| Chanson Jazz |
April Varner Reimagines the Legacy of Ella Fitzgerald With Intelligence, Sensitivity and Quiet Audacity
A young voice revisits the timeless repertoire of the American Songbook, transforming classic interpretations into something deeply personal and unexpectedly contemporary.
Revisiting songs immortalized by Ella Fitzgerald is a task few vocalists approach without hesitation. For generations of jazz listeners, Fitzgerald’s interpretations helped define the emotional and musical architecture of what is now commonly known as the American Songbook. Any artist choosing to return to that repertoire inevitably walks a delicate line between homage and reinvention.
Having discovered and fallen in love with jazz in part thanks to Fitzgerald, who would occasionally appear on our television screens during Christmas broadcasts when I was a small child—I approached this recording with both curiosity and a measure of caution. Knowing the remarkable vocal abilities of April Varner, a particularly compelling vocalist emerging on today’s jazz scene, I genuinely wondered what she might do with songs so closely associated with Fitzgerald.
The answer, fortunately, is that Varner avoids the obvious trap. Rather than attempting the impossible, imitating Fitzgerald, an endeavor that would almost certainly have ended in something like an intergalactic catastrophe, she opts for a deeply personal interpretation. From the outset, the surprise proves rewarding: this is interpretation rather than imitation.
Varner quickly settles into the role of storyteller, delivering a beautiful rendition of “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” Emotionally, the song, and the way Varner inhabits it, calls to mind the remarkable acting presence of Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple, directed by Steven Spielberg. There is the same sense of emotional truth, the same precision in expression that inevitably touches the listener’s sensibility.
The repertoire presented here carries considerable historical weight. These are songs that have been interpreted by countless major figures in American popular music, including Frank Sinatra. Both Fitzgerald and Sinatra left such a profound imprint on certain standards that returning to them can appear almost audacious. Yet Varner embraces that challenge and ultimately succeeds with striking assurance.
Her interest in jazz developed during her studies at Indiana University, where she first performed within the renowned vocal ensemble The Singing Hoosiers. She later refined her craft under the guidance of acclaimed jazz vocalists Sachal Vasandani, Tierney Sutton and Theo Bleckmann at the Manhattan School of Music.
Born only a year after Fitzgerald’s passing, Varner encountered the legendary singer not through personal memory but through careful study of her vast recorded legacy. In that sense, this project becomes both a continuation of that musical heritage and a declaration of Varner’s own artistic identity. As she herself has suggested, the intention is not merely to revisit these songs but to allow them to resonate through a contemporary voice.
What emerges, therefore, goes far beyond a simple album of covers. Musically, these pieces feel reimagined; vocally, they unfold with a remarkable sense of dramaturgy and intelligence. One senses that Varner has managed to move beyond admiration toward something far more ambitious: appropriation in the most creative sense of the word.
She preserves certain musical intentions rooted in the era that produced these songs, yet her voice moves elsewhere, into a more dreamlike and atmospheric dimension. In doing so, she may very well leave her own imprint on these standards, though for reasons different from those of her illustrious predecessors. Achieving such results requires more than technical ability; it demands a genuine intellectual and artistic approach.
Ultimately, what Varner presents here is her own vision of the American Songbook. She plays with emotion carefully, never indulging in excess, and offers welcome vocal surprises precisely when the listener least expects them. The effect is both respectful of the tradition and quietly innovative.
In the broader landscape of contemporary jazz vocalists, Varner belongs to a generation that has approached the tradition with both reverence and fearless individuality. Singers such as Cécile McLorin Salvant and Jazzmeia Horn have demonstrated that the repertoire of jazz standards remains fertile ground for artistic reinvention rather than simple preservation.
Varner’s work clearly belongs within that lineage, yet her sensibility feels distinct. Where some singers emphasize theatrical narrative or virtuosic improvisation, Varner often leans toward atmosphere and emotional nuance. The result is a style that feels deeply rooted in the tradition while remaining unmistakably contemporary.
An album such as this represents an enormous artistic risk. Interpreting material so deeply embedded in the history of jazz requires delicate and thoughtful choices. For that reason alone, the endeavor commands respect. Yet Varner’s growing career already demonstrates that she is capable of moving effortlessly between contemporary expression and echoes of jazz history, bringing one or the other to the forefront according to her artistic instincts.
Revisiting material associated with artists as monumental as Ella Fitzgerald is always a delicate undertaking. Yet April Varner approaches the challenge with intelligence, humility and imagination. Rather than attempting to compete with history, she engages in a dialogue with it.
At a time when the repertoire of the American Songbook sometimes risks being treated as museum material, Varner reminds us that these songs remain living works, capable of transformation in the hands of artists willing to engage them deeply. And in doing so, she quietly suggests that the next chapter of this tradition may already be unfolding in voices like hers.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, March 6th 2026
Follow PARIS-MOVE on X
::::::::::::::::::::::::
Musicians :
April Varner, Vocals
Emmet Cohen, Piano/Arranger
William Hill III, Piano
Yasushi Nakamura, Bass
Ulysses Owens Jr., Drums/Producer
Brian Lynch, Trumpet/Arranger
Nathaniel Williford, Trumpet
Michael Cruse, Trumpet
Jeffrey Miller, Trombone
Jacob Melsha, Trombone
Cleave Guyton, Saxophone
Bruce Williams, Saxophone
Track Listing :
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Dream A Little Dream Of Me
Night And Day
I Couldn’t Sleep A Wink Last Night In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
Mr. Paganini
Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered
Fly Me To The Moon
Undecided
Executive Producer: April Varner & Cory Weeds
Produced by Ulysses Owens Jr.
Recorded at Sear Sound on May 14th, 2025
Engineered by Chris Sulit
Mixed and Mastered by Dave Darlington
Production Manager: Dominic Duchamp
Photography by Joie Bianco
Artwork by Allen Mezquida
Design and layout by Tilda Hedwig