Note:  This interview is from “Rootstime” a Belgian publication.  We’ve done our best to translate from Dutch to English…

The risk that you are on the wrong foot is put after the first song “Have You Ever Loved?” Of singer and song writer Joy Mover of Miami on her eponymous debut album is quite considerable. It is a swinging bossa nova melody which this song is offered and that the listener would ever do think that this is a new Gloria Estefan has risen. (more…)

I totally dig the cover art. Even a hard charging post bop critic like yours truly likes a little pop of color now and then and that is exactly what you get with the latest release the self titled debut from Joy Mover.

Mover’s a singer/songwriter whose penchant for jazz works far better than some of her contemporaries. Bottom line is I have heard more than a dozen of the singer/songwriter variety whose musical destiny will be happy hour at the local Marriott every Friday night. Mover is clearly not one of the run of the mill lounge lizards and to seal the deal she is joined by a first call band of talent that most singers will never have the opportunity to work with and herein lies the key to the success of this release. A group effort. The band is not an afterthought, they do not play around or behind Mover but instead play “with” her and that makes all the difference in the world. Another key to success is that good singers are a dime a dozen but a singer that is a rock solid lyricist simply raises their game not to mention their odds at success. Mover does both. (more…)

Pop jazz chanteuse Joy Mover has released her upbeat, self-titled, debut CD. This disc offers a lot to discerning listeners who prefer their music to be full of numerous influences and tastes. Opening track “Have You Ever Loved?” is a lively mix of Latin rhythms and percussion with show tune energy and exuberance. Co-written with musician John Paul, “Have You Ever Loved” is full of bright, sprightly moments. A lively flute melody flies through the tune like a bird in flight, fluidly moving and chirping prettily. Mover’s voice rests comfortably in a niche between jazz and pop, rangy, trained, experienced but with the flexibility to move into fun pop territory with credibility. (more…)

JOY MOVER: Hmm, Ira Sullivan (who shows up here) bounced you on his knee when you were a kid and your brother, Bob (who shows up here) works with Esparanza Spaulding. The chops list can go on and on but it’s better to listen to this jazz singer that’s been keeping it bottled up for way too long than blather this background stuff. A dazzling debut that mixes pop, originals and chestnuts into a stew where the old seasonings create a new flavor. She’s got so much energy and octane powering her that she should feel free to give up her day job any time she wants as she’s built a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to her door. The real deal throughout.

Taken from:  http://midwestrecord.com/MWRBlog.html

One of the tracks on Joy Mover’s upcoming album is the classic “Nature Boy.”  Here’s a bit of background on the track along with a signature performance by Nat King Cole.

“Nature Boy” is a song by Eden Ahbez, published in 1947. The song tells a fantasy of a “strange enchanted boy… who wandered very far” only to learn that “the greatest thing… was just to love and be loved in return.” Nat King Cole‘s 1948 recording of the song was a major hit, and “Nature Boy” has since become a pop and jazz standard, with dozens of major artists interpreting the song.

Song Structure

The first two measures of the song’s melody parallel the melody of the second movement in Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81 (1887). Yiddish theater star/producer Herman Yablokoff, in Memoirs of the Yiddish Stage, claimed that the melody to “Nature Boy” was plagiarized from his song “Shvayg, Mayn Harts” (“Hush, My Heart”), written by Yablokoff for his play Papirosn (1935). Ahbez protested his innocence, claiming to have “heard the tune in the mist of the California mountains,” but later agreed to pay Yablokoff $25,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

The content of the song is based on a 1940s Los Angeles-based group called “Nature Boys,” of which Ahbez himself was a member.