1. Blue Monk
2. Don’t Misunderstand
3. Exactly Like You
4. Ain’t Misbehavin’
5. I Saw Stars
6. I’m Glad There Is You
7. Bluesology
9. Are You Real?
Etta Jones – Vocals
Houston Person – Tenor sax
Sonny Phillips – Organ
Frankie Jones - Drums
However
experienced jazz fans may be, they can’t know
every performer. Etta Jones was only a name
to me until I heard this album. Etta in fact
sang with Earl Hines’s band from 1949 to 1952
and had a hit record in 1960 with Don’t
Go to Strangers. She recorded many albums
with tenorist Houston Person before she died
in 2001.
I
know Houston much better, having heard him
at several Swinging Jazz Parties in Blackpool,
as well as on many discs recorded for the
HighNote label (most recently an excellent
CD with pianist Bill Charlap – reviewed for
MusicWeb last year). He is a saxophonist capable
of swinging with bluesy soul but he can also
play with tender feeling on ballads – as he
does here in an emotional rendition of I’m
Glad There Is You, which also has a well-paced
organ solo from Sonny Phillips. Houston often
leaves spaces wide enough to drive a truck
through but then bursts out with swirling
decorations which are as complex as they are
beautiful.
But
the main revelation for me is Etta Jones,
an extraordinary singer who makes an immediate
impact on the title track, which betrays the
influence of Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington.
Despite these palpable influences, Etta is
unique. She may have learnt from Billie’s
phrasing and Dinah’s declamatory style but
she has her own idiosyncratic style. Listening
to her is like watching a tightrope walker.
She treads a daring path through a song, and
sometimes you think she won’t reach the end
of a phrase in time, as she tends to ignore
bar-lines and deliver the lyrics with startling
freedom. She also seems happy to assume that
we know a particular tune, as she improvises
a line which may appear only tenuously connected
to the melody but which nevertheless makes
glorious sense. It is fascinating to follow
her wherever she takes us, however unexpected
the route may be. In Exactly Like You,
for instance, it sounds as if she’s not going
to come in for the first chorus but her voice
suddenly arrives with the sort of melismatic
independence that may remind you of Dinah
Washington but is more impressive (and less
repetitive).
Ain’t
Misbehavin’ has been sung thousands of
times but Etta somehow makes it new, treating
the song almost anarchically. Even though
she seems to disregard the restraints of punctuation,
she sings the song with complete conviction.
Her interpretation of I Saw Stars captures
perfectly the disorientation of falling in
love.
This
album was recoded at New York’s Salt Peanuts
club in 1980 and has apparently never been
released before. This may be because of the
rather fuzzy recording quality on some tracks,
and the occasionally abrasive sound of Sonny
Phillips’s Hammond organ. Yet Sonny provides
a solid bass with the pedals, helped along
by the impetus of Frankie Jones’s drumming.
Don’t be put you off by the slight deficiencies
in sound. This album is far more exciting
than most of those emanating nowadays from
the numerous vocalists who could learn a thing
or three by listening to Etta Jones. Marvellous!
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
HighNote
HCD 7173
