Tag Archives: Great American Songbook

Artist, CD-Reviews

Judy Wexler: Crowded Heart

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Vocalist Judy Wexler has released her fifth album “Crowded Heart” on May 31st and it hit #1 in Jazz on iTunes and Amazon in its first week. The press release said that the album is featuring outstanding songs by current-day jazz composers. So I had an interesting baseline when I started to listen to the album. The first impression of the album was extremely positive, Judy has a clear and precise voice and is able to transmit complex lyrics in an easy and natural way to the listener. The arrangement on the album are all excellent, played by great musicians and here and there are nice surprises for the listener.

All songs have been chosen by Judy Wexler and she took her time to find the combination of great melodies and lyrics with a compelling story. The Great American Songbook has a lot of songs with beautiful melodies but sometimes the lyrics are a little bit silly and more like a vehicle for the melody than a story to tell. Judy’s approach is definitely different and more challenging but I can imagine also more rewarding. In addition she looked for timeless modern jazz compositions written by contemporary songwriters.

The album was produced by Alan Pasqua and Judy Wexler, all arrangements are from Alan Pasqua, who plays the piano on all songs.

The other musicians on the album are:

  • Larry Koonse – guitar
  • Josh Johnson – alto sax
  • Bob Sheppard – alto flute
  • Darek Oles – bass
  • Steve Hass  – drums
  • Aaron Serfaty  – percussion
  • Stefanie Fife  – cello

The album starts with “Circus Life” by Luciana Souza, Larry Klein and David Batteau, a lively samba about the stresses and general insanity of modern life. A nice surprise comes at the end of the tune where Alan Pasqua decided to add a fun whistling improvisation.

The second song “Parisian Heartbreak” is my personal favorite on the album. No surprise since the song was composed by Richard Galliano who used to play with my favorite guitar player Sylvain Luc. I found an instrumental version of this song called “Spleen” with Richard Galliano and Sylvain Luc. Judy’s version keeps the melancholic mood of this musette-tune and Alan Pasqua adds an incredible solo on the melodica.

“Crowded Heart” the title song of the album comes next. It was composed by Judy’s good friend Sinne Eeg, a Danish vocalist and songwriter with an international following. Eeg’s compatriot Mads Mathias wrote the lyrics about the end of an affair with a married man.  This song was one of the first songs she selected for this album. Convincing Steve Hass on drums is responsible for the open but pushing groove.

“Painted on Canvas” was the only tune where I knew the original version. Gregory Porter released it on his 2012 album “Be Good”. Gregory Porter’s version stays in an open mood and I always was hoping that it picks up the 6/8 meter, which it never does. Judy Wexler’s version is much more straight here with a rather heavy funky groove. Josh Johnson on alto sax plays an outstanding solo.

The next song “Stars” was composed by pianist Fred Hersch, whose original instrumental version is called “Endless Stars.” The lyrics are from British vocalist and lyricist Norma Winstone. The melody has challenging intervals which are mastered with assurance.

“The Last Goodbye” is a sad song about a lost love with excellent lyrics by British vocalist Georgia Mancio, who has become a valued online friend to Judy Wexler through their exchange about music. Bob Sheppard on alto-flute is responsible for the unique and distinct sound of this song.

The album continues with “Take My Breath Away” by American songwriter and jazz vocalist René Marie, who started her career as Jazz singer with 41 years. A clever piano riff dominates this song and Larry Koonse plays a fine solo on his acoustic guitar.

“I Took Your Hand” by Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi is the next song. The original instrumental version was titled “Fellini’s Waltz”. The version of Judy Wexler comes with a pushing groove and a great alto sax solo. The melody is also quite complex with interval jumps that are all managed with ease.

“It’s Only Smoke” by Larry Goldings and lyrics by Cliff Goldmacher is the song where I have the feeling that Judy Wexler enjoys to have complex lyrics that ask for an intellectual mind to interpret them. This song is real brain food and I like it very much.

The album ends with “And We Will Fly” by Alan Pasqua with lyrics by Kurt Elling and Phillip Galdston. It originally appeared as an instrumental called “Highway 14″ on Pasqua’s 2005 CD, “My New Old Friend”. This love song has a beautiful intro by Larry Koonse and modulates nicely between major and minor in an easy Latin-style.

Judy Wexler still does release concerts for this album and you can check on her website when and where she will perform:
http://judywexler.com/

Judy did some crowd-funding for this album and produced a nice video which I would like to share with you:

Thanks to the information from Judy I was able to compile a nice playlist with the version from the album and the original version of each song. I hope you enjoy this comparison.

 

Jazz-Tunes

You Don’t Know What Love Is

This tune was originally written for the 1941 Universal film “Keep ‘Em Flying” but became famous in the Jazz scene in the 1950′s when Miles Davis or Chet Baker started to play and record this song.

The original key of this song is G minor and the form is a 32 bars AABA standard form. The Real Book has the song in the key of F minor and refers to the recordings of Miles Davis on “Walkin’” from 1954 and Sonny Rollins on “Saxophone Colossus” from 1956.

As this is a very popular song from the Great American Songbook there are endless versions recorded and I would like to share with you my top 5 recordings of this jazz standard:

  1. Pat Martino (from the 1976 album “We’ll Be Together Again”): This recording finds Pat Martino with Gil Goldstein on the electric piano in their best form, playing the song very sophisticated and aesthetic and leaving a lot of space to each other proving that less notes can be more music. Pat Martino plays the melody with just a little bit of additional “decoration” and improvises over the AAB part of the second chorus with a straight even groove but without falling into a double-time feeling.
  2. John Coltrane (from the 1962 album “Ballads”): Here we have  John Coltrane’s classic quartet with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums.
    The melody is played rubato, the solo (saxophone only) is very straight swinging and the song is closed by playing the first part of the melody once more rubato. This recording is a real “classic” one and is an excellent example of the Coltrane-style of jazz music.
  3. Chet Baker (from the album “Saga All Stars: You Don’t Know What Love Is / 1953-1955″): This recording features Chet Baker singing and playing the trumpet (his sideman are Russ Freeman (p), Carson Smith (b) and Bob Neal (d)) and is a perfect sample of cool and relaxed played Jazz music. The trumpet solo is very melodically and Baker’s lost and lonely voice is unique in it’s style. The song has been recorded at a time when Baker was one of the most influential jazz musicians representing cool and west coast jazz.
  4. Mad Romance (from the 2011 album “Aim High”): Mad Romance  (www.madromance.com) is a Miami-based vocal quartet which released this song on their entertaining CD “Aim High”. Here we hear a nicely arranged vocal quartet with beautiful voicings and a lovely dialog between trumpet and saxophone.
  5. Eliane Elias (from the 2013 album “I Thought About You (A Tribute to Chet Baker)”): 50 years after Chet Baker’s recording we have tribute recording by Eliane Elias. Her voice reminds me a little bit of Chet’s voice since it has also less volume or vibrato and her style inspired by her Brazilian roots is also cool and smooth and so she finds the ideal balance for this song in her singing and in the piano solo.

All the songs are found either on Amazon or iTunes for download. I prepared a playlist on iTunes for you so you can listen yourself to the versions presented.

If you know a version of that song that is quite special or unique in it’s arrangement, please leave a comment.