Chelsey Green and The Green Project release ReEnvisioned

It feels like a given that after finding out Chelsey Green of Chelsey Green and The Green Project, has a doctorate in music, that she would have an impeccable product in ReEnvisioned. It’s true. But what I didn’t expect was the fluidity and the improvisational components in this higher level jazz and genre-bending collection. Proving her tenure in recorded music is not a blip, Green and her ensemble evoke both memories of bygone eras and collide the listener into a modern, stirring sound fully capable of acing any hard-nosed music critic’s test.

Born in Houston, Texas, Green’s career has pushed boundaries and crushed stereotypes of classical instruments like the violin and viola. The four-song EP ReEnvisioned is a peek to the next full length album. The band’s last album, The Green Room, reached No. 11 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Album Chart in 2014. Their debut EP Still Green: The EP landed in April 2012.

The opening track, “Soundcheck” is an instrumental, charm of a jazz number. With little hints of funk and tickling R&B hues, the synergy between Green’s violin and the music bed of piano, drums, guitar and bass guitar is palpable. It’s playful undertones playing tag-your-it with the rich violin strings. Green, who also happens to be a professor at the Berklee College of Music, slays the violin with her natural poise. “Soundcheck” is freeing.

“It’s Not What It Seems” is also an instrumental track. Again, Green’s beautiful work on the violin is the sound of serenity. This song made me imagine a different dance, a different portrait in my mind than “Soundcheck”. I became immersed in a ballet of sorts, where the strings were stretches of the imagination. It was as if Degas’ paintings of ballerinas were put to music. The drums and the piano are embellishments, yes, but it’s the strings that carry the heavy lifting.

URL: https://www.chelseygreen.com/

“Fly Me To The Moon (featuring Sean Jones)” sends shivers down the spine with Green’s gorgeous vocals. She spins the words “fill my heart with song”, into a seductive slow dance with the trumpet. This classic song hasn’t reached those same atmospheric levels since Frank Sinatra….with a special nod to Peggy Lee, of course. Green’s elegance is daunting but oh so relatable. I think she takes some vocal liberties she wouldn’t normally take, and her command of this song is admirable.

Next up, the song “Time” a love scorned emotional triggered track. While the pop comparisons might come into play in this particular song, the violin is never out of bounds. “Going through all these changes, should have known he would chat on me,” Green sings with reflection and ever-so-slight contempt. She’s past being mad, but she’s still very much in pain. You can hear that hurt in the violin. “Time” caresses the listener just as much as it releases the exhaustion and ache in Green’s words.

It’s evident Chelsey Green and The Green Project don’t settle for passing through, or getting by. ReEnvisioned is an exceptional assemblage of music that define their sound – albeit in a way that can’t be defined in just one report. The message is clear – this is a group that will keep pushing higher and higher for the music that touches their audiences’ soul just as much as their own.

Mindy McCall

The music of CHELSEY GREEN has been heard all over the world in partnership with the radio plugging services offered by Musik and Film Radio Promotions Division.  Learn more https://musikandfilm.com