Howard Reich
Chicago Tribune - Music Critic
"Chicago does not lack for engaging jazz trumpeters, vocalists, pianists, bandleaders, songwriters and arrangers — but how many can do it all? Jeannie Tanner happens to be one… If you've ever been fortunate enough to hear her pick up a horn, or sing a ballad or unveil an original song, you know that she practically exudes music."
Dan Healy
Chicago Jazz Magazine - Music Critic
"Tanner is well established in Chicago as a brilliant composer, vocalist and trumpeter, but on this project (Words & Music) she’s decided to cede the vocal mic to kindred singer spirits. Her compositions showcase many musical styles, ranging from the Great American Songbook, to gospel, to straight-ahead jazz and to adult contemporary. It’s certainly another terrific recorded entry from a magnificent composer. All of the featured vocalists are in top form on every Tanner composition, and this album is highly recommended."
Howard Reich
Chicago Tribune - Music Critic
Jeannie Tanner: "Joyful Season" (Tanner Time Records). Trumpeters who sing as well as Chicagoan Tanner are as rare as singers who play trumpet as well as she does. Both these talents — as well as Tanner's achievements as songwriter and arranger — radiate from the entirety of "Joyful Season," a recording brimming with optimism and hope. The sweet but unsentimental nature of Tanner's vocals in original songs such as "Christmas in a Cup" and "Joyful Season" and the obvious craft of her melodic writing in "You're My Gift Forever" and the blues-tinged "Wintery Sort of Feeling" distinguish this album. It's difficult to explain how one artist can do so many things so well, but listeners will be thankful that she does. Because "Joyful Season" was released last year to little fanfare, it deserves attention this time around. The strength of the writing and pervasive elegance of the performances are well worth a listen.
Howard Reich
Chicago Tribune - Music Critic
Jeannie Tanner: A triple-threat Chicago singer-trumpeter-composer, Tanner probably couldn’t play an unmusical phrase if she wanted to. When she appeared in a Billie Holiday centennial tribute last April at Davenport’s, she distinguished herself with unusually subtle vocals in “Body and Soul,” played trumpet with heartbreaking lyricism and showed the poetry of her songwriting in “Promise Me the Moon.”
Howard Reich
Chicago Tribune - Music Critic
Howard Reich (Chicago Tribune) wrote of Tanner’s show at Winter’s Jazz Club in Chicago— “It takes a certain amount of gumption to pair an original song with one by Arlen, inevitably inviting comparisons. But Tanner forged ahead, opening a two-song medley with the master’s “It’s Only a Paper Moon” before turning to her familiar “Promise Me the Moon.” Tanner’s medium-swing tempo and ultra-polished vocal delivery in Arlen’s song set the stage for a brief – too brief, actually – passage of scat singing, and that served as a transition to “Promise Me the Moon.” Remarkably, Tanner’s song felt quite comfortable in this exalted setting, its marriage of lyric and melody clearly predicated on the traditions of Arlen’s era.…Tanner’s tribute to Arlen reminds us that the art of tautly conceived songwriting has not yet vanished.”