Writing ‘Barry’ Good Songs - These Days
Sunday IndependentMary takes you along her journey … it is classy yet filled with soulful wisdom. Barry has put together a splendid album of torch-song jazz! I'm a huge fan of jazz, and I try to listen to many different styles. And St. John's native Mary Barry has plenty of style.
Her bio includes a hefty list of accomplishments in areas of French language, puppetry, music and teaching, and she's done her share of travel across Canada in search of those talents. Her new album These Days, is representative of her incomparable skill in composing and emotive vocal quality. Yeah, she wrote these - in a jazz world where most singers delve into the classic standards of Cole Porter and Billie Holiday, Barry writes her own memorable moments. Mary takes you along on her journey into smoky clubs with Le Chanteuse De Blues and more addictive blues in Looking For A Genie smooth and reflective in the title track, the steamy January, and the ‘in-love’ inevitability of the final number, If I Say Goodbye. The album tells of love lost and found in our short but ultimately sweet loves, and made complete with some superb piano and accordion work by Miles Black and Jesse Zubot's essential violin and mandolin.
These songs can swing, charged en francais, or drift light and airy, but above all they speak to you like a song should. It's classy, yet filled with soulful wisdom. Barry has put together a splendid album of torch-song jazz, and if you like to put your feet up with the sounds of a soothing chanteuse, you won't be disappointed with this choice. She's chosen her path well.