Laura Crema - StringSongs (2022)

Laura Crema: voice
Bill Coon: archtop & nylon string guitars
Peggy Lee: cello
John Bentley: tenor saxophone

National Jazz Award winning guitarist Bill Coon and acclaimed Canadian vocalist Laura Crema have collaborated on a book of genre-spanning original songs. Their offering draws on jazz, Latin, country, and folk music, and evokes a wide range of moods, from carefree exuberance to haunting melancholy. The sumptuous sonic interplay between Laura, Bill, and their renowned collaborators Peggy Lee & Jon Bentley creates a lush, layered, and thoroughly mesmerizing sound.

Their new album STRINGSONGS developed organically, the product of a longstanding musical friendship developed over the course of countless dates with a wide variety of bands. Fittingly, their first song began life as Benni, an instrumental Coon had written for a dear friend. Coon asked Crema if she was interested in writing some lyrics to help capture the essence of friendship and loss – themes which became essential leitmotifs for their entire collaboration.

“Bill Coon is one of Canada’s treasures, a master improviser on the guitar…”
Brandon Bernstein, Just Jazz Guitar Magazine
“All great jazz singers have at least three qualities in common. The first is that unique timbre that sets their voice apart. The second is the material they choose to sing. And the third is the fresh ideas and insights they bring to those songs. Laura Crema has all three in spades.”
CBC Radio