Whisky Scented Kisses
Daphne Roubini & Black Gardenia
Daphne Roubini & Black Gardenia’s Whisky Scented Kisses is a nine‑track vocal jazz album released in April 2026 on the Cellar Live label, and it plays like a late‑night set in a small, smoke‑tinged club. Drawing heavily on the phrasing and harmony of 1940s–50s vocal jazz, the record blends six originals with three carefully chosen songs from the past, all carried by Roubini’s intimate, unhurried delivery and the ensemble’s understated swing. Recorded at Vancouver’s Warehouse Studio with a sextet of top local players on guitar, bass, horns, and violin, the sound is warm and cinematic: gently pulsing rhythm guitar, muted trumpet and flugelhorn, and softly sighing sax lines that wrap around the voice rather than compete with it.
Lyrically and emotionally, the album orbits around love in its many shades—longing, risk, quiet devotion, and the bittersweet knowledge that nothing lasts forever. Originals like “Minor Mood,” “Am I Crazy?,” “Whisky Scented Kisses,” “How Do I Know?,” and “Today” present small, carefully observed scenes of desire and doubt, while “You Leave Me Breathless” and “This Year’s Kisses” tip the hat to Billie Holiday and Nancy Wilson without ever lapsing into mere imitation. A particular highlight is “There’s Always Tomorrow,” a previously unpublished 1950 song by Mimi Marlowe Jaffe transcribed from an old private recording; its quietly hopeful lyric about carrying on after disappointment fits seamlessly into the album’s gently melancholic, ultimately resilient mood. Critics have described the record as a “strange, seductive reinvention of jazz,” classic in its bones but subtly experimental in structure and atmosphere, rewarding close, late‑night listening with its mix of vintage elegance and modern emotional nuance.
Whisky Scented Kisses
Daphne Roubini & Black Gardenia
Daphne Roubini & Black Gardenia’s Whisky Scented Kisses is a nine‑track vocal jazz album released in April 2026 on the Cellar Live label, and it plays like a late‑night set in a small, smoke‑tinged club. Drawing heavily on the phrasing and harmony of 1940s–50s vocal jazz, the record blends six originals with three carefully chosen songs from the past, all carried by Roubini’s intimate, unhurried delivery and the ensemble’s understated swing. Recorded at Vancouver’s Warehouse Studio with a sextet of top local players on guitar, bass, horns, and violin, the sound is warm and cinematic: gently pulsing rhythm guitar, muted trumpet and flugelhorn, and softly sighing sax lines that wrap around the voice rather than compete with it.
Lyrically and emotionally, the album orbits around love in its many shades—longing, risk, quiet devotion, and the bittersweet knowledge that nothing lasts forever. Originals like “Minor Mood,” “Am I Crazy?,” “Whisky Scented Kisses,” “How Do I Know?,” and “Today” present small, carefully observed scenes of desire and doubt, while “You Leave Me Breathless” and “This Year’s Kisses” tip the hat to Billie Holiday and Nancy Wilson without ever lapsing into mere imitation. A particular highlight is “There’s Always Tomorrow,” a previously unpublished 1950 song by Mimi Marlowe Jaffe transcribed from an old private recording; its quietly hopeful lyric about carrying on after disappointment fits seamlessly into the album’s gently melancholic, ultimately resilient mood. Critics have described the record as a “strange, seductive reinvention of jazz,” classic in its bones but subtly experimental in structure and atmosphere, rewarding close, late‑night listening with its mix of vintage elegance and modern emotional nuance.