Audrey Silver - Oklahoma, Jazz Arrangements from the Musical (2023)

Growing up in a musical family, Audrey Silver was born and raised in New York City. Originally trained as a classical pianist and cellist, she loved jazz at an early age and co-founded Brown University’s first coed, jazz a cappella group, The Higher Keys. She began her singing career in earnest in 1998 when she teamed with Jon Raney, son of pianist Jimmy Raney, and produced her first demo with the help of Ronnie Zito (Woody Herman, Bobby Darin) and Jay Leonhart (Judy Garland, Tony Bennett). She went on to hone her craft through private study with Shelia Jordan and Mark Murphy. She has performed at some of New York’s best-known jazz clubs and music venues, including Zinc Bar, Jazz at Kitano, 55 Bar, and Cornelia Street Cafe. Nationally, she has performed at large festivals and venues nationwide, including the Tanglewood Jazz Festival and the JVC Jazz Festival. Silver is also an accomplished songwriter and was a semi-finalist in the 2016 edition of the International Songwriting Competition.

Silver has loved musicals since she was little. As a child, she went to Broadway shows, watched movie musicals, and listened to her father’s collection of soundtracks. One of her favorites was “Oklahoma!” So, on her latest recording, Oklahoma, she naturally re-visits her early love of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical with ten of her own jazz interpretations of songs from the show.

This is Silver’s fifth CD as a leader and follows Let Me Know Your Heart (2019), Very Early (2016), Dream Awhile (2009), and Here in My Arms (2004) Silver set her sights on creating an album with an intimate, jazz chamber music feel, employing a line up of some of the best musicians in town. The album features the notable talents of Bruce Barth (piano) Peter Bernstein (guitar), Adam Kolker (alto flute, bass clarinet), and Kahlil Kwane Bell (percussion). Silver is also accompanied on three tracks by a string section comprising Sarah Zun, Adda Kridler, Kaya Bryla, and Maria Jeffer.

It is a noteworthy album that continues the qualities we’ve grown to expect from her previous offerings, Oklahoma is set for release on October 6, 2023