Shifting Sands

Shifting Sands Quartet: Darkest Rose

by Woodrow Wilkins
February 29, 2008

First there were two, then three and now four. The U.K.-based Shifting Sands quartet has released its second album, Darkest Rose, featuring 13 songs written by original members Deborah Winter and Joanne Lander, along with Mick Hutton.Winter is a classically trained vocalist who counts among her influences Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Patricia Barber, Ella Fitzgerald and Kurt Elling. Lander, who plays piano and keyboards, has a passion for 19th century piano music. Her influences include Davis, Barber, Bill ...

Shifting Sands: Velvet Mantle

by Jim Santella
January 15, 2007

A duo recording can allow you to absorb every nuance of the performance. Singer Deborah Winter and pianist Joanne Lander interpret a program of fourteen original songs on this 35-minute recording, offering a highly personal visit. As the session's mood shifts from cool to melancholy and on to laid-back and casual, you can feel the emotion. They bring a wholesome spirit to each piece and cover the session with a “velvet mantle.

Winter, who is reassuring through ...

Shifting Sands: Velvet Mantle

by Dan McClenaghan
November 5, 2006

Velvet Mantle, by the British duo Shifting Sands, explores a richly atmospheric, bluesy mid-tempo territory of jazz sounds. Deborah Winters is the vocalist; Jo Landers sits in the piano chair. Both musicians are classically trained, and their delivery, given that training, has the high polish one would expect, while still sounding organic and spontaneous.The duo's obvious classical training is tinted by their jazz influences. For vocalist Winter, it's Ellington, Miles Davis, Patricia Barber, Kurt Elling and Mark Murphy. ...