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"For my money, there's nothing like a big band backing a good singer and that's what we have in this sparkling album {Swingin' With Legends} by the wife/husband team of Angela DeNiro and Ron Aprea...There's not a bad cut on this album...Lionel Hampton, young at 90, solos on his Midnight Sun, and reprises the solo on the last cut after his conversation with an adoring DeNiro. Frank Foster's tenor is unmistakable on Avalon...Lew Tabackin and DeNiro do a Cleo Laine/John Dankworth scatting, solo sax thing on The Song is You...Possessing great range, perfect pitch, good diction and backed with a big band chock full of outstanding performers playing marvelous arrangements, DeNiro's CD will enhance any collection.
DAVE NATHAN, Jazz critic, Jazz News, Winter '99 issue
"Swingin' With Legends! One of the best albums to come along in many moons. The band cooks, Angela has such control, diction, and passion in her delivery - the guests - Lew, Popa Foss, and Hamp put the icing on the cake. The last track - a nearly 3 minute conversation between Angela and Lionel - make this CD a MUST for any collector... a collector's item. It proves so forcefully that music transcends all boundaries - cultural, racial, age...it is the true common denominator of the art world. No wonder 'harmony' is used so often in music. If only the rest of the world would learn from it."
THOMAS L. PHILLIPS, JR., Radio Host, "Sound Of Jazz", Gettysburg, PA
"Together Angela DeNiro and Ron Aprea offer one of the rarest combinations of creativity and musical talent around today. This double-edged package comes laden with compositional, orchestrational, and improvisational vocal and instrumental ability guaranteed to impress."
FRANK FOSTER...Arranger, Composer, Saxophonist, Band Leader
"The innovative artistry of Angela DeNiro, those magic mallets of jazz legend Lionel Hampton, and outstanding arrangements by Ron Aprea will put this album on the 'must have' list of every serious collector of jazz recordings."
BILL FRISCH, Radio Host, "Make Believe Ballroom", WSHR, 91.9 FM, NY
"We can't think of any greater gift than working together. There aren't many of us that can do it in this business, Cleo and John, Steve and Eydie, and now Ron and Angela. Ron's band is superb, every player first rate, every song a gem. Angela swings high and low with ease, in and out of every Aprea musical situation. We think you'll like this CD!"
MARLENE & BILLY VerPLANCK, Vocalist & Trombonist/Arranger
"Congratulations for this fine CD. Sounds great!"
LEW TABACKIN, Saxophonist, Flutist, Composer
"A Ballad for Matthew made me cry - so powerful!...the ability to swing, communicate a text, sing in tune and above all phrase with intelligence...you possess all of these traits so beautifully. The band is swinging...with great playing and arrangements... I particularly loved Travelin' Light and Ill Wind but everything here is superb!"
ANDREA BAKER, Jazz Vocalist
"The sounds of surprise are really here---Two for the price of one. The dynamics of Angela DeNiro's superb voice plus the swinging arrangements of Ron Aprea. Hardly a better CD on the jazz market today."
MARK CHAPMAN & BRUCE TATER,Radio Station KETR, Commerce, TX
"Angela DeNiro is one of the very best of the crop of girl singers in the USA today. Ron Aprea's big band swings, and the arrangements are tailored to the great singing artistry of Angela's vocal stylings. Both CD's are 'top drawer'. They'll be played on my radio station with great regularity."
GEORGE LANDRY, Radio Station WACV, Montgomery, AL
"Angela DeNiro is one of my favorites--she is a must on my show!"
BUDDY MORENO, Radio Station WSIE, St. Louis, MO
"Angela DeNiro's Swingin' With Legends - This is dynamite. I put it on and couldn't take it off until I'd heard every track. What a range and exceptional sounds coming from all of it. I'm convinced she's able to sing anything. Ron Aprea just grows and grows as an arranger. The addition of two of my favorite tenor players, Frank and Lew, is pretty exciting. This was a great idea to bring in dear Hamp and salute the wonderful tune Midnight Sun... This is already marked as one of my top CD choices for 1998."
JERRY L. ATKINS, Radio Station KTXK, Texarcana, TX
"THE CD IS ABSOLUTELY GREAT!!!"
RICHARD F. RUBINO, Radio Host, WOMR, Provincetown, MA
"Angela DeNiro Swingin' With Legends...Angela doesn't need the legends - she's so strong and confident herself. She reminds me of a very good horn player who has complete command of the instrument...that's how she is with her voice, and the band is very good too!"
JACK SIMPSON,Radio Host, Jazz on the Beach, Cocoa, Florida
"Angela DeNiro...Swingin' With Legends does just that. Ron Aprea's big band is popping and all the arrangements are first rate. Frank Foster's blistering version of Avalon is the best I've heard on record. It hasn't yet failed to make the phone light up. A highly produced CD."
PETER COPPOCH, Radio Host, WDCB, Chicago, Illinois
"I was very impressed by Angela[DeNiro] and the Ron Aprea Orchestra...the band was tight, the arrangement[Song Is You]was excellent; and Angela was outstanding...Personally, I wish that young lady the best and (hope she) finds her way to the top. She may be 'on her way' already."
BILL ANGEL, Radio Host, WADK AM, Newport, Rhode Island
"..the overall driving, relaxed sound of Aprea's group, which often sounds like the Basie Band of the Sixties, is very impressive. Angela DeNiro is a great singer who hits Ill Wind and Travelin' Light with all the right reflections and also rides a screaming treatment of The Song Is You expertly."
JEROME WILSON, Jazz Critic, Cadence Magazine, Redwood, NY
"...[Angela DeNiro...Swingin' With Legends]a CD of two of the greatest musicians on the planet -- Ms. DeNiro and Ron Aprea..."
JAMES BRONSON JR., Record Producer, Touche Records, El Cerrito, CA
"Just a line to tell you that I personally believe that the Angela DeNiro/Ron Aprea Swingin' With Legends is the best album I have aired since the Angela DeNiro/Ron Aprea album, Just For the Fun Of It. I have played that particular ballad so often, listeners think is is my theme song!"
LARRY ROUTT, Program Director, WOBO, 88.7 FM, Cincinnati, Ohio
"...[Angela] has got the voice boy! You feel that big voice coming out of that girl...her voice is great and her diction is perfect!
I'm so glad I was on that date with you [Angela] ..you are a great talent. I put you in the class with Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald...tell everybody look out...my girl's comin'!"
LIONEL HAMPTON, Legendary Vibraphonist, Bandleader, Composer (excerpted from conversation with Ron Aprea & Angela DeNiro)
