Allegra Levy
(vocal); Carmen Staaf (piano); Carmen Rothwell (bass); Colleen Clark (drums) + John McNeil (trumpet 3 tracks) Pierre Dorge (ukulele 1 track)
I hadn't heard of
John McNeil before but I'm sure most other BSH readers have. He first hit the N Y
jazz scene in the mid '70s, playing with the Horace Silver Quintet, Gerry
Mulligan and others. This album features his tunes with lyrics by Allegra
Levy. I approach original material with wariness as it sometimes takes a while to get
used to new songs, but I needn't have worried.
The music is boppish, I don't say bebop as
I'm unsure how that is defined, and the lyrics are assertive, feminist, even
stroppy in an amusing way. I expected the title track, which closes the album,
would be a sad, lovelorn song. Not a bit of it! It means what it says, e.g. 'Lose
my number, lose it, don't you dare call me up on the phone. This matches well
with the lively music, short sharp phrases, great leaps, variation of tones, staccato
rhythms, unsingable - except to a skilled vocalist such as Ms Levy. And an
all-woman band (apart from a couple of guests including McNeil and a uke player) adds even more interest.
Allegra Levy
graduated from the New England Conservatory in 2011, where trumpeter McNeil was
her mentor. She went on to complete three highly acclaimed albums* and win first
place in the Adult Contemporary category of the Great American Song Contest 2019. This is her fourth
album.
Samba De Beach outlines the problems of the musician's
life, made worse by corvid; Livin'
Small paints a picture of the simple life; then comes Tiffany, a
drama in song about a man who longs to buy his wife expensive jewellery which
he can't afford, expressed through dreamy bass playing and sparse piano tones.
Strictly Ballroom is just that, a woman
rejecting a man on the dancefloor, with a steady dance 4/4 on the piano and an
amusing trumpet and voice duet. Dover Beach is different, the lyrics
have the Victorian poem of that name in mind, and also the words of Ms Levy's
grandmother, 'Nothing's insurmountable', sung to a haunting tune. Ukulele
Tune is in the style of 1920s' jazz. All rounded off with the spirited Lose My Number.
The album is
released live stream from Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn on Tuesday September 15 at 8pm EST. It is also available via Steeplechase. See www.allegralevy.com
Samba De Beach;
Livin' Small; Tiffany; Strictly Ballroom; C.J.; Dover Beach; Ukulele Tune;
Zephyr; Lose My Number.
* BSH editor Lance reviewed all 3 of Allegra Levy's previous albums and listed her 2018 album Looking at the Moon as one of his Albums of the Year.
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