CD Review: John Pizzarelli "Double Exposure"

                                                               

John Pizzarelli has a terrific new CD that was born out of John's creative musical talents. For those of you familiar with John's performances, you know he always creates his own particular paths to music.  Never satisfied with simply covering a great standard, John looks for new and creative ways to bring some of himself to the tune and something new to the listener. This approach is not without risk but pushing the musical envelope is what John Pizzarelli is all about. For this CD, John wanted to find a way to present some great old standards and some great old rock and roll tunes. While John has always been faithful to the "Great American Songbook", he also has a love of the great songs of the rock and roll area. However, there is no way would John would be interested in cutting a new CD of simple covers of these songs.  John came up with the idea of combining two songs or different sounds from different times together.

We had the pleasure of hearing John perform some of the songs on his new CD in January at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, Ca. The songs were simply outstanding. The first song John performed and also the first song on the CD was a combination of the Lennon/McCartney song "I Feel Fine" with the Lee Morgan classic "Sidewinder".  Hard to visualize what this final song would sound like but it was just outstanding.  John refers to the final product as "Lennon and McCartney meet Lee Morgan".  Next, John did an arrangement of Tom Watts' "Drunk On The Moon" combined with the great Billy Stayhorn tune "Lush Life". Next, Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" was given an influence of "Shine On Harvest Moon" producing a new musical gem.

There are 13 songs on this CD and each and every one has a story fully developed on the liner notes. I have to describe one additional song on the CD that was simply breathtaking.  The James Taylor song "Traffic Jam" was rebuilt with the influence of Joe Henderson's "The Kicker". John's  wife, the talented Jessica Molaskey wrote some terrific new lyrics and added her voice. John's description of this tune was "James Taylor and Joe Henderson as seen through the eyes of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross thanks to Jessica Molaskey's wonderful lyrics".

John Pizzarelli has been working hard for years on his trade with much success. His guitar performances have always been top notch, but now his singing and his creative arranging abilities have brought him into a special class of outstanding musicians. This is a CD that needs to be in your collection.

List of Songs:

"I Feel Fine"/ "Sidewinder"
"Harvest Moon"
"Traffic Jam"/ "The Kicker"
"Ruby Baby"
"Alison"
"Rosalinda's Eyes"
"In Memory of Elizabeth Reed"
"Drunk On The Moon" "Lush Life"
"Walk Between The Raindrops"
"Free Man In Paris"
"Take A Lot Of Pictures"
"I Can Let Go Now"
"Diamond Girl"   

CD Review: "Compared To What" The Redmond, Langosch and Cooley Trio

Jay Cooley, Mary Ann Redmond and Paul Langosch

Mary Ann Redmond is a highly respected singer in the Washington, DC area who has won 22 Washington-area music awards, called "Wammies". Redmond has spent most of her professional life singing Pop and R & B tunes.  While performing at one of her gigs, it turns out that Paul Langosch and Jay Cooley were in the audience and after hearing Redmond's voice, timing and phasing approached her about joining them to jam a little. This first session together and the ones that followed produced the absolutely fabulous Jazz Blues Album named after the famous Les McCann and Eddie Harris recording of the Gene McDaniels' classic song "Compared To What".

Combining Redmond's glorious voice with the deep experience of Langosch and Cooley in dealing with songs from the "Great American Songbook" resulted in one of the best new CDs of 2012. Paul Langosh has worked with many of the giants of the Jazz world including: Phil Woods, Tal Farlow, Al Cohn, Mose Allison, Johnny Hartman, Bud Shank, Zoot Sims, Karney Kessel and Herb Ellis. In addition, he was a permanent member of Tony Bennett's Trio for 20 years. You can't play bass for Tony Bennett for 20 years without being a master of songs out of the "Great American Songbook"! Jay Cooley's career has included appearances with Charlie Byrd, Phil Woods, Keter Betts, Chuck Redd, Ethel Ennis, Ernestine Anderson and Lennie Cuje. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, Blues Alley, Strathmore Hall, The National Gallery of Arts and countless Jazz festivals.

This Album is about bringing the natural brilliance of Redmond's voice and the experience of Langosch and Cooley to new and old standards from the "Great American Songbook".  The selection of songs for this Album is nothing short of outstanding.  Even though the songs cover more than a 60 year span of music, every song on this Album fits Redmond's voice and style perfectly. I assume that Langosh and Cooley helped Redmond with the selections, but I give Redmond tons of credit for taking her Blues and R & B style and transforming her sound into Jazz standards.

I can't say enough about Mary Ann Redmond's voice and style. She has brought new life into the standards she chose for this album with impeccable timing and phrasing. Just one example is her performance of the Leonard Cohen song "Dance Me To The End of Love". Prior to this Album I had only heard this song sung by its composer Leonard Cohen and thought, why do so many people go crazy about Leonard Cohen? After hearing Redmond bring life to the lyrics of this song, I no longer ask that question. It's a good lesson for song writers to consider getting great singers like Redmond to record their songs instead of self-recording.  Most times this brings out the best of the melody and the lyrics for the listener.

Take a look at the creative list of songs and composers included on this Album. Two of the songs were composed by Redmond, "Love Me Anyway" and "Storm is Coming".

1. "Come Rain or Come Shine", Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer
2. "Dance Me To The End Of Love", Leonard Cohen
3. "Compared To What", Gene McDaniels
4. "Storm Is Coming", Mary Ann Redmond
5. "Never Make Your Move Too Soon", Nesbert "stix" Hooper and Will Jennings
6. "Creepin", Stevie Wonder
7. "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good", Duke Ellington & Paul Francis Webster
8. "Coyote", Joni Mitchell
9. "Ain't That Peculiar", Smokey Robinson, Ronald White, Pete Moore & Mary Tarplin
10. "What'll I Do", Irving Berlin
11. "Fool on the Hill", Lennon & McCartney
12. "Love Me Anyway", Mary Ann Redmond & Todd Wright

Mary Ann Redmond: Voice/Guitar
Paul Langosch: Bass
Jay Cooley: Keys

Special Guests: Dave Mattacks, Drums, Dan Hovey, Guitar, and Bruce Swaim, Tenor Sax