Baiana (Uk) [LP]

Baiana (pronounced By-Anna) is the alias of powerhouse Liverpool-born Brazilian jazz artist, Laura Doyle. Following on from performances at Love Supreme, the Manchester Jazz festival, world famous jazz clubs The 606 and Pizza Express as well as an unprecedented 12 weeks on the A-list of the Jazz FM playlist, with her breakthrough single "Saudade Samba" Baiana's highly anticipated self-titled debut album is finally here. Produced by the legendary UK Latin percussionist, Snowboy, 'Baiana' features 11 finely crafted songs covering a huge range of Brazilian styles from fiery Sambas to Bossa Nova, Jazz Fusion to Baiao and everything in-between. Singing in both Portuguese and English, Laura evokes a vocal style reminiscent of the great romantic torch singers of the 40's and 50's such as Julie London and Peggy Lee and yet one can clearly also feel the passionate expression of Portuguese Fado and the Brazilian greats such as Elza Soares, Gal Costa and Elis Regina as she sings of love-lost and broken hearts. An unexpected candidate for Brazilian jazz with her Scouse accent and fiery red hair denoting her Irish roots, Laura became enraptured by Brazilian music after living in Rio de Janeiro where she was seconded as "first lady" with the Italian diplomatic service.