Joelle Lurie

“Joelle Lurie has something in common with a lot of superheroes: She has two identities. To adults, she’s the leader of Joelle & the Pinehurst Trio, an ensemble known for contemporary jazz. But to children, she’s the driving force behind JoJo & the Pinecones, a band that fuses jazz and pop, offering both original tunes and its own arrangements of standards.”

“Your album, ‘Take Me There’ is a beautifully produced and very thoughtfully created piece... There is clearly much more to come.”

“A magnificent voice and charming demeanor.”

“Lurie has a range that many singers would envy. She has a warm lower range that projects nicely, which is well-suited to her love of jazz singing, but her operatic training allows a very easy upper range and no doubt contributes to her fine sense of pitch... ...Among the Bernstein selections, the group included the rarely heard Dream with Me, a song composed for the 1950 quasi-musical Peter Pan. The song was not included in the original production due to the extreme demands on the singer, but Lurie presented it with seeming ease.”

“Doing the NY hustle, singer Joelle Lurie has done everything from opera to pop to jazz to ad jingles in her decade there after growing up in the Boston area. She now makes her debut backed by her working band, The Pinehurst Trio, as well as a handful of horn and string players. With a voice that’s dark but crystal clear, she skillfully delivers each line of these love songs with the right note of emotional heft, whether it’s the yearning modern pop of The Cars’ ‘Just What I Needed’, Lerner and Lowe’s ‘Almost Like Being in Love,’ or thoughtful originals like ‘Three States Away.’”

“This is straight up innovative jazz infused with a touch of pop with a shot of hip hop and soul and the tiniest bit of musical theatre. The tracks take us everywhere from stellar originals to impressive takes on standards to re-imagined Sondheim to trippy 70s and 80s hits. All of the brilliant, inventive arrangements are by bassist Ben Gallina and they are truly a part what make this album a stand out.”

“Time marches on. Here we have a downtown take on the modern jazz diva. Adding hip-hop vibes to Sinatra? Well, have you seen property prices in Brooklyn lately. Some are going to find this fire-cracker to be selling sacrilege but she has a fine voice, crafty ideas and, like I said, time marches on. Dandy millennial cocktail music.”

“She gives everything a fresh sound...an airy touch with putting pop grooves beneath old standards...Lurie is onto something here: both accessible and a little different...”