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FOR YOUR GRAMMY® CONSIDERATION
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Song of the Year
“The Man I Love Is Gone”
by Laura Ainsworth and George Gagliardi
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Laura Ainsworth’s New Vintage Brings “Traditional Pop Vocals” into the 21st Century!
“Thank you, Laura, for making the Great American Songbook exciting and fun again!” – David Gasten, producer, This Is Vintage Now
For Your consideration in “Traditional Pop Vocal Album” and “The Man I Love Is Gone” for “Best Song”
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From STUDIO 67 in Hollywood
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Laura Ainsworth interviewed on “Buddies Lounge,” the national radio show/podcast dedicated to lounge jazz, bachelor pad and exotica (the host normally doesn’t feature contemporary artists,
but he broke format to include Laura) Listen Here |
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Laura Ainsworth Swings by the Penthouse to Tell All About
New Vintage
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| On the internationally-syndicated radio show/podcast “Cocktail Nation,” interviewed by the king of all things swank, host Koop Kooper: Listen Here |
New Vintage is Dallas-based retro jazz vocalist Laura Ainsworth’s third release on Eclectus Records (fourth if you count her audiophile vinyl best-of LP, “Top Shelf.”) Her debut, Keep It To Yourself, garnered worldwide radio play and critical raves (“The whole album is among the year’s most consistently engaging jazz releases, performed with class and heartfelt passion.” – AllAboutJazz.com). Her follow-up, Necessary Evil,upped the ante with a big band horn section and film noir theme (“Laura Ainsworth has not only met the incredible standard set by her debut recording, but surpassed it…” – Eric Harabadian, JazzInside.com).
Now, her third release New Vintage is being hailed as her breakthrough, an album that places her at the forefront of the rising lounge/exotica/bachelor pad genre. One word that critics have used repeatedly in describing it is “perfect” – from her entrancing, pitch-perfect voice to the creative arrangements, the brilliant musical accompaniment and the sterling audio quality, courtesy of Crystal Clear Sound. Even the packaging – with its striking images of Laura’s trademark red hair, gorgeous face and figure, elegant gowns and elbow-length gloves – is reminiscent of the classic LP covers of the sultry chanteuses of the 1950s.
With New Vintage, Laura Ainsworth perfects the things her fans have grown to love: brilliant reinventions of well-worn standards such as “Nevertheless” and “Long Ago and Far Away” (here spun into a medley with “You Stepped Out of a Dream”)…Stunning new versions of forgotten gems not recorded in over half a century, such as the long-lost Johnny Mercer ballad, “It’s A Nuisance Having You Around” and “All About You,” once described by Irving Berlin as a “perfect love song”…And creative new mixes of the old and new, such as turning a dated blues/rock song from the swingin’ ’70s into “I Once Knew A Fella,” both a rollicking celebration of female sexual empowerment and a musical salute to the raunchy sax stylings of Vegas legend Sam Butera, a former bandmate of Laura’s dad. Top it all off with an outstanding original song – “The Man I Love Is Gone” by Laura and George Gagliardi – that sounds like the best midcentury standard that you’ve never heard before. It’s no wonder both critics and radio hosts are hailing Laura Ainsworth for bringing the Great American Songbook into the 21st century!
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Retro jazz vocalist Laura Ainsworth grew up steeped in the Great American Songbook and surrounded by some of the greatest jazz musicians of the 20th century, thanks to her late dad, renowned big band sax/clarinet prodigy, Billy Ainsworth. Today, she combines those elegant midcentury lounge jazz sounds with her own witty, sexy, modern twists to create an irresistible cocktail that critics have dubbed New Vintage. That’s the name of her terrific third album, which has scored Laura rave reviews, a place on JazzWeek’s Most-Added radio chart, and feature articles in such national publications as Downbeat and Cabaret Scenes.
Based in Dallas, Laura works with longtime pianist/producer Brian Piper, recently honored as “Dallas Jazz Musician of the Year,” and some of the top musicians in North Texas to create both her live shows (she has performed from Manhattan to India to Dubai) and her three critically-acclaimed albums: Keep It To Yourself, Necessary Evil,and now her breakthrough, New Vintage. Her silky, three-octave voice has been compared to such icons as Rosemary Clooney, Julie London and Dinah Shore, and described by reviewers as “rich and distinctive,” “impossibly old-fashioned,” “a mirror reflection into the past,” “the very portrait of West Coast cool,” and “as sweet as a meadowlark crossed with a hummingbird.”
Laura takes inspiration from such idols as Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, not by slavishly imitating their styles, but by doing what they did: finding the best songs – whether new, standards, or long-forgotten gems – and putting her own fresh, unique spin on them. Her music, like her life, is devoted to preservation, whether it’s restoring her midcentury modern childhood home, filling it with rescued and disabled exotic birds, or breathing exciting new life into the music of the ’20s-’50s to reintroduce it to a whole new generation! 
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THE CRITICS RAVE ABOUT NEW VINTAGE AND LAURA AINSWORTH
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“Sublime… A perfect album!” – Alan Mercer, celebrity photographer and entertainment blogger, AMprofile.blogspot.com
 “Laura Ainsworth is breathing new life into the previously staid ‘jazz standards’ album format… With New Vintage, Laura creates a rich, intoxicating atmosphere that transports the mind to another place and time. Laura swings and seduces her way into the heart like only the original jazz singers could previously do. “They don’t make ’em like they used to” no longer applies, as Laura has rediscovered a large portion of the formula, and uses it liberally on the New Vintage album. Thank you, Laura, for making the Great American Songbook exciting and fun again!” – David Gasten, Producer, “This is Vintage Now”
“Laura Ainsworth’s third album sparkles like champagne… Her voice, a satiny ribbon that seems to flow as an uninterrupted river of downbeats, is rich and distinctive, but it’s her sense of humor that catches you note after note… New Vintage is an album of reinvention, both feet planted in the present, but forever looking back.” – Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice
“With another lounge revival swinging our way, she’s right at the forefront
of the revival, unearthing worthy songs that haven’t been recorded in the last 50 years, which culls her from the rest of the diva pack that think it all begins and ends with Cole Porter…Streaming like a comet out of Texas, this gal is all gal and proud of it to the tips of her opera length gloves. A must for jazzbo vocal fans.” – Chris Spector, Editor & Publisher, MidwestRecord.com
“You can keep those pop divas, the only one for me is Laura Ainsworth!…Ainsworth has beauty, brains, sophistication and comic timing that make her a total performance package… A wonderful modern interpreter of the Great American Songbook as well as thoroughly modern styles.”
– Eric Harabadian, Jazz Inside
“…Fun from start to finish, sung with just the right approach by Ainsworth, with support by a hip band led by pianist and arranger Brian Piper. It is a smile-inducing winner!” – Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz
“Listening to Ainsworth’s sultry, old-fashioned voice, audiences might not know that the 21st century had arrived…Ainsworth has carved a niche for herself as a singer of retro jazz. Her voice comes courtesy of a tradition forged by Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Shore and Julie London…The instrumentation is almost perfect. The sound is lush, perfectly timed, and neither overwhelms nor hides behind Ainsworth’s voice. Overall, a great album for jazz fans looking to hear a contemporary artist put an earnest spin on classics.”
“Beautiful voice, expressive and sensitive, accompanied by a group with serious professionalism…An excellent album!” – Serge Warin, Radio Grand Brive, Objat, France
“She is able to take you back to those late-night joints with the smoky blue rooms…If you’re a dedicated fan of jazz retro vocal work, you’ll love this one…I give it a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED…”
– Dick Metcalf, Contemporary Fusion Reviews
“…Incites listeners to grab their favorite cocktail and dim the lights while engulfed in the smooth jazz ether of her music… New Vintage embraces the vintage sounds of classic jazz and gives the genre a modern lift.” – Susan Frances, Top Amazon.com reviewer
“Laura Ainsworth weaves past and present with stunning power… Her voice is like (a) mirror reflection into the past, conjuring black-and-white images of well-groomed gentlemen in trench coats and fedoras, smoke-enveloped bars, and glamorous women whose beauty is nearly as bright as their jewelry…It might not be long before Dallas is not just known for its oil, Cowboys, and J.R. Ewing but a funny lady with a jewel of a voice…” – Robert Sutton, JazzCorner.com
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Look for features on Laura Ainsworth and New Vintage in upcoming issues of Downbeat and Cabaret Scenes magazines!
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Bongo Boy Records has no influence over the selection of GRAMMY Award nominees or winners,
and is not connected to or affiliated with the GRAMMY Awards
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