DANNIELLE GAHA
You Don't Know Me

Dannielle Gaha is a singer of popular song; an exquisite and truthful interpretive artist who on this CD spurns originals and sticks to the classics. Despite this, there is no lack of invention present. John Harkins' arrangements dominate and for the most part they energise the songs with a fresh, soulful power.
Gaha's vision of jazz is articulated with considerable style. Her faintly husky, often molasses-like and unavoidably sexual voice dominates proceedings. The sizzling band - Jonathan Pease's guitar engaging in playful duets with Harkin's piano - is a real delight.
There is a strong soul feel to the songs, courtesy of Dannielle's natural vocal style, and the three magical streams of jazz, soul and popular song, filtered through this band, this voice and the combined sensibilities of all those involved, make for a thoroughly magical experience.
Her band is on fire and the woman's voice could quell riots and romance tyrants. S'lovely.

Craig N. Pearce - The Drum Media
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JAZZ
You Don't Know Me, Dannielle Gaha

It's dangerous to stereotype a performer like Dannielle Gaha. Best-known to fans of Roy and HG's Club Buggery - as the brunette half of shapely singing duo the Nissan Cedrics - Gaha comes from a Sydney showbiz family. She's recorded dance singles in Britain, and backed a range of singers from Sting to Kylie and John Farnham, with whom she's now touring.
Her classy solo CD is aptly titled You Don't Know Me. Comprising torch song standards in intimate jazz arrangements, it features pianist and principal arranger John Harkins, guitarist Jonathan Pease, double bassist Johnathan Zwartz and percussionist Nicholas McBride, and is the kind of mood music you feel like putting on late at night, with the lights turned low.
Highlights include a starkly effective Blue Skies, the scatting Ella Fitzgerald tribute on A-tisket A-tasket and an understated Moon River (Gaha's a confirmed fan of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's). Best of all is the delightful arrangement of The Surrey With the Fringe on Top, which starts out as a cool cover before Gaha tap-dances across a rhythmic bridge to a funky, New Orleans-style street party rendition, with wailing horns. It's a terrific finale to a great career move.

Mike Daly - The Age
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LINER NOTES - You Don't Know Me

This is Dannielle's first jazz record. She has come from another musical background altogether, but listening back to all the tracks, I'm wondering why it took so long. Here is a singer with an incredible sense of pitch, great rythmic phrasing and she so obviously enjoys the experience of singing this material, the sense of fun is contagious. To my ears she is simply a superb vocalist, innately musical and not afraid to take risks.
The band you are listening to, and the material they are playing on this recording all came about from a season at Winebanc, Stan Sarris' jazz venue in the heart of the Sydney CBD. Dannielle had performed there with musical collaborators, but as yet had not performed a whole night there as a solo artist in the jazz genre. She took some convincing I seem to recall, but once she had decided to do it, everything started to fall into place, eventually culminating in this CD.
What you are hearing is the same band that played that season, with John Harkins on piano, Nick McBride on drums, Jonathan Pease on guitar and voice, and myself on ddouble bass. John Harkins, originally from Chicago, gets special mention here as he not only played beautifully on this CD, but most of the arrangements are his too. Nick McBride was his immaculate self throughout, and Jonathan Pease contributed his wonderful liquid sound, deep groove and just the right amount of the blues.
The selections were all chosen by Dannielle, and cover a lot of thematic ground. From the innocent A-Tisket-A-Tasket (A. Feldman, E. Fitzgerald) to the love weary The Masquerade Is Over (A. Wrubel, H. Magidson), Dannielle visits each song with her total commitment, leaving you with the impression she has really been there and knows that perhaps you have too. The arrangement of The Surrey With The Fringe On Top (Rodgers, Hammerstein II) is a musical journey in itself, starting somewhere in the middle of Oklahoma in a horse drawn carriage, and ending up in New Orleans having changed somewhere along the way into a cadillac. If you listen carefully you might catch the tap dancer at the side of the road.
Incidentally, most of the tracks here are first takes, proof of a singer a cut above the rest.
This recording is a celebration of Danni's talent, and I only hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Jonathan Zwartz
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DANNIELLE GAHA

The success Norah Jones is having at the moment with Come Away With Me has not gone unnoticed for Australian jazz singer Dannielle Gaha. "I know good timing isn't it" Dannielle tells coca-cola.com.au.
Her album of standards You Don't Know Me started life as an indie record. "We did the record independently last March" she says. "We did it really quickly spending three days at Sony studio using a small budget and recording the whole thing live like they used to in the 40s and 50s.
Life as a Jazz singer is somewhat of a sidetrack for Dannielle who started out as a pop singer. "I did a season at the Wine Banc in Sydney in 2001 and the guy who put it together said "you should do a jazz record". He said I had a natural flair for that kind of singing. So I put a band together and the songs we do on the record are the songs we did at the gig. I feel in love with the sound and feel in love with the style".
There's a lot of talent in the Gaha family. Dannielle's brother Eden made a name for himself as a presenter on Australian TV. Eden was on the TV show Animal Hospital as well as producing The Ties That Bind for the History Channel." He went back with his grandfather to Lebanon and filmed it all. It was unbelievable. They have just released a book on it and now they are going to make a second series. It was the highest rating show on The History Channel ever. It is his and his wife's baby. "Eden lives in LA. He and his wife moved there a year ago" Dannielle says. He went straight into LA and got work right away. He is good like that".
As for Dannielle, she is currently touring Australia as a singer in John Farnham's band. "We sing Please Don't Ask Me together as a duet. John gives everyone in the band a moment" she says.
Danielle's You Don't Know Me is out through Sony.

Paul Cashmere - Coca-Cola.com.au Music News
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FUNKY, JAZZY GAHA

If you were ever a fan of the house band on Roy & HG's Club Buggery, you'll recognise Dannielle Gaha's face and voice as part of the Nissan Cedrics.
As well as singing in her own bands, Gaha has honed her craft doing sessions with John Farnham, Sting, The Pet Shop Boys, Kylie Minogue and even toured Europe with Jason Donovan at the height of his pop fame. In the early '90s she signed a recording deal in London and released three singles. Then, even with all that experience under her belt, Gaha - sister to US-residing TV personality and filmmaker Eden Gaha - wanted to do more. After an album with the Nissan Cedrics and plenty of teaching, session, jingle and live work, Gaha has returned with her solo debut album.
The recently released You Don't Know Me is a collection of jazz standards hand-picked by the raven-haired singer. The album was inspired by a series of jazz shows Gaha did in Sydney last year. The songs formed the band's set and most were recorded in one or two takes. While it's a departure from Gaha's love of funk and all things Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway, the shift has been welcomed with open arms.
"Someone said they felt I had a natural flair for jazz and it just went from there," says Gaha." After the first night in the series I wasn't sure about it, if it was me. But after the next night it felt like it was the most natural thing in the world. So we made the record and I decided to dedicate it to my grandparents because these were the songs they used to dance to. These are also songs I love to sing, beautiful songs." Included on You Don't Know Me are songs like Moon River, Honeysuckle Rose, A-Tisket-A-Tasket and The Nearness of You.
At the moment Gaha is on the road singing with John Farnham's band. After the tour she'll return home to Sydney to start work on her next album.

Ara Jansen - The West Australian Today
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STEPPING SOLO INTO SPOTLIGHT

Singer Dannielle Gaha has spent much of her life making other acts look and sound good.
She performed a duet with John Farnham and was one half of Roy and HG's Club Buggery act The Nissan Cedrics.
But with her debut jazz album of old favourites being launched next week at Wine Banc (where she has been performing them for the past year), Gaha now will step into the spotlight herself.
The Gaha story starts at her birth. Her mother, famed Sydney dancing teacher Janice Breen, named her after her favourite singer. "She was a French singer called Danielle from the '60s who mum always loved."
The fast-talking Gaha, whose brother is television personality and actor, Eden, said her mum used to take her to dancing classes in a bassinet and sit her on top of the piano. "I'm sure the piano keys jingling and always being surrounded by music had an effect on the direction my life would take."
"I'm glad that in my first solo album I'm singing better than ever and that they aren't just throwaway songs, they are beautiful songs."

The Daily Telegraph
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SINGER BORN A FARNHAM FAN

Not many people have the opportunity to be on the same stage when John Farnham is performing, let alone when they're not even born. But that's the story Farnham's back-up singer Dannielle Gaha can lay claim to; she had her first encounter with Farnham while still in her mother's womb. "When he was on Bandstand years ago doing Sadie, my mum was one of the dancers when she was pregnant with me," she said.
Gaha is touring with Farnham as a back-up vocalist on The Last Time tour. "He's a beautiful man and really respectful of everyone on the tour, including the crew and the band," Gaha said. "He treats everyone with the utmost respect, therefore gets the most out of everyone - he's really down-to-earth and just a lovely guy."
Gaha last night performed Please Don't Ask Me as a duet with Farnham. "This tour is different because we're going to places where the people haven't seen a show on such a big scale like this and haven't been entertained like this for a while," Gaha said. "They love John because he makes everyone think they are in his loungeroom."
Gaha has just recorded her first album You Don't Know Me, which has been released through Sony Music. The album is a collection of classic jazz tracks, performed in a contemporary and melodic style. "I have found my sound - this album is a reflection of where I am right now," she said.

Bendigo Advertiser
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