timeless. They were written in the thirties and the forties, have been brought through the decades and been given every type of treatment that you can imagine. People have done them up-tempo, or perhaps as a bossa nova. Many singers have sung them, good singers, bad singers, and for a song to be able to withstand that, you really have to be at its core. It is really about the melody, the lyric and the chord progressions. You have to make them your own. I like being part of what keeps these songs alive,” she says.

Continuing along the same line for a moment longer, Barlow says, “I am not writing my own material right now, maybe I will someday, but when I sit down to write something (I find) a Cole Porter tune, or a Gershwin tune, and they are way better than anything that I am going to write. I like the idea of trying to take these songs that have been done, and adding my own special twist to them. I think that I have managed to do that with some of these songs.”

One of the songs that Barlow put a new twist on was “Pennies From Heaven,” from the CD The Very Thought Of You. “I was very proud of that arrangement, and I thought it was different. I reharmonized it and did it as a samba groove. I took a very different and fresh approach to that tune. I had the melody (to “Pennies From Heaven”) running through my head, and it sounded like a tune that I could approach in a Latin way. The arrangement also features a wonderful flute solo by Bill McBirnie.

Barlow also created a new arrangement for the Rogers and Hammerstein tune, “Surrey With The Fringe On Top,” from the musical Oklahoma. “I was aware of that song, but it hadn’t been on my radar for years, then I was listening to Mel Torme Swings Schubert Alley and he does this Marty Paich arrangement, that is just so killer and that inspired me. I went, ‘Oh I forgot about that song. What a cool song.’ I thought that Mel Torme’s idea was so cool that it sparked an idea for me.”  Barlow borrowed from Paich, and incorporated his thoughts into a few bars of the bridge in her own arrangement.

Barlow combines into one track the songs, “My Time of Day,” and “I’ve Never Been In Love Before,” from Guys and Dolls, a musical that Barlow confesses is one of her favorites. “When I was in the studio, I thought, ‘I’m not sure about this one,’ but when I decided to write a string arrangement for it, then it came to life for me.”  Strings arrangements play a big for the CD The Very Thought of You, with no less than five violinists, two violists and two cellists contributing to the textures and beautiful colors.

Barlow demonstrates her versatility as an artist, when she sings the fourth track, "Les Yeux Ouverts (Dream A Little Dream Of Me)," and “C’est Si Bon,” entirely in French. With the former song, she once again utilizes the string section to great effect, and on the later tune tenor saxophonist, Mike Murley provides a great accompaniment and an even better solo.  No song appears to daunting for Barlow as she lends her emotive vocals to singing Joao Gilberto's "De Conversa Em Conversa," in Portuguese. She delivers a brightly colored and beautiful interpretation.

There is nothing pretentious or overly technical about Barlow’s vocals, she is able to strike an incredibly beautiful balance and vulnerability with songs such as, “The Boy Next Door,” and becomes the playful lover on Winter Wonderland, as performs the duet, “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” with Marc Jordan.

Emilie-Claire Barlow has already had a very successful career in Canada, as a jazz vocalist, arranger, and producer, while managing her own career. The rest of the world is just beginning to discover, what I heard, several years ago when driving in my car, beside Lake Ontario, and the DJ from Wave 94.7 in Hamilton Ontario announced that the next song was by Emilie-Claire Barlow, that being that she is a very gifted artist.

March 2008

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