This album must be jazz because it was nominated for a Grammy for 'best jazz vocal'. All the ingredients are there – a singer, who can turn a nifty pianistic jazz phrase, supported by a star-studded, west coast big band. Does it cook? Read on.
Anyone who can fill the Albert Hall on more than one occasion and sells an album to 7% of their native Canadian population has a track record that a reviewer doesn't mess with. But that was then and this is now. Five of the tracks on this album are adagio (90bpm or less) and 4 are moderato (130bpm or less) making the characteristics of the album more 'mood music' or 'dinner jazz'. It is even possible that some listeners may find the album's ambience somewhat soporific, particularly after a hard day at the office and a couple of martinis.
Ms. Krall did the arranging for the five tracks featuring the quartet of herself on piano plus bass, drum and guitar. The other seven tracks, backed by the big band, are arranged by bassman John Clayton, part of the triumvirate, with his brother Jeff and drummer Jeff Hamilton, who run the supporting Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Jeff's son, Gerald, does piano duties for the band but no mean nepotism, this - he can really play piano. Chris Walden gets an 'orchestration' credit for most of the tracks but it is not clear where the arranger-orchestrator boundary occurs. Chris runs his own band and his fiery arrangements on his CD No Bounds are not reflected here. From the opening Sinatra formula on It Could Happen To You, mf for the first chorus and louder on the second with a heavy back beat, these arrangements determine the tenor of the album; professional, but not showy, precise but not passionate. There is some lovely ensemble writing on How Insensitive but I'm still wondering what was done with 8 french horns.
Talking of tenors brings me to the soloists and to Rickey Woodard, of whom your reviewer is a fan. Nowhere on the album does anybody cut loose. Soloists get a mention for as little as 8 bars, which is hardly time to get the reed wet, let alone develop an idea. | |
For example, Woodard, Terell Stafford on trumpet and Gerald Clayton on piano get 8 bars each on Come Dance With Me and then Woodard and Stafford jointly improvise for 8 bars. Rickey's few well-placed notes are enough to justify his soloist's bonus and contribute to the purchase of another of his sharp suits.
The singer's own quartet, made up from the band's regular rhythm section, includes the guitar, which is, maybe intentionally, reminiscent of Nat 'King' Cole. Guitarist Anthony Wilson, whose dad, Gerald, figures in my vinyl big-band collection, does a competent job as does drummer Jeff Hamilton. Bassist, John Clayton, a Basie alumnus, has an excellent tone and line and exhibits his celebrated bowing on Little Girl Blue. It's good, but all jazz bass players leave college knowing how to arco - it's just that they don't do it frequently.
Of the vocalist and the material, there is little to say that hasn't been said. On her website, she describes having worked on some of the tunes for years and, of course, so has everybody else. You have to do something pretty astounding to freshen up How Insensitive, Willow Weep For Me, It Could Happen To You and the title track From This Moment On. If you like Ms. Krall's voice, and you must have heard it over the past nine years or so, then there is nothing here to deflect you from that affection. If this is jazz 'cross-over' and it sells a couple of million albums and fills big auditoria, then I'm grateful for the genre. Only ungenerous purists would not congratulate Ms. Krall on her success – even a hint of jazz in the rhythm and the harmonies getting to a big audience can't be bad.
This album was Grammy nominated for Best Jazz Vocal for 2005-06 but lost out to Nancy Wilson's 'Turned To Blue'. Does it cook? Not for this fan but you can judge for yourself by listening to the samples at [this link] on Amazon US (their UK site uses the processor-hungry RealPlayer, the US site is compatible with Windows Media Player).
jazzorg.
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'From This Moment On' 