1. Fine and Mellow
2. I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl
3. Blues To Frankie and Johnny
4. I Can Dream
5. Why Don’t You Do Right?
6. I’m Alright Jack
7. Just Another Day
8. Since I Fell For You
9. Danger Man
10. Until the Real Thing Comes Along
11. Dear Annie
12. Step Up, Play The Blues
13. These Times We Live In.
Zoe Schwarz - Vocals
Ian Ellis - Tenor sax
Sue Hawker - Vocals
Rob Koral - Guitar
Hilary Cameron - Fender Rhodes, vocals
Malcolm Creese - Double bass
Quinny Lawrence - Drums
As
I may have said before (a hundred times?),
there are so many female singers around that
you have to be exceptional to stand out from
the crowd. Zoe Schwarz is a good singer but
not really exceptional. She delivers songs
clearly and generally sings in tune but there's
nothing much here to set her off from dozens
of other vocalists. She shares several songs
on this CD with another singer - Sue Hawker
- and at least the contrast between their
voices and styles shows where Zoe is superior.
Sue sings with some superficial jazz inflections
but without much convincing jazz feeling,
and her enunciation of lyrics tends to be
unclear - especially on Just Another Day,
where she sings without Zoe. They both
do quite a lot of scatting but much of it
sounds rehearsed rather than spontaneous.
Things don't improve when keyboardist Hilary
Cameron joins the two main vocalists for I'm
Alright Jack, which sounds like one of
those "cheeky" trio vocals reminiscent of
the Andrews Sisters.
The
other drawback of this album is the choice
of songs, several of which have already been
recorded definitively by other vocalists.
It was reckless to open the album with Fine
and Mellow, a song which Billie Holiday
made entirely her own. Zoe can't eradicate
Billie's classic version from our minds, especially
as she unwisely doubles the tempo halfway
through. The same reservation applies to Why
Don't You Do Right?, a song immortalised
by Peggy Lee and, again, difficult to improve
on. And Zoe's interpretation of I Want
Some Sugar in My Bowl is just not raunchy
enough.
Having
got those criticisms out of the way, I can
affirm that this is a pleasant album and it
has strengths as well as weaknesses. The main
strength resides in the instrumental contributions
from saxist Ian Ellis and guitarist Rob Koral,
who both play inventive, swinging solos -
for example in Dear Annie and Step
Up, Play the Blues. They are particularly
exhilarating when they combine to swap fours,
as they do on Why Don't You Do Right?
Many
people will enjoy this CD, as Zoe and Rob
write some interesting originals and the music
is good-natured and inoffensive. But is that
really the best thing you can say about a
jazz album?
Tony
Augarde
CD Reviews
33
Records 33JAZZ 171
