Album Review: Wild Blue Herons – You & 1

Darlene Cooper (vocals); Bill Sample (piano, keyboards)

An album which was made during lockdown by this Vancouver-based husband and wife in their home studio. We get nine jazz standards, Stevie Wonder's song You and I, plus two originals, Don't Know How To Love You and Impossible Love. And a fascinating CD cover showing not herons as expected, but a couple of spotted beasts. The artwork is by Vancouver artist Joe Average and is entitled 'Unconditional Love'.

Bill Sample has been an in-demand sideman for almost 50 years and Darlene Cooper has built a reputation as a jazz singer who is also an educator, choral conductor and session musician. The CD was inspired by the great women of jazz such as Nancy Wilson and Ella Fitzgerald.

Two of the songs stood out immediately; An Older Man Is Like An Elegant Wine for it's amusing lyrics such as 'A youth I'd say is a Beaujolais, attractive and light' …..'A man is at his greatest, when he's greyin’ round the ears' …..'I'll hug him and enchant him, and then I'll decant him'.

The other standout song is the  Strayhorn classic Lush Life, a ballad about a wasted love life, sung with feeling in a rather cabaret style.

I was a bit disappointed with the rest of the album because every song sounded like a ballad and the singing was a bit too strident and dramatic for my taste. I'd have given anything to hear a bit more swing and scat on some numbers, as was done on It Had To Be You, which was a medium swing, sung with a more jaunty tone. However the voice was pleasing, with a wide vocal range, and it would have been good to hear more tone colours. The piano solos, which were plentiful, were also very melodically flowing and skilled.

The album was released last Friday November 19 everywhere. There will be a limited edition of vinyl in Spring 2022. See www.wildblueherons.com  

Ann Alex

I Wish I'd Met You; The Nearness Of You; It Had To Be You; You And I; An Older Man Is Like An Elegant Wine; Don't Know How To Love You; Impossible Love; Here's To Life; Save Your Love For Me; The Way You Look Tonight; Lush Life; I'll Be Seeing You