Laura Freeman, Color Wheel Cartwheel (Independent)


Ever since the beginning of time, mankind has been fascinated by colors, whether it was religious symbolism, military strategy, social studies or free enterprise competition. But what would colors sound if they had their own sonic identity? Those are the questions children’s entertainer Laura Freeman postulates here as each color of the rainbow becomes a song of its own as part of this educational vehicle. “Orange” becomes a horn-blasting cha-cha-cha salsa; “Yellow” seeps into slumbering trad jazz replete with a muted trombone. With each song, Freeman reinforces things that match the color, like “Green” that has alligators, snakes and grasshoppers with country-pickin’ guitarist Jeff Burke emulating different tones for each of God’s green creatures. “Red” becomes a rockin’ pop song with strawberries, watermelons, ladybugs and radishes. “Blue” features fiddler Neti Vaan copping the sounds of whales with her bow strokes. Though Freeman is loaded with sassy pipes, what makes this doubly fun is her vocal inflections that provide creative comedy in its own right. In between songs, guest musicians cite the colors of the rainbow in a foreign tongue such as Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Dutch and Farsi. Color this one fun for all ages.