Stephanie K. - Subterranean Dream (2007)

Stephanie K has emerged like the Venus of jazz“ with a fully-developed style that is more in keeping with that of a veteran artist. Her voice has a presence that immediately captures your attention, drawing you into her sphere of musical influence, emitting flashes of Aretha Franklin, Carol King, Diana Krall and Billie Holiday. But Stephanie K is no derivative jazz singer; she is a true original (understand that she had never even heard Anita O'Day as recently as a year ago). And she has at her command an impressive level of musicianship, with the phrasing, intonation and time sense of the seasoned jazz musician. That she came by all this as a mother of four living in Northern Germany for the past thirteen years is powerful testament to her natural abilities. Stephanie K's musical tastes run to rich, rarely-heard ballads that are brought to life by her torchy vocal style, fresh renderings of canonical popular tunes and vivid transformations of chestnuts from the American songbook...