For those not in the know, Solitaire Miles has always loved singing Swing tunes. Her grandmother, a singer with a Big Band in the late 1930s, exposed her to the music as a child. Several members of her family were musicians and she grew up hearing Blues and Jazz at Sunday afternoon family concerts.

She performed as a teenager in the late 1980’s with well known Jazz saxophonist Bruce Johnstone in the NW Pennsylvania area where she is originally from.

Indeed, Solitaire originally planned to be an opera singer, but while attending DePaul University in Chicago, she met the legendary Swing violinist Johnny Frigo who encouraged her to sing Jazz.

After college in the early 1990’s she began working in Chicago with Sax Maestro Von Freeman, and pianist Willie Pickens, who also played on her self-titled release in 2006. I was lucky to have their guidance because they were playing with the greats in their day.

​During the late 90’s while living in New York City, she performed with the great trumpeter Doc Cheatham, learning lots more Swing tunes. From these venerable bandleaders, she learned more about phrasing.

Since then, she has since been an important part of the Chicago music scene performing with pianist Willie Pickens and leading her own groups.

Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas may be regarded as a surprise by some of Solitaire Miles’ swing fans, but it is a logical step in her evolution.

While Solitaire can name a long list of influences like Kay Starr or Mary Ford, she does not sound exactly like any of the singers who preceded her, nor do her sidemen sacrifice their own individuality while doing justice to the material. Instead, they all fully understand the music and are able to add their own voices to the songs while being themselves.

And so, for the immediate future, at the very least, given they have just released their brand new album Blue Train, Solitaire Miles plans to continue singing Roots and Rockabilly as well as Jazz. I love them all and I am looking forward to performing in Chicago and many different regions of the US.

Wherever they appear Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas can be relied upon to provide lively music and a fun time. This delightful group features Solitaire Miles at her very best, taking her place as one of the top Jazz and Blues singers around today. [Scott Yanow]

1. I Wanna Rock (3:32)
2. Sweet Baby of Mine (3:02)
3. Lucky Lips (2:55)
4. Forever Yours (3:29 video)
5. Love and Kisses (2:44)
6. Hummin’ to Myself (4:29)
7. Blue Train (3:54)
8. She’ll Be Gone (3:47)
9. Chills and Fever (3:05)
10. One Way Ticket to the Blues (3:04)
11. How Could I Help but Love You? (4:02)
12. Give Up That Honey (2:43)
13. Do You Love Me? (I Gotta Know) (3:24)
14. In the Palm of Your Hand (2:45)
15. How I Miss You Tonight (3:24)
16. The Peter Gunn Theme (2:01)

This simply beautiful, free flowingly decadent new album opens on the upbeat and joyous swing of I Wanna Rock and the low slung, finger-snapping delights of Sweet Baby of Mine and follows them up with the gently fervent jump jive of Lucky Lips, the lonesome yearn of Forever Yours, the jubilant rhythms of Love and Kisses, the guitar-driven Hummin’ to Myself, and then comes the atmospherically-charged title track Blue Train and the troubadour-imbibed She’ll Be Gone.

The Pink Panther-esque vibe of Chills and Fever is up next and is backed by the melodically brilliant One Way Ticket to the Blues, which is in turned followed by the Low light, late night club fare of the harmonica-driven How Could I Help but Love You?, the guitar pumped Give Up That Honey, the drum-led, Motown rhythms of Do You Love Me? (I Gotta Know), the album rounding out on the finger-snapper In the Palm of Your Hand, the doo wop of How I Miss You Tonight, coming to a close on the Henry Mancini-created The Peter Gunn Theme.

Forever Yours - Susie Blue & the Lonesome Fellas (featuring Dominic Halpin) [Official Video]

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