Recorded
in the wake of Hurricane Sandy's destruction and dedicated to McNulty's late
son Sam, Eternal is a gorgeous set that comes from the pain of loss, but
equally from a place of hope and faith.
The
Australian McNulty is joined by her trio of pianist John Di Martino, bassist
Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Gregory Hutchinson along with a chamber orchestra
under the direction of arranger Steve Newcomb featuring some of New York's
finest talent. In addition, Australian trumpeter-flugelist Matthew Jodrill,
bassoonist Ben Wendel, and guitarist Paul Bollenback added glistening solos.he
best,
Vocalist
Chris McNulty contends that she never sings a song unless she can connect with
it personally and make it truly her own. The selection of repertoire for her
seventh CD, Eternal, carried an even more deeply personal requirement, however:
celebrating the life of McNulty's cherished son Sam, who passed away in 2011.
The gorgeously heartfelt and emotionally moving album, to be released March 24,
2015 on Palmetto Records, is a sublime love letter expressing the ineradicable
bond between mother and child, with an exquisite blend of jazz quintet and
chamber ensemble.
To craft
the lush and poignant sound of Eternal, McNulty worked closely with two gifted
collaborators: orchestrator Steve Newcomb, who created the album's stunning
arrangements for chamber ensemble; and pianist John Di Martino, who last worked
with McNulty on her 2005 release Dance Delicioso. The stellar trio with Di
Martino on piano, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Gregory Hutchinson provides
sensitive support for the singer's eloquent vocals. Jazz combo and chamber
orchestra meld beautifully and seamlessly throughout, focused wholly on
enhancing the profound feeling of McNulty's vocals. And present throughout is
the spirit of Sam McNulty (aka hip-hop artist-composer Chap One), whose life, and
the impact that it made on that of his mother, is vividly illustrated.
"There
are lots of ways that I can honor Sam," McNulty says. "I looked
through thousands of tunes to find things that spoke to me about life in
general and life after Sam, about how I was unraveling inside, and that I
thought could speak to him or about him without it becoming a morose, sad
story. I think the music has lots of brightness and joy in it, too. I'm a
musician first, so the songs have to speak to me musically, melodically,
emotionally and lyrically as they always would. I just chose the songs that
made the most sense for telling Sam's story."
Adding
to the emotionally arduous process of assembling material for Eternal was the
fact that McNulty was poring over songbooks in the immediate aftermath of
Hurricane Sandy, when she was left without electricity, heat, or running water
for eight days. So she sat in front of the fireplace with dozens of songbooks
strewn about the floor around her, searching for lyrics and melodies that spoke
to her by the glow of candlelight.
The
first song that she found was the one that ended up opening the album, Steve
Kuhn's "The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers." At first simply curious
about the eccentric title, she was immediately struck by how perfectly Sherrill
Craig's opening lines seemed to capture her own emotional state:
Late
this night she waits alone / She tries to accept the truth
The pain
is intense / Her heart is so sore and bruised
Wishing
that the sadness had not come for its claim so soon
One life
is so short, so many things left to say and do
Crying
softly for the one who cannot be here
Through
the rain she sees a face laughing in happy play
The face
of a child, the child on a sunny day
"It
was extraordinary, because I was completely unaware of that song," McNulty
recalls. "The further I got into it the more profoundly blown away I was,
but I wasn't expecting to go to the piano and hear such a beautiful
melody."
She
immediately determined to record the song, though she almost lost it as
mysteriously as she'd found it. Returning to her songbooks the next morning,
she couldn't find it again no matter how many indexes she searched. "I was
beginning to think I must have dreamt it," she says. As it turned out, the
song was real but accidentally not included in the book's index, but after a
week of searching through page after page McNulty managed to stumble across it
a second time.
Another
powerful moment comes via "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"
In McNulty's interpretation the oft-recorded love song becomes a lament and a
eulogy, carrying a promise to never let go of her son's spirit. Sam himself is
drawn through a composite portrait: compared to a precious flower via Billy
Strayhorn's "A Flower is a Lovesome Thing," depicted as a
"strange, enchanted boy" in Eden Ahbez's perennial "Nature
Boy." McNulty grapples with life following loss with the poignant
"Where is Love" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."
Along
with these resonant standards, McNulty contributes her own tribute to Sam with
the album's sole original, "You Are There." Accompanied by the spare,
understated colors contributed by Newcomb and Di Martino, McNulty sings the
impassioned lyric directly to her son, ending with the key message, "You
will always be there." As she explains, "I'm speaking to Sam and I'm
also reflecting on different memories: being on subways with him as a little
boy, seeing him with his friends as a young man growing up, how many girls
loved him. It's all in there."
Newcomb's
elegant arrangements are born of a friendship that began in 2008, when he met
McNulty while both were performing at a festival in their native Australia.
They've discussed working together on a project ever since, and Eternal offered
the ideal circumstances. "Steve is a brilliantly creative musician and a
very hard worker," McNulty says.
McNulty was reunited with Di Martino on one of
her first evenings out in New York City following Sam's passing. Unaware that
the pianist was performing that night, she was reminded of his virtuosity on
the bandstand - and of his humanity when he approached her after the set.
"He walked over and put his arms around me and didn't say a word,"
she recalls. "That had a profound impact. A lot of people don't know what
to say or do, and sometimes it's better not to say anything. It struck me that
he handled it so gracefully, and it showed what a sensitive human being he
is."
Since
her emergence on the international jazz scene in 1991, Chris McNulty has been
hailed by musicians, peers and critics alike as a jazz vocalist-composer with a
unique vision, boundless creative energy and a distinctive style. Her
recordings and performances have garnered 4 and 5 star reviews in publications
including DownBeat, The Irish Times, Jazz Wise, Jazz Journal and JazzTimes,
among many others. In May 2013, McNulty won the prestigious Australian Bell
Award (the equivalent of a US Grammy) for Best Vocal Jazz Album for The Song
That Sings You Here. She has collaborated, recorded and performed with some of
the finest musicians on the jazz scene today and performed at major international
festivals around the world.
