Believe it or not, while Neil Young has enjoyed an extraordinarily influential 50-plus year career, the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer only scored two Top 40 hits in his career. This lack of pop radio overexposure ensures that just about every song veteran East Coast jazz interpreter Kelley Suttenfield mines from his extraordinarily deep catalog on her warm, richly textured album When We Were Young: Kelley Suttenfield Sings Neil Young sounds vibrant, fresh and exciting, as if we’re all hearing them for the first time.
Ensembling seamlessly with frequent collaborator, guitarist Tosh Sheridan, and a top tier NYC rhythm section, the singer fashions her collection not as a typical tribute but as a heartfelt connector between her own musical soul and his. With a deeply sensual voice that’s much more palatable and definitely more inviting/seductive than Young’s well known high pitched tone, Suttenfield and her band bring their eclectic, dynamically arranged blend of jazz swing, gritty pop/rock, dashes of blues and soul and lush strings to everything from the #1 hit “Heart of Gold” and well known “Old Man” to chestnuts like “Harvest Moon” and “Love Is A Rose” and two hardly ever heard rarities.
Young fans will love hearing their hero’s songs so thoughtfully re-imagined, while jazzers can experience his melodies and poetry as if they just rode into town on the Crazy Horse.