CD Review: Moy Eng, Wayne Wallace – The Blue Hour

(Review by Ann Alex)

A collection of originals, with Ms Eng supplying vocals and lyrics and Wallace doing the tunes and the arrangements. Of Chinese-American descent and working in arts administration and grant-making organisations, Eng, who has been recognised in this field with honours from the California Arts Council and the World Affairs Council, currently works for a non-profit body developing affordable workspaces for the arts. This is her debut CD.

Trombonist, composer, producer and educator Wallace, from San Francisco, and a four-time Grammy nominee, has been involved in pop, soul, Latin and Afro-Caribbean music working with the likes of Count Basie, Aretha Franklin, Sonny Rollins and Carlos Santana.

Ms Eng's voice is a pleasing, expressive alto with clear diction and the musicians are well up to the mark. However, I had problems totally enjoying the songs. This was perhaps because songs need to get their point across straightforwardly whereas a poem can be a bit more obscure at first reading forcing the reader to return to the work many times. Ms Eng has previously written some 500 poems, so she is used to that genre. I found some of the songs what I would call 'wandering' rather than direct, and without enough variety. This, of course, is subjective and another listener could easily disagree.

The information supplied tells us that the Blue Hour refers to the times of dawn and twilight and the songs cover themes of love, loss, travel and identity, with autobiographical input. Quite a tall order for a set of songs! The titles give a flavour of the material: Filthy Gorgeous; Sleepless in Paris; You Put a Spell on Him; I Love a Girl Who Parties; Hong Kong; Wild Plum; Magnolia Light; Alpha Girl; A New York Moment; Thursdays In May. The songs I liked more than others were Filthy Gorgeous (a swinger with a big band accompaniment, intimate by turns, ending with a sensuous sax solo); Alpha Girl (an interesting storyline about a woman who is successful in all but love); Thursdays in May (a sad love song with a beautiful string accompaniment, in fact the strings almost 'embrace' the vocals).

Ann Alex

Available on Patois Records. See www.thebluehourproject.com   

Moy Eng (vocals, composition, lyrics, production) Wayne Wallace (composition, arrangements, production). Musicians on various tracks: Deszon Claiborne, Colin Douglas, Akira Tana (drums); David Belove, Marc van Wageningen, John Wiitala (fretless, electric, acoustic basses); Joe Gilman (piano); Murray Low (keyboard); Frank Martin (keyboard, piano, organ); Michael Spiro (congas, percussion); Rick Vandivier (guitars, dobro); Tommy Kesecker (vibes); Erik Jekabson, John Worley (trumpet); Mary Fettig, Melecio Magdaluyo (saxes); Wayne Wallace (trombone); Eugene Chokluv (1^st violin); Niki Fukada (2^nd violin); Edith Szendrey (viola); Monica Scott (cello); Yuki Nagase (double bass)