Wild is the Wind [4:57]
The Day it Rained [6:33]
Turned to Blue [4:29]
Save Your Love for Me [3:33]
I Don’t Remember Ever Growing Up [3:01]
I Live to Love You [5:30]
This is All I Ask [6:03]
Golden Lady [5:30]
If You Went Away [5:52]
Someone to Light Up My Life [5:27]
A Little Tear [3:35]
Beata Pater (vocals), Hiromu Aoki (piano), Buca Necak (bass).
rec. 2013, B&B Records, California, USA. [54:30]
Beata Pater’s voice is immediately recognisable and even in its quiet minimalism manages to dominate. Unfortunately, Pater begins with a piece which makes
the listener instantly compare her to the unsurpassable Nina Simone and Shirley Horn. Their versions truly evoke the longing, fleeting and wrecking wind
whereas Pater’s hints at rather than lives within a feeling. Though she certainly has a haunting quality, this CD doesn’t have the same raw
panache as Sessions (1993), where Whisper Not stands apart as truly great. Recorded in Yokohama, Buca Necak’s brilliant bass
accompaniment and Pater’s dark, smoky vocals make this recording highly memorable. It is a shame that Necak is not granted the same presence on this album.
Pater has a talking quality as the listener tries to catch onto the words ‘like the leaf clings to the tree’ in Wild is the Wind. Hiromu Aoki’s
piano accompaniment is versatile, as he is both rhythmical and melodic. However, Aoki’s piano solo for The Day it Rained is pleasant but
forgettable, thus, he is at his best when accompanying Pater as he can lift Pater’s steady ballad-like voice making it move and lilt; without Aoki, Pater
sounds steady and weighed down.
Pater’s range is quite narrow; she does not reach dizzying heights. However she makes up for this by adding an array of textures (slurs, glissandos, some
percussive scatting in A Little Tear). However, in the more restive songs, the lyrics would have a greater impact if she left her voice unadorned,
without inflection or embellishment. The strain and nasality to Pater’s voice and the over-rehearsed quality are major drawbacks to this CD. However, when
everything comes together and the musicians loosen the shackles of conformity to perform in the moment, the music does becomes energised. It’s a
shame that this spontaneity comes rarely. This trio would be more rhythmically tight and exciting if Buca Necak’s bass playing was more audible and
persistent. For example, I Don’t Remember Ever Growing Up has the potential to celebrate a fun, childish nostalgia. On this recording it sounds
plodding and heavy. In I Live to Love You Pater’s vibrato sounds slightly forced, but the simplicity of Aoki’s accompaniment suits her style, if
being somewhat monotonous. Like a lullaby, Someone to Light up My Life allows Pater’s creamy vocals securely to encase her accompaniment. Betty
Carter emerges as a clear influence for Pater’s seemingly strong and elastic voice.
I would be interested in hear Beata Pater sing something more robust and vivacious. Adding a sassy, flirtatious charm to her voice she has the durable
flexibility needed to melt her listeners. When listening to this CD I just couldn’t help thinking how well she could belt out ‘Flash, Bam, Alakazam’ and
sing those jitterbug, blackberry boogies just like Betty Hutton. Though her voice doesn’t have the wispy mischief which belongs entirely to Shirley Horn,
Pater can still tempt and allure.
This is a CD of ‘simple pleasures’ and Beata Pater’s trio has the
potential to emerge both interesting and energised. If Aoki and Necak’s
duets in This is All I Ask and If You Went Away are
anything to go by, these musicians certainly have potential. They
certainly work with natural intuition. The title song Golden Lady
encapsulates the overall feel, with a characteristically stripped-back
solo from Aoki and a carefully sung melody line by Pater.
Lucy Jeffery
CD Reviews
B&B RECORDS BB-0419
