Peter Eldridge (vocal); Kenny Werner (piano); Matt Aronoff (bass); Yoron Israel (drums) + 20 piece string orchestra conducted by Eugene Friesen.
(Review by James Henry)
"Somewhere" is a gentle, soothing offering from Peter Eldridge, Kenny Werner and a string
orchestra, the culmination of an idea shared by Eldridge and Werner that began about 10
years ago. It would be terribly easy to
combine Eldridge’s crooning baritone voice, Werner’s gentle piano fills and a
string orchestra to recreate Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole: thankfully, this
CD doesn’t seek to do this. "Somewhere" is a fresh interpretation of
song, strings, and soothing, gentle jazz; it is an antidote to the troubled
times in which we live.
Kenny
Werner is an accomplished jazz pianist, composer and educator, possibly best
known for his seminal book “Effortless Mastery, Liberating the Master Musician
Within”, the closest thing I know to a jazz self-improvement book. Peter
Eldridge is a crooner of the old sort, with a wonderful vocal range, and a
glorious deep lower register. Werner and
Eldridge are faculty members at Berklee Music College in Boston, and draw on
other Berklee musicians for this album, notably the cellist Eugene Friesen who
conducts the 20 piece string orchestra, itself recruited from the Berklee World
Strings.
The
album is for the most part a collection of Werner and Eldridge originals, but with
one or two more familiar pieces. You Don’t Know Me is worlds away from the standard made famous
by Ray Charles, and brings the best out of Eldridge’s deep baritone. I’m so Glad You’re Mine is jazzy in a
minor way. That Which Can’t Be
Explained has a more theatrical feel and juxtaposes Eldridge’s lyric and a
complex string motif. Autumn in Three,
a Werner/Eldridge original, swings and swirls seasonally in waltz
time, with an evocative string arrangement and a nice rhythm section feature,
bringing drummer Yoron Israel and bassist Matt Aronoff to the fore.
The
mood slows and mellows with Minds of their Own, setting Eldridge’s words
to Ivan Lin’s tune, and a midnight, clubby feel. Less Than Lovers, an
Eldridge tune, is lifted by an Aaron Copeland-like string arrangement from
Werner. Difficult takes
Eldridge’s music into territory normally occupied by Tom Lehrer, but with a
dark, infatuated lyric.
Ballad
for Trane features
an extended tenor saxophone solo from George Garzone (another Berklee faculty
member), and then we return to more familiar ground with a medley of Somewhere
(Bernstein/Sondheim) and A Time for Love (Mancini). Untitled Lament
(Werner) has an elegiac feel and we finish with a gentle lullaby, Day is Done (Prayer for Diego), co-written
by Eldridge and one of his song writing students Mitchell Proctor. Unexpectedly
and splendidly, this sleepy song morphs into rocking bowed cello solo, before
gently playing out.
Peter
Eldridge and Kenny Werner’s Somewhere is very different, very soothing
and very good. Besides offering a safe
place to the listener, there is a pleasing depth, which rewards multiple
listenings.
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