The Critics Say...

"Joyce Breach is one of the finest talents to explode on the New York Cabaret scene in a long, long time. She is not flashy, overly dramatic or campy. She is sophisticated, subtle and knows her way around a good song. How many singers can say that much?"
-Robert M. Goodman,
CAB Magazine, NY

"The mellow, soothing voice of the tasteful Miss Breach lends itself not only to the essential evergreens that all good singers must handle, but also to the special kind of material that only the best attempt. Her good taste and musicianship...make waiting for a table a pleasure."
-George Anderson,
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette

"Joyce Breach is a singer paying her dues and reaping tertiary rewards: I doubt if there's much in her pockets to keep her in groceries for all of her talent. Still, there's something valiant about her dedication to quality that deserves a wider audience. Thank heavens she is around to breathe some life into an extraordinary listless year in the cabaret business."
-Rex Reed,
The New York Observer
"Joyce Breach pours each song as if the drink order is scotch neat and hold the ice. She never strays far from the standards and gives them their due without trying to call attention to the skilled way she's doing it."
-Dave Finkel,
The Village Voice

"What a pleasure it is to listen to Joyce Breach sing. Her voice is like warm honey (mind you, I've never tasted warm honey, but if it isn't exactly like her voice, it should be) and with her beautifully fluid technique, words and music pour forth effortlessly. With no frills, no gimmicks, she gets right to the heart of the matter, and her choice of material shows imagination and great taste."
-Roy Sander, Back Stage

"Her voice and her subdued style is made to order for the melodic numbers of the great films of the 'forties'. As good as Joyce is, it was no mistake for her to take on The Boy Next Door, the Martin/Blane hit from Meet Me In St. Louis. Eight bars into it and any recollection of Judy Garland doing the number in the film was lost."
-Peter Leavy,
Cabaret Scenes
Billy Roy on Joyce's changing style:
"It's always been extremely musical, but originally she was laid back, very, very simple. She's gone on to offer more tender, more overt expressions of love and other feelings with new refinements that make her singing more exciting. Also, she's gradually cutting loose in a lot of areas. I'd go to hear her at Danny's and all of a sudden this funnier and more dramatic lady would appear. I just love it!"
"A New York singer with a warm vibrant sound and excellent taste...Like many of the best singers, she is part cabaret, part jazz."
-Robert Cushman,
BBC Toronto

"...a fresh-voiced charmer with a feel for fine songs..."
-R.C. Smith,
The Herald Sun, NC

"The voice of Joyce Breach is one of the most arresting things we've experienced in a long time. She's effortless without being lazy and the sound is beautiful without being syrupy...Breach and Roy perform 18 swell tunes and not a tired, overdone standard is found in the bunch." 

-Steve Sando,|
MrLucky.com
Full Review

"Without phony bells and whistles and a voice as vibrant as fine port wine and warm as smoldering embers, she sang a selection of love songs to a sold out audience. Breach's selections examined love from more than two sides; from Why Did I Choose You to The Pity of it All and a stunning version of Where Are You? that would make Mabel Mercer proud."
-Elizabeth Ahlfors, Cabaret Scenes

"Breach adds to the lyric artistry of Mabel Mercer by way of her own relaxed swing. Her vocal sound, which is warm, mature and emotionally balanced, is a delight. The result is a CD of excellent interpretation that in many instances I find preferable to those of her idol. Breach achieves her goal with effortless grace...She also vividly demonstrates to anyone who might not have encountered her before now that she is herself an artist of considerable stature."
-Bruce Crowther, Jazz Journal International

"Like her mentor, Ms. Breach gets to the aesthetics of her repertoire, examining each stanza, turning both the rueful, obscure ballads...and the swinging vintage standards into one-act musical scenarios with polish and brio. Her singing is technically flawless and emotionally wrenching."
-Rex Reed, New York Observer

 

 "Joyce definitely belongs in the company of the best...Highly recommended to those who like their songs served up with class."
-Wendell Echols,
JazzBeat, New Orleans

"Boy, can she sing!"
-Mike Rapchak,
WGN, Chicago

"With each new recording, Breach does what would seem to be impossible: Get even better. Sometimes the simplest pleasures are the best."
-Jeff Rosen
Cabaret Scenes

"Who could ask for more than honey-voiced Joyce Breach singing a dozen and a half hand-picked songs? Maybe William Roy to accompany her at the piano, which makes Love Is The Thing as near perfect as possible. Breach has impeccable taste in picking songs, then interpreting them in uncluttered fashion. Together, Breach and Roy make music for grown-ups."
-Max Preeo, ShowMusic

"Joyce Breach sang with a real sense of rhythmic adventure.  Breach also—like Doris Day and Ella Fitzgerald—had a disarming way of letting her breath support ease away at the end of a phrase that made You're Sensational downright seductive." 
-Octavio Roca, San Francisco Chronicle

"It is a long time since anyone delivered the quiet nostalgia of These Foolish Things with such conviction.
-Clive Davis, The London Times

"Ever wonder about an heir apparent to Rosemary Clooney in delivering an honest, witty and sophisticated approach to a good song? We already have her in Joyce Breach. Like Rosie, you can depend on Joyce for perception, subtlety and warmth.
-Elizabeth Ahlfors, Cabaret Scenes

"The program mixes standards like "Blame it On My Youth" and "After You" with arty period pieces by Bart Howard and Alec Wilder that evoke the hothouse cocktail culture of the Upper East Side in an earlier era."
-Stephen Holden, The New York Times
Keith Ingham on Joyce's Voice:
"She has this really warm sound, a richness, an Ella kind of thing. It's very hard to find singers who sing as naturally as Joyce does. No artifice, no gimmicks, no cutesy-pie or Betty Boop stuff!"

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