It’s amazing how fast Jackie has grown up

It is simply amazing how much growing up a young girl can do in a year’s time. A few weeks ago, I was listening to Heavenly Christmas by Jackie Evancho, an album that she recorded last year.  Very good singing by a 12-year-old soprano but there is no mistaking that it was a kid singing.

Today, I have Jackie’s new album, Songs From The Silver Screen, on the player and I cannot help but marvel over how much fuller, deeper more expressive and more polished, totally more beautiful her voice has become. All the signs are there that this girl is growing up into a most important singing star.

I was thinking of adding the phrase in the area of classical music to that sentence. But then I hear her singing Reflection from the Disney picture Mulan, and I realize that while the voice may sound classical, the sensibility of the production is totally pop. She is singing for everybody in so natural a style and that is what pop music is.

I do not know if you have noticed this. For some strange reason, female classical singers seldom achieve crossover success. Maybe I should change seldom to never because I cannot think of even one who has right now. There was Susan Boyle but hers was an altogether different case. But remember how easily the pop buyers embraced the three tenors, Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, or how the 18- year old baritone Josh Groban’s debut CD went Platinum. Maybe Jackie can change that.

Songs From The Silver Screen puts her on the right track. Some of the most loved tunes of recent times originated from memorable films and the CD has an excellent, very commercial  collection. The arrangements are simple and straight-forward.  I can count more sweet frills in Pink’s recordings than there are in this album Jackie’s but this one still comes off, heavenly. 

I like it that there is a mixture of old standards and later favorites, a number of them like Reflection, from Disney movies. This gives Jackie a wide berth in the market, pleasing both classical music fans while enabling kids to realize that there is more meaning to those Disney songs than what they hear in the animated flicks.

Reflection is definitely one of the best cuts. She made the song truly profound. Marvel also over how Jackie sings Elton John’s Can You Feel The Love Tonight from The Lion King and the charming I See The Light from Tangled. The latter is a duet with her brother Jacob who does not sing classical and instead has the makings of a pop star.

Also included are Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory; The Music Of The Night from Phantom Of The Opera; The Summer Knows from Summer Of  ’42 featuring trumpet wiz Chris Botti; What A Wonderful World from Good Morning Vietnam; My Heart Will Go On from Titanic featuring violinist Joshua Bell; Come What May from Moulin Rouge with The Tenors; Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific; and the two songs you should not miss, When l Fall In Love from Sleepless In Seattle, this is one of the most moving versions ever heard of this old favorite; and Jackie’s magnificent rendition of Se from Cinema Paradisco with the 2cellos Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser.

 Now also available is Jackie’s Music Of The Movies DVD.  This is obviously a companion piece to the new album. This shows her in a solo concert performing all of the songs from Silver Screen. The production is so simple, just Jackie on stage with an orchestra but her singing is great and it is a pleasure to see her looking so pretty. If there is a special Jackie fan whom you want to please this Christmas season, then these would be the perfect gifts.

Come to think of it, why don’t you introduce a child to the beauty of classical singing through Jackie. Silver screen with its Disney song can provide a good start. Another good choice would be Jackie’s Heavenly Christmas. This one has familiar carols that kids can sing along with like The First Noel, Away In A Manger, What Child Is This, O Come All Ye Faithful, O Little Town of Bethlehem and the perky Ding Dog Merrily On High.