HEADS UP!! VOCALIST SACHAL VASANDANI HEADLINES AT VITELLO’S WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15 TO DELIVER SONGS FROM HIS HOT NEW RELEASE. GET RESERVATIONS AT WWW.VITELLOSRESTAURANT.COM

Sachal Vasandani
Hi-Fly
Mack Avenue Records
www.mackavenue.com
By George W. Harris

There’s plenty of room for bona-fide young male jazz singers, and
Sachal Vasandani is filling the void quite well, thank you. He’s put
out a few previous releases, all of them excellent, and this one ups
the ante, as his voice sounds confident, mature, and completely all its
own. No audible debt to singers of the 50s or 60s, his rich high
baritone/beefy tenor of a voice is completely comfortable swinging
material as diverse as Amy Winehouse’s “Love Is A Losing Game” or a
standard like “The Very Thought Of You,” a wise quality for someone
wanting to connect with a new generation of listeners. For the most
part, the material is mellow and late night hour moody, but he kicks
the music up a notch when he joins up with bop icon Jon Hendricks for a
romping “One Mint Julep” and the title track, two fun filled
highlights. Trumpet sensation Ambrose Akinmusire has a nice guest
appearance as well, on “Babe’s Blues” which also demonstrates some of
Vasandani’s remarkable dynamics and vocal range. Clever, cool and
contemporary, this guy has nowhere to go but up.