Jacqui Sutton (vocals, producer and musical
director); Paul Chester (banjo, guitars); Anthony Sapp
(basses); Ilya Janos (percussion); Eddie Lewis (trumpet, flugelhorn, piccolo
trumpet); Henry Darragh
(keyboards, trombone, melodeon); Lyndon Hughes (drums, background vocals); Cindy Scott
(background vocals) Aralee Dorough (flute); Bob Chadwick (Irish flute).
(Review by Ann
Alex).
How is a new
musical genre created? I guess it
evolves gradually from the work of many musicians over a period of time. Then there comes a day when they realise that
they have something different from what has gone before, so it gets a label
such as ‘bluegrass’ or, say, ‘western swing’.
I ask because this CD claims to be something new called ‘frontier jazz’,
which is said to be a mixture of jazz, bluegrass, classical, musical theatre
and folk music. The mixture didn't work
for me, but others may like it. I heard
too many disparate sounds, with vocals which didn't always match the meaning of
the song lyrics. This was a pity because
Ms Sutton has a lovely voice, and the musicians are skilled with effective
solos on some of the tracks. It’s not
really a jazz CD, but rather nearer to a country music feel. The songs themselves were well worth singing.
The more
acceptable tracks were Dear Friend, a
sad song from musical theatre about being stood up, with an ethereal effect
from the synthesizer; Weary Angel, a
jazzy spiritual with good banjo and trumpet work and all the musicians playing
in a final jam; Hummingbird, which incorporates Brubeck's Blue Rondo a la Turk riff into the accompaniment is an interesting experiment that may or may not have come off; Blue Mountain, a
straightforward country song; and the
final track, Better Than Anything, a
witty song listing everything that is not better than falling in love, which
included nifty jazz piano and guitar solos.
Many of the other eight tracks worked instrumentally but the singer
sometimes lapsed into singing in a soprano voice which didn't, at least to my
ears, sound quite right.
I believe the CD
was released in early October in the United States
Ann Alex.
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