Over the years we’ve seen music slowly erode into over-commercialized, corporate puppet shows providing music that is extremely sing songy, predictable, popish & highly corporate. I hereby call this new breed of music “Poser Rock” & I want to personally thank all the corporate giants for successfully transforming “Sex Drugs & Rock n Roll” into “Yoga, Vitamins, & Nikelback” Of course millions of musical lemmings don’t know the difference anyway, but trust me whaen IS ay not everyone is entertained. Talking to many music fans out there the response is overwhelming. Give me something new, something special, something real, something that’s pushes the envelope with a fresh sound that doesn’t leave it soul at the door. Something that doesn’t sound like everything else out there.
[youtube 4nc0IY5tTNo nolink]So across my desk slides the new CD by New York based Dwayna Litz entitled “Count Your Blessings.” What I heard put a smile on my face. It’s a nice easy flowing record that delivers solid songwriting with an amazing modern Big Band Jazz sound and an amazing vocal front. Litz reminds me of a modern day Liza Minnelli, Bette Midler with musical overtones similar to Barry Manilow and Michael Buble. You will also hear a side of Contemporary Jazz with a spalah of classic Big Band and Modern Day Pop. If you like the above bands you should definitely check out this CD. My favorite track is probably “Smile” and Cross Over the Bridge” Litz has all everything needed to gain access to your heart and should be considered something special. My only recommendation — Litz should consider modernizing her sound just a tad — making it sound more modern, marketable and mainstream. “Counting Your Blessings has all the trademarks of a musical production released say 30 years ago. CD is available on CD BABY and can be downloaded on I — Tunes.
Overall “Count Your Blessings” by Dwayna Litz is clearly a solid release with many feel good grooves with a pleasant Jazz-Pop-Band sound that’s just a pleasure to listen to. I also like the passionate messages contained within each piece – very uplifting and overflowing with priceless conventional wisdom. It’s a record that gives us a fresh glimpse at an amazing new artist from the New York — and takes us back a few years — before everything started sounding like — well everything else.
Kevin Huber
Edited by Cyrus Rhodes
