© -Steven
Cerra , copyright protected; all rights reserved.
Like the needs of
businesses and universities, Jazz singers and Jazz groups often exist in
parallel universes. The interests of both rarely meet.
Singers are
interested in performing, in putting a song over to an audience and in having
audience approval for their dramatic interpretation of a song’s lyrics.
For many Jazz
musicians, the song is just a means to and end; a platform from which their
improvisations spring.
And while there is
no doubt that many Jazz musicians agree with tenor saxophonists Lester Young’s
and Ben Webster’s axiom that you play a ballad better if you know it’s lyrics,
most of the songs that Jazz musicians improvise on have no lyrics.
Many singers are
not musicians. They have no formal education in theory and harmony. They sing
by ear, often, out of tune. They don’t even know the keys in which they sing
their songs.
Singers don’t play
in groups with other musicians, they are often “backed” by a pianist, sometimes
in a piano-bass-drums trio.
The music revolves
around the singer who is usually not an integral part of the group. He or she
stands before a microphone, maybe does the verse to the tune, sings the melody,
the pianist plays a brief 16 bar solo, the singer comes back in at the bridge
and takes the tune out. Applause,
adulation and adoration.
If there are horn
players involved, they may play some background vamps behind the singer,
perhaps one of them will take the brief chorus instead of the piano player, and
then play an ending note in unison when the singer closes.
Occasionally – or
all too frequently – the singers decides to dispense with the lyrics and
“scat.”
The New Grove Dictionary of
Jazz defines scatting
as: “A technique of Jazz singing in which onomatopoeic or nonsense syllables
are sung to improvised melodies.”
The idea is for
the singer to use the human voice to mimic a horn, but if the ear can’t follow
the line of the music, what comes out is not scatting, but rather, something
which sounds like exuberant blathering.
But since the
singer is often billed as “the star” and because many in the audience can
relate more easily to sung lyrics as opposed to instrumental improvisations, the
musicians just goes along for the ride. It’s a living.
Of course, there
are numerous exceptions to what I’ve just described, but all-too-often, the
parallel universes in which vocalists and musicians exist is the rule rather
than the exception.
But when there is
a blending of vocal talent with Jazz instrumentalists – when it does work – it
becomes the best of all possible worlds.
There’s nothing
quite like the magical expressiveness of the human voice in a setting formed by
a Jazz group.
You can hear such
a coming together in the recently released CD All Too Soon: Deborah Brown [Jazzvoix]
on which Deborah is joined by drummer Eric Ineke’s quintet – The JazzXpress.
Deborah Brown
sings with the band and if that band
is led by Dutch Jazz drummer Eric Ineke, you better know what you are doing
because he is a stern taskmaster who comes to play.
No one messes with
Eric Ineke when it comes to the high standards he maintains – no exceptions –
instrumentalist or vocalist you’d better bring your best when you make music
with him.
And Deborah Brown
does just that: whether it is on the more familiar Ellington All Too Soon, or the Ellington, Billy
Strayhorn collaboration One Hundred Days
From Now, or Rudy Friml’s Indian Love
Call with its lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein; or new material like Rob van
Bavel’s Thanks with lyrics by Liesbeth
Kooymans or Toots Thielmans’ Hard to Say
Goodbye to which Deborah, herself, added lyrics; or the rarely sung –
because of its difficulty – The Peacocks by
Jimmy Rowles with lyrics by the great singer Norma Winstone, Deborah brings her
musicality up to the highest level of professionalism.
The music on this
recording is crafted. Everything is well-thought-out. The tempos and keys are
comfortable for Deborah such that she doesn’t have to overreach but can stay within
her comfort zone. Her singing adds enough zest and spark to bring out the best
in the fine instrumentalist who make up Eric’s JazzXpress.
The horn solos by tenor
saxophonists Sjoerd Dijkhuizen and trumpeter Rudolpho Fereira Neves on trumpet
– the newest member of the group – are influenced and inspired by Deborah’s singing.
The soloists are
not just playing something because they are expected to, they are feeding off
of the atmosphere of excitement and energy generated by Deborah’s vocals.
The JazzXpress rhythm
section made up of Rob van Bavel on piano, Marius Beets on bass and drumming maestro Eric Ineke is one of the best in
all of Jazz. They play together as a unit and give everything a lift with the
light and bouncy feeling that they bring to the time [meter]. All three are
excellent soloists who really shine when called upon to do so.
Rob van Bavel
continues to impress me each time I hear him with his skill as an accompanist
and his well-constructed solos. He has really come into his own in recent years
and his maturity, poise and swinging solos remind me a lot of Italian Jazz
pianist, Dado Moroni.
Marius and Eric
deliver that “marriage between bass notes and cymbal beat” that bassist Chuck
Israels loves to hear when he listens to Jazz and their intense swing is done
so effortlessly that you “feel” it as well as hear it.
I have a difficult
time with a new musician or vocalist who plays or sings music that is all new
to me. There is no place for me to “set my ears.”
Although I was
encountering Deborah’s singing for the first time on this CD, her versions of Indian Love Call, All Too Soon and One Hundred Dreams From Now – all tunes
which were previously known to me – made possible my enjoyment of her
renditions of the many tunes on the CD that were completely new to me, for
example, Light In Your Eyes [Pierre
van Dormael], Like It was Before [Pamela
Watson] and Fine Together [by Lars
Gullin, the late Swedish baritone saxophonist, with lyrics by Philip Tagg].
About the material
on this recording, Deborah notes: “Through the years some of these songs never
left my mind and because they were compositions from the past, it was a challenge
to bring new life to them. …
In these stressful
days when people just want something soothing to listen to, I decided to select
songs by degree of difficulty. I think my Jazz audience expects music with
substance.
Also as singers,
we like to look for those “hidden gems,” something seldom done, and there are
many beautiful melodies that have been done in the past. So, if you like strong
melodies and timeless classics with a slight twist, this is for you!”
Mention should
also be made of alto saxophonist Bobby Watson’s presence of the CD both as a
player and for his role as one of the co-producers.
You can hear Bobby
along with Deborah and Eric’s marvelous JazzXpress on the following audio-only
track from All Too Soon which is available both as a CD and as a download
from Amazon.com and other online retailers.
