Full Review

Nancy Ruth, Turn the Lights Back Down Review

Nancy Ruth is a Canadian-born singer, songwriter, composer, and recording artist with a flair for jazz, Latin, and flamenco. Ruth’s professional career began with singing in bands booked by the Feldman Agency, touring Canada with Axess, Renaissance, and Aces High. She released her first self-penned album, Nancy Ruth, in 1998. Ruth comes alive during live performances and has fronted jazz trios in clubs and festivals, including the DuMaurier International Jazz Festival in Canada. Her piano/vocal talents have allowed her to tour throughout the world, including a long run as a featured performer in Disney’s Sessions Jazz Club. In 2004 she released an album of jazz standards called It’s Got To Be Love. A foray into musical theatre led to six seasons of starring in the Klondike show Beaver Creek Rendezvous. She was a guest vocalist with WEA recording artists The Lovehunters in Singapore, and when invited to perform for the Sultan of Brunei, she learned to sing in Malay and Indonesian during her month-long gig at the Royal Palace.

An early love of jazz was ignited by family jam sessions while growing up in British Columbia, Canada. Ruth went on to study music at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Douglas College, and Berklee College of Music, as well as acting and theatre at Langara’s Studio 58. Combining her influences of jazz, Latin and flamenco into her songwriting, she says: “I write what flows freely… I’m not trying to create a fusion, I just play what I feel. I’m a product of my experiences and surroundings.” Her fifth album, Sangria Jam, is a musical journey recounting her travels and life in Spain. In 2019, Ruth traveled to New York City to record new works with members of the New York Philharmonic, arranger Joe Gianono (Blood Sweat and Tears, Michel Camilo) and Grammy award-winning engineer Oscar Zambrano. She was a featured composer/ artist at Africa’s biggest jazz festival, Festival du Saint Louis, Senegal. In 2020, she has released three singles, “Breathing in Indigo,” her Moroccan collaboration “Just Can’t Let It Go” – Extended Mix in Morocco, and “Where the Sea Melts to Sky.” Ruth is releasing a sultry jazz ballad that features members of the New York Philharmonic titled “Turn the Lights Back Down.”

Bottom Line: “Turn the Lights Back Down” is a Ruth original that invites us to pause during this time of global chaos, and taps into the love that connects us all. Ruth pairs her fearless, proudly cosmopolitan sound with a beautiful string arrangement written by Joe Gianono. She sings and is joined by pianist John Di Martino and bassist and drummer Juan Soto as the sonorities of the strings create an emotional envelope. “Turn the Lights Back Down” begins with Ruth’s robust voice and Di Martino accompanying her at the piano. The intimate beginning builds as Soto enters with a full acoustic bass sound. The strings, vocal backgrounds, and subtle drums support Ruth as she navigates the melody with control and emotion. The straight-eight feel will broaden the music’s appeal to outside the jazz genre, but the harmonic progression and chord qualities will appeal to the jazz minded. Ruth’s voice, melody writing, and lyrics are the star of the song, and that’s the short of it!