Lorraine Feather, Ages

As the daughter of respected jazz critic, Leonard Feather, Lorraine Feather comes to her jazz pedigree honestly, but more from natural talent than dogged filial loyalty. In possession of a pure, rich voice, she tried acting—along with some discouraging stints in the food industry—before finding her multi-colored niche in singing and composing. Ages, about the epochs that women of “a certain age” look back on, is full of artistry and humor. Co-written with Yellowjackets pianist/arranger Russell Ferrante, guitarist Eddie Arkin, pianist Shelly Berg, banjoist Bela Fleck and pianist/arrangerDick Hyman, Feather plays the light-hearted schoolgirl, then revolves back to a deep-hearted but not cloying look at ages long lost. “I Forgot To Have Children” is a great tongue-in-cheek look at an issue that nary a single woman has not considered when looking at the end of their culture- driven “shelf life.” Yet it’s not a clichéd look, either. Her lyrical arabesques can elicit moments of pensive thought as well as guffaws of laughter. With musical dexterity—a very credible tribute to the 1890’s pop musical ballads with “The Girl With the Lazy Eye”—she comments on anything from the girl who doesn’t fit in the usual cliques in high school to the surprised commentary that all have asked, “How Did We End Up Here?” From straight-ahead mainstream jazz to ballads that defy a sugary overlay, then to an elegant bossa nova, Feather’s back-up musicians easily keep pace with her strong, smooth vocals. With bassist Michael Valerio and vibraphonist Bob Leatherbarrow augmenting the rest of the group, their originality meets Feather where she lives, in an intelligent, witty, sometimes pathos-ridden world. That, in the end, is what shines on Ages. This is not a “chick’s album.” Yes, there are the inevitable songs about significant relationships, but none are hackneyed or gender-driven. No more can be asked than that Lorraine Feather has produced a polished yet very engaging look at this life. It...

JEFF LARSON, HEART OF THE VALLEY

Over the past decade or so, Jeff Larson’s consistent string of smart, hooky and alluringly accessible albums have borne clear references to the Southern California sound of the mid-to-late ’70s. So it seems fitting that for the lovely and evocative Heart of the Valley he has collaborated with America’s Gerry Beckley and welcomed appearances from soft-rock stalwarts including America’s other half, Dewey Bunnell, Poco pedal steel player Rusty Young and Brian Wilson associate Jeff Foskett. The America signature is immediate and unavoidable, given that Beckley penned the majority of the songs, produced the sessions and contributes the lion’s share of the instrumental duties— guitar, keyboards, bass, accordion, percussion and programming among them. Consequently, the album basks in a hazy supple sheen that helps ballads like the title track, “Airport Calling,” “Southern Girl” and “Five Mile Road” to invite an instant embrace. Credit Larson’s radiant vocals with accentuating the appeal, giving this set potential placement on adult-oriented soft rock radio—or for that matter, any arena where beautiful balladry, well-crafted compositions and studio savvy still have an opportunity to...

Tessa Souter, Obsession

Tessa Souter is a consummate and dedicated vocalist who is deservedly on the rise in the New York jazz scene and elsewhere. A contralto who sings with both precision and emotion, her impressionist and minimalist interpretations bring out the meanings of her songs while remaining true to their melodic lines. Following Listen Love (Nara Music, 2004) and Nights of Key Largo (Venus Records, 2008), Obsessioncontinues her in-depth preoccupation with the nature and experience of love, but with a slight shift to the Latin rhythmic side. In this respect, she is helped along by a well-chosen ensemble of instrumentalists who surround her with gentle warmth. By incorporating guitar (Jason Ennis), accordion (Victor Prieto), and violin (Todd Reynolds) into the group, Souter establishes a sultry feeling of a late night cabana in a southern clime. This provides the backdrop for further reflections on the vicissitudes of intimacy which she pursued in her previous recordings. The songs are well-chosen and carefully crafted, and the arrangements are done with great care to evoke an intended range of feelings and stylistic changes. The recording begins on the lonely 1960s note of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” and goes on to songs such as “Riverman,” “Obsession,” and “White Room,” which evoke the passionate, obsessive side of love. “Afro Blue/Footprints” evokes John Coltrane’s classic in an urbane manner, leading up to “Make This City Ours Tonight,” while the remaining songs explore the light and dark aspects of intimacy, always with echoes of Latin genres. The instrumentalists complement Souter’s singing with interpretive sensitivity, with Ennis’ playing especially striking. Souter stands out in a large field of contemporary jazz vocalists because, unlike most of them, she thinks before she sings and never compromises the music with irrelevancies. She thinks not only of the music itself, to which she brings ample talent and sophistication, but also almost philosophically about what she wants to say. She...

Ella Fitzgerald, “Twelve Nights in Hollywood”

This 4-CD collection is a real gem unearthed from Verve’s vaults — 73 previously unreleased live small-group recordings from the “First Lady of Song.” In some cases these are the first and/or only live versions of the songs she ever recorded. This is Ella at the creative peak of her career. Verve founder Norman Granz personally supervised the live recordings over 12 nights in 1961 and 1962 of every set Fitzgerald performed with her quartet in the intimate setting of Los Angeles’ Crescendo Club. This collection finds Ella ranging through her entire repertoire from the familiar to the obscure, including new versions of her earliest hits (“A-Tisket, A-Tasket”) and those of her peers Billie Holiday (“Good Morning Heartache”) and Frank Sinatra (“The Lady is A Tramp”). And there’s the spontaneity and humor ever present in Ella’s live performances — whether she’s messing up the lyrics to “Blue Moon” without skipping a beat or affectionately imitating Louis Armstrong and Dinah Washington on “Bill...

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