Mainstream the way we like it, and hard to resist. Mainstream that makes each listener unknowingly tap a leg, snap fingers, swing hips and hum along. Gilda Solve, an American vocalist who's made her home in Paris, offers us 16 jazz standards revisited in the talented company of Marc Fosset (g) and Patrice Galas (p), both great as they work around her very pleasant voice, which does what it wants with these tunes. Pier Paolo Pozzi (dm) and Gus Nemeth (b) provide just the right swinging, syncopated beat to these songs that we all know, and that Gilda Solve offers up with a fresh quality. Not to mention the very delicate presence of emerging female vocalist Anaïs (13 months) on two cuts, What a Wonderful World and Makin' Whoopie

Profession: jazz vocalist. Distinctive characteristics: Pure voice, ranging from down low to up high, sophisticated technique. The plus: perfect French! Comments: late yesterday afternoon, Gilda Solve enchanted the festival audience for one hour with her sensual voice. Eclectic repertoire: this attractive West-Coast lady shifts easily from standards to ballads, and from swinging tunes to seductive bossa novas.And what's more, she really knows how to dig up good musicians:Patrice Galas – Profession: pianist and cofounder of the CIM jazz school in Paris. Distinctive characteristics: a walking jazz encyclopedia. Comments: Quality fingering! His hands swirl and fly. An enchantment.Other assets: Thomas Savy on sax, Gus Nemeth on bass and Richard Hertel on drums. Good news for our sensitive little ears. Great news, in fact! Distinctive characteristics: intimate experience guaranteed with this quintet!

GILDA SOLVE, A GREAT JAZZ LADY. GREAT PRESENCE. Gilda Solve combines stunning vocal technique, great stage presence, a lot of charm, and a warm connection with her audience. With her highly eclectic repertoire, pure, sensual voice and absolutely stunning vocal technique, she revisits the great jazz standards with swing and a feeling that goes straight to the heart and gut. Tonight, the audience opened itself up to this little woman and very great jazz lady straight out of San Francisco.

GILDA SOLVE. Parisian jazz lovers and audiences at several festivals have long been familiar with the charm and talent of this once Californian, now Parisian vocalist. This CD will reach a larger audience, and she deserves it. The whole CD is enjoyable. Throughout its eclectic yet tasteful repertoire, you'll delight in Gilda Solve's supple and expressive throaty voice. From Since I fell for you by Ella Johnson, crooned with a communicative warmth and swing, to the charm of Old Devil Moon and The best is yet to come,that we hope turns out to be prophetic, Gilda Solve shows that she also knows how to make the great classics swing (Makin' whoopee, Sweet Georgia Brown, It don't mean a thing). But the real success of this CD probably lies in the quality of the quartet – superbly recorded – that accompanies her. While we've long known the talent of Marc Fosset and the musicality and very tasteful play of Gus Nemeth, it is with delight and enthusiasm that we discover the solos and accompaniment of Patrice Galas on the piano (what a sound!) and the work of Italian drummer Pier Paolo Pozzi, whose shifts in coloring and supple beat are a key contribution to the swing you hear in their music.

by Henri Marchal

Gilda Solve. Right off, we get much more international with an American female vocalist accompanied by a fellow countryman, two Frenchmen and an Italian...Gilda Solve is a pretty, young singer married to outstanding pianist Patrice Galas (and mother to little Anaïs, the cutest thing!) We discover her on this album, accompanied, as she was this August in Marciac, by her talented husband, and by Marc Fosset, who requires no introduction on guitar, Gus Nemeth on bass, and Pier Paolo Pozzi on drums. This repertoire of fine standards – what could be more risky than to take on these tunes, already sung by the greatest all-time legends – includes such optimistic compositions as Route 66, Makin' Whoopee, Sweet Georgia Brown, Fly Me To The Moon, Them There Eyes and What a Wonderful World. This comes as no surprise, since this love of life and song is a reflection of Gilda Solve's style and personality. Her voice is solid, with a nice tone and lots of energy. The musicians clearly shared the vocalist's pleasure; the album is sprinkled with several exciting solos.The title track, The Best is Yet To Com