Champian Fulton - LYDIALIEBMAN.COM

Meet Me at Birdland
Release date: April 7, 2023

Swing pulses through New York-based jazz vocalist and pianist Champian Fulton’s veins. Since her arrival on the scene in 2003, Fulton has been lauded for her poise and allure. A live Champian Fulton performance ensures a radiant ambiance pronounced by the multi-talent’s clarion vocals and lush keys. Birdland Jazz Club was witness to this glory in September of 2022, when Fulton enjoyed a four-night stint without repeating a single tune, all while documenting what would become her latest live album. Those tapes yielded the polished Meet Me at Birdland, Fulton’s sixteenth album as a leader.

In 2015, Scott Yanow wrote that Fulton “grows in stature with each recording,” after the release of her prized date, Change Partners. Now a veteran on the scene, this seasoned jazz messenger presents a collection of sophisticated standards sprinkled with one prolific instrumental original on her cultivated new offering. Breathing charm into the turn of each lyrical and instrumental phrase, Fulton soars in the company of bassist Hide Tanaka and drummer Fukushi Tainaka.

Suspending listeners into the simulation of a live show, Meet Me at Birdland opens with an introduction from Birdland club owner Gianni Valenti as he welcomes and thanks the audience for supporting live music. Fulton is bubbling from the beginning on “Too Marvelous for Words,” a melodic route that demands and effectively serves dexterity from an intuitive rhythm section.

Optimism is stamped across Fulton’s repertoire, something she considers essential to her purpose as an artist. This uplifting spirit culminates on the original “Happy Camper,” a scintillating instrumental and deft showcase of rhythmic acuity. Tainaka enjoys a particularly brilliant episode to round off the advancing melodic navigation.

While Fulton is full of cheer and known for it, it’s on heartfelt tunes such as “It’s Been A Long Long Time” where she so earnestly unveils her intimidation factor—at once, she narrates two points of view as a singer and pianist, both without sacrifice. The 1935 tune “Every Now and Then” is another example, where Fulton bathes in slower tempos while her piano prowess asserts itself as singular rather than complementary to her voice. “I Didn’t Mean A Word I Said” is yet another prime example of Fulton’s piano ingenuity, and she recognizes it with a humble laugh at the sound of the audience’s applause. Listeners will naturally sympathize with the gradual velocity on her commanding arrangement of “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” considering the timely mid-season delivery of Meet Me at Birdland.

Fulton’s devotion to early jazz tradition is vividly transparent on “Evenin’”. The savory and playful track boasts elongated solos from each band member as they recreate the improvisational bebop style of Kansas City jazz of the 1930s.

Count Basie, Erroll Garner, Fats Waller and Clark Terry are a few of her musical heroes, whom she pays homage to throughout Meet Me at Birdland on her rendition of Phineas Newborn’s instrumental “Theme for Basie,” as well as the blues-infused “I Don’t Care.” In the album liner notes, GRAMMY® Award-winning scholar Ricky Riccardi cites Fulton as one of few living pianists capable of evoking Erroll Garner affectionately.

The savvy performer reinvents the breathtaking standard “I’ve Got a Crush on You” with a fresh intimacy, while the waltz “Just Friends” inevitably swings at times. As she introduces the traditional “I Only Have Eyes For You” at the finale, Fulton is cheeky in her efforts to invite the audience back tomorrow. “Every set is totally different..we never know what’s going to happen,” an ironic forward to a tune with a definitive title, which she dutifully commits every end of her vocal range to. Though at this point, no matter what makes up Fulton’s phrase, we can’t help but to trust her as we continue to listen and bask in the luminosity of a bright star.

Live From Lockdown
Release date: September 10, 2021

The multifaceted pianist and vocalist Champian Fulton's new album Live from Lockdown comes from the artist's captivating Sunday-evening webcasts. Recorded throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, Fulton's streaming efforts took audiences by storm. After lockdown, she decided to offer a permanent recording of her series. Released digitally and as a limited edition compact disc, Live from Lockdown features a representative selection of some of the most popular sessions from Fulton and her steadfast collaborator, her father Stephen Fulton on flugelhorn and trumpet. A profound display of cheerful composure during an uncertain time, Live from Lockdown showcases the musicians’ sophisticated synchronicity among a collection of re-imagined jazz classics and Fulton originals.

When the COVID-19 lockdown swept Manhattan last spring, Champian Fulton saw her packed schedule full of concerts and tours vanish before her eyes. “I couldn’t believe it when all the cancellations started rolling in; it was really devastating to see an entire calendar year of touring vanish.” Fulton shares. With venues closed, and with social distancing in full effect, Champian and her father, noted trumpeter and flugelhornist, began performing at home for a virtual audience. The concerts were an instant success, bringing in over 20,000 viewers on a given week, and winning legions of new fans for the Fulton family duo. “Live streaming was a total lifesaver for me. It not only gave me a way to stay motivated about my music but it connected me to my fans in a way I never knew possible. I felt so much love and positivity each Sunday; it kept me going through a very tough time.”

The success of the live-stream (which is still going strong albeit on a less rigorous schedule) inspired Champian to record a full album devoted to the concept. The resulting work goes well beyond the novelty, and is certainly far too cohesive a work to be thought of as a mere souvenir.

“For future listeners just hearing the music without knowing the context, it will be pleasure undiluted. For those of us who know the context, I think it will be one of those pleasures that deserves to be called sustaining, a gift that helped us in a rough time and, more importantly, told us it was worth getting through,” says critic Charles Taylor in his liner notes.

Live From Lockdown opens with Ray Noble’s, “I Hadn’t Anyone Till You.” Champian’s rosy rendition maintains a hopeful charm, even with Stephen’s short blows and percussive notes resembling a heavy heart behind Champian in her effervescence. On an original composition from the duo, “Pass the Hat”, Stephen performs a buoyant lowdown and more stylistic offering that is mutually grasped by his daughter on the piano.

Champian’s diverse range across Live from Lockdown is a showcase of a newfound posture she revels in while in the company of her witty partner. Her vocal versatility is embodied on tracks like “What Will I Tell My Heart”, and as the liner notes point out, “she can go from a high whispery register, consistently present throughout the album, to sudden low swoops that bounce us back to earth.” Uniquely, the Fultons cover Harry Warren and Mack Gordon’s “I Had The Craziest Dream” nodding to the ambiguity of our present moment, while still directing our ears and eyes toward normality sometime soon.

Fulton considers her optimistic spirit a statement of purpose, as her musical repertoire has always tended toward the sunny. And radiant she is on this twelve-track selection in the company of her father. Live from Lockdown is a reminder of how in sync the pair are on their first ever duo recording together.

“The Sunday series of ‘Live from Lockdown’ really reminded me of the importance of the Jazz community,” Fulton reflects. “I felt such friendship and kindness each week as people tuned in and chatted with me, checking out different records and sharing videos. It sustained me and gave me a hopeful perspective for the future of this music. I hope this recording gives the same feeling to the listener.”