Album review: Emily Masser Quintet - Songs With My Father (self-released)

Emily Masser (vocals); Dean Masser (tenor sax); Matyas Gayer (piano); James Owston (bass); Steve Brown (drums)

The clue is in the album title. This is indeed a father and daughter based quintet and a brilliant one it is too!

Emily first appeared on my radar last year as part of Clark Tracey's album Introducing Emily Masser which, paradoxically, I chose as my UK Jazz Instrumental Album of the Year mainly on the basis of Emily's vocalese/scat. It could easily have been my Vocal Album of the Year - I may well be once again faced with this dilemma at the end of 2025!

Her dad has been around longer! Dean impressed me on an Art Blakey tribute album and gig he did with drummer Gaz Hughes' sextet. Here, father and daughter together, along with a sympathetic rhythm section, create more magical moments than in all of the Harry Potter books and films combined.

Standards and modern jazz classics roll, seemingly easily, from this outstanding quintet with each track a sheer delight. 

Old Devil Moon and Dat Dere puts the cards on the table. Unbeatable, I thought, but then I hadn't reckoned on The Boy Next Door - a track I couldn't ignore.

Emily treats the lyric with respect. Dreamy and wistful, sharing the feelings carved in vinyl by Garland and Sinatra. Dad, though, is having none of it. He ups the tempo with a booting, straight down the middle tenor solo that completely transforms the scenario. Hungarian pianist Gayer keeps it swinging and Owston and Brown have a bass and brush exchange that adds some extra icing to the cake. 

The voice/tenor head on Room 608 brought to mind LHR - it was fast! I bet Emily can do a mean she sells seashells on the seashore. The man from Budapest stretches out, Dean blows like Dexter, Emily does Emily and Steve Brown kicks things around and the track ends with more unison gymnastics - WOW!

Song for my Mother, written by Dean for his late wife and Emily's mother, is an emotional track with all five sharing the memory of the Massers' love for their wife and mother.

Take a Little Time to Smile, a nice bouncy number followed by I'll be Seeing You, a favourite of Emily's mother Gill and which she, Emily, sang at Gill's funeral. Beautiful.

Double Rainbow, a multi-tracked vocal (I think) on a tune, new to me. Is it an original? Whatever, it's an okay track.

Blew Bb - a big feature for Owston who displays his awesome technique, joined by Gayer and Brown this is their moment and they take it. Eventually Dean joins in and you know that Emily is chomping at the bit to get a piece of the action which she does in her inimitable manner.

What better way to end an album that never falters than with a blast on a Monk number? Answer: none! Hackensack has Emily going for broke, Dean, now in Charlie Rouse mode, doing the same. Horn and voice riffing along with Steve Brown putting the boot in. 

It's self-released on January 31 - it aces anything else on your bucket list. Lance

Ps; The Emily Masser Quintet are on tour in February and March. Dates:

01/02 – Southport Jazz Festival (album launch), The Grand, Southport

11/02 – Norwich Jazz Club

12/02 – Head Of Steam, Huddersfield

19/02 – 606 Club, Chelsea

20/02 – Chesterfield Jazz Club

22/02 – Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham

25/02 – Kingston Upon Hull

26/02 – Scarborough Jazz

28/02 – Wakefield Jazz Club

03/03 – Pizza Express (Soho), London

06/03 – Alsager Golf & Country Club, Stoke on Trent

07/03 – Bodle Street Green, Hailsham

10/03 – Spice Of Life (Soho), London

11/03 – Eastside Jazz Club, London

19/03 – Concorde Club, Eastleigh

22/03 – The Bear Club, Luton