The Long Game is the 11th album from celebrated vocalist Jacqui Naylor. Known for her ability to seamlessly weave genres and styles from different eras, Naylor creates a meaningful collection of love songs, replete with R&B inspired original compositions, Latin imbued jazz standards and sensitively crafted rock anthems. Naylor gained attention with an arranging technique she coined “acoustic smashing,” where she sings the lyrics and melody of a jazz standard over the groove of a well-known rock song or vice versa. “Acoustic smashing marks a turning point in her career,” writes The Wall Street Journal. On The Long Game, she uses the technique on “Fix You” from Coldplay while the band plays a Miles Davis-inspired “It Never Entered My Mind.” “Naylor has the chops and sensitivity to pull this off,” writes New York Magazine. The musicianship and camaraderie of Naylor and longtime bandmates shine brightly throughout this thoughtfully produced album.
One of the coolest, grooviest settings for the Hammond of Mike LeDonne that we've heard in years – a set that mostly features him working with a larger ensemble, at a level that brings back some of the great 60s sessions from Jimmy Smith and Oliver Nelson! Yet given Mike's touch on the keys, and the more contemporary mode of the groove, there's a nicely different vibe here – not just retro jazz organ with big band, but a new chapter in the book – balanced here with work from LeDonne's Groover Quartet – which features work from Eric Alexander on tenor, Peter Bernstein on guitar, and Joe Farnsworth on drums. All three of those players are also in the larger group – and if you're keeping track, the set features five big band numbers, and three quartet tunes. Titles include "Matador", "It's All Your Fault", "Bags & Brown", "Blues For Jed", "Rock With You", and "Party Time". ~ Dusty Groove
Guitar, bass, and drums – coming together here on a set that lives up to the strong legacy of creative music we've come to expect from the legendary Dave Holland! Holland plays both electric and acoustic versions of his instrument – which makes for a nice shift in the way he interacts with the guitar of Kevin Eubanks – different sorts of sonorous interplay between the strings, given different sorts of emphasis by the drums of Obed Calvaire! Many tracks seem to have Holland leading the action out front, then opening the door to the contributions of the other two – but the album certainly feels like a group effort throughout, with nicely triangulated energy on tunes that include "Grave Walker", "20 20", "Quiet Fire", "Mashup", "The Village", "Another Land", "Gentle Warrior", and "Passing Time". ~ Dusty Groove
No comments:
Post a Comment