The Valiant Thieves — Full Album Digital Download

Your choice of WAV (high res) or mp3 (compressed) files.

Released in 2008 this is a “live off the floor” jazz album of inventive renditions of 1980’s pop songs; performed by renowned Edmonton-based jazz musicians Juno-winner Sandro Dominelli (drums), Chris Andrew (keys), and Mike Lent (bass), with AV’s vocals at the helm.  

The concept behind the project stemmed from AV’s desire to record some jazz renditions of classics that weren’t the typical jazz classics from the American songbook of musicals, such as Cole Porter and Rogers and Hart, etc; but instead to do renditions of songs in the ear of people who grew up listening in the 80’s and afterward.  So, she picked a list of 80’s songs such a “Material Girl” and “Smooth Criminal”, and set about recording them.  

When gigging the material she took on the persona of “April Valiant”, (also with the initials AV), who wore a pink hair wig and ‘80s bling— to differentiate between her jazz singer presence and her career as an original songwriter, and though the album was released over a decade ago it still enjoys play on several jazz programs across Canada.

The album artwork is taken from an original painting by Edmonton-based artist Sandra Kunz, www.strokeofsoul.com.