This week marks the release of the long-awaited debut recording from the Twin Cities’ popular duo, “Charmin & Shapira.” With Pure Imagination, vocalist Charmin Michelle and guitarist Joel Shapira have finally documented one of the most sublime collaborations in local jazz. On June 8^th, Charmin & Shapira and Friends (Paul Harper on sax and flute, Tom Lewis on bass, and Nathan Norman on drums) will celebrate with a CD Release Party at the Dakota in downtown Minneapolis.

Charmin Michelle sings with “taste and understatement, swing and savoir faire, grace and grooves, intimacy and panache” (TC Music Net). Born in Birmingham, Michelle moved to Minnesota as a young child. Although the Land of 10,000 Lakes has been home ever since, her experiences have taken her around the world. With the promotion of organ legend “Captain” Jack McDuff, Michelle toured Europe with internationally known pianists Mulgrew Miller and Kirk Lightsey in 1997. Since 1998, Michelle has performed in jazz festivals throughout Spain, Portugal and France, and “moonlights” by fronting the jump band, the Senders. Locally, on any given night she can be found on stage at the Dakota, Artists Quarter, Café Luxx, Rossi’s Blue Star, French Press Jazz Café —anywhere that promotes top-flight jazz. In addition to her duo gigs with Joel Shapira, she also performs frequently with Doug Haining and the Twin Cities Seven. On her three earlier recordings—Your Eyes (Zimboy, 1994), Destination Moon (CM, 1998), and Hot (CM, 2001), she covered tunes of Billie Holiday, the Great American Songbook, blues and bossa. Tom Surowicz described Destination Moon as an “an aural charm bracelet filled with swell songs that you haven't heard too often.”

Photo by Andrea Canter

Guitarist Joel Shapira studied at the Berklee College of Music and with Tal Farlow, Joe Pass, Sharon Isbin, and Anthony Cox. Active in the Twin Cities for many years, he co-leads his own small jazz groups (including “Triplicate”) as well as playing classical duets with saxophonist Paul Harper and providing the instrumental half of Charmin & Shapira. He has frequently appeared with Dean Magraw, Kevin Daley, Pete Whitman, John Devine, Doug Little, Signe Hensel, Judi Donaghy, and Vic Volare, among others.

With Pure Imagination (Charm Songs, 2005), Charmin & Shapira bring nearly ten years of collaboration to eleven diverse tunes largely drawn from the Great American Songbook. Four tracks feature simply the vocal/guitar duo; 6 tracks feature the all-star quintet with Harper, Lewis, and Norman; and Michelle sits out the final track and lets the instrumentalists stretch out on their own. Although widely heard as instrumental classics, several tunes—“On Green Dolphin Street” and two from Monk, “Ask Me Now” and “Straight, No Chaser” –are rarely heard as vocals; others are heard much too seldom, such as Johnny Mandel’s “A Time for Love” and Gordon Jenkins’ “Blue Prelude,” or infrequently in a jazz interpretation, such as the title track from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Even the more common tracks benefit from uncommonly sublime treatment—Cole Porter’s chestnuts “Night and Day” and “Love for Sale,” Jobim’s “Dindi,” the Gillespie/Coots beauty, “You Go to My Head,” and the instrumental rendition of Kern and Mercer’s “Dearly Beloved.” It’s a set list that ranges from velvety ballad to midtempo swing, from wistful samba to bright groove, never mired in melancholy or overpowering. The acoustics from Matthew Zimmerman and Wild Sound Studio are impeccable, as always.

Photo by Andrea Canter

A few years back, Tom Surowicz noted in the Star Tribune that Charmin Michelle’s “understated art is more about gentle persuasion, precise storytelling and easy swing.” This is certainly the case on Pure Imagination. Michelle never tries to blow out the speakers. Rather her efforts are directed to interpretation and nuance: "I've always admired singers who can belt out tunes, but I know I'm not a belter," she told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "So I try to use dynamics and emotion to get my point across. And I choose tunes where the lyric and melody has a lot of meaning. That way I can express a lot of feeling without having to shout it out."

To refer to this recording as “easy on the ears” is true, yet glosses over the subtleties of phrasing and emotion that fill every track. Compared at times to Billie Holiday and Nancy Wilson, Michelle’s trademarks are clear tone, precise diction, and true pitch; she has a beautiful lower register and wide comfort zone; every track carries her personal, gentle imprint.

Shapira is a perfect foil, for he too is all about nuance, creating a warm breeze to billow around the velvet pipes. At times he stirs up a samba-tinged beat, not unexpected on “Dindi” but delightfully interesting on “On Green Dolphin Street” and “You Go to My Head.” The only musician to play on every tune, Shapira dominates the opening track (“On Green Dolphin Street”) such that the vocal seems more the accompaniment; he provides a perfectly mournful solo on “Blue Prelude,” a sultry intro for “A Time for Love,” a tour de force solo on “Love for Sale,” and a fleet-fingered master class on the final “Dearly Beloved.”

Photo by Andrea Canter

I was not familiar with tenor sax/ flute virtuoso Paul Harper, but I should be. He has many fine moments in both supporting and solo roles, from his boppishly smiling tenor romp on “Night and Day” to his gentle hollow flute tones on “Pure Imagination” to his highly accessible improvisations on “Love for Sale.” His wistful flute on “Dindi” fits Michelle’s vocals like a glove as the two voices meld into a slow dance. The final instrumental track (“Dearly Beloved”) is Harper’s showcase.

Tom Lewis and Nathan Norman are in fine form throughout, driving a swinging up-tempo groove on “Straight, No Chaser” and “Night and Day.” Lewis is one of the most lyrical bassists around, and on “Pure Imagination,” he creates a mournful, soulful tone in tandem with the hollow notes of Harper’s flute. His dynamic basslines create a firm foundation for Shapira’s gambits on “Love for Sale” and “Dearly Beloved.” Norman directs a swinging trapset, adding spicy syncopations to “Love for Sale,” a clavé-like pulse to “You Go to My Head,” and laughing snares and rolling cymbals on the closing “Dearly Beloved.”

Photo by Andrea Canter

Perhaps the recording is best summed up by the lyrics on the final vocal track, where she “lingers like a haunting refrain.” On “You Go to My Head,” as on the rest of the recording, Charmin Michelle goes to your heart.

The release of Pure Imagination will be celebrated at the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, on June 8^th at 7 pm. You can find Pure Imagination at the Electric Fetus at www.efetus.com, at the Dakota on June 8^th, or direct from Charmin Michelle at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or Joel Shapira at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .