Ron Weinstock for the Jazz & Blues Report (January 2008)

Born in Norman, Oklahoma in 1985, Champian Fulton
was influenced by her father, a renowned jazz trumpeter.
Learning piano as a youth, she has been playing and singing
jazz since she was little and has been devoted to jazz
piano and vocals since 1998. In 2006 she met David
Fulton, leader of the Sultans of Swing at the New York
club, Birdland, and she eventually joined Berger’s band.
Berger, a conductor and arranger for Jazz at Lincoln Center,
is well-respected authority on the music of Duke
Ellington and the swing era (having transcribed 700 or so
classic works including 500 from Ellington and Strayhorn)
and the Sultans of Swing is a marvelous big band that
lives up to its name.

Such Sweet Thunder has just issued their collaboration,
Champian, a marvelous journey through the American
Songbook on some classic standards such as I Can’t
Give You Anything But Love, Get Out of Town, He Ain’t
Got Rhythm, Too Close For Comfort, and Just One of Those
Things along with such intriguing choices as The Gypsy
(a number I believe Dinah Washington recorded) Ain’t Nobody
Here But Us Chickens (a classic associated with
Louis Jordan), and Lil Green’s Romance in the Dark. She
really projects the lyrics in a lively, natural fashion perhaps
suggesting the late Etta Jones with a touch of Ella
thrown in. Her performances benefit from the superb Sultans
of Swing and Berger’s arrangements, with their
Ellingtonian accents (particularly evident on the wonderful
performances of The Gypsy and Romance In the Dark).
Two of the performances feature her own piano, including
You Turned the Tables on Me, with trio backing, and the
solo, Never-The-Less.

In summary, this is a marvelous debut by Champian
Fulton with David Berger & the Sultans of Swing.
Champian is a singer from whom we undoubtedly shall
hear more from in the future. This is available from
cdbaby.com as well as from the Sultans of Swing website,
www.sultansofswing.com. Ron Weinstock