When it comes to interpreting a lyric, whether by speech or by song or by a combination of both, few can do it better than Brooklyn born, Harlem based singer, songwriter, storyteller and guitarist Allan Harris.
This, his 17th album, is the second album Harris has recorded live at Blue Llama in Ann Arbor and, like the previous one*, it is an absolute gem!
It's an ambitious project incorporating, amongst others, Shakespeare Sonnets, poetry by Dylan Thomas, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and Mary Oliver plus standards by Johnny Mercer, Henry Mancini and Antônio Carlos Jobim along with Harris' own compositions.
This is not a compilation for eggheads although, in less capable hands, it could be and there is much meaningful content. Particularly in the way that Harris, apart from the first two tracks seamlessly joins (and overlaps) historic poetry with his own originals and GASbook classics.
Harris captures the depth of the originals and, via his smooth, slightly 'King Cole-ish' voice, extracts the joy and the pain, the agony and the ecstasy of the wordsmith's intent.
It's all done over a super sensitive jazz combo with some fine fiddling from Grubner.
Comparision-wise it's got the edge on a summer's day! Lance
Groovy People (tribute to Lou Rawls); Weary Blues (Langston Hughes); Midnight Sun (Hampton, Burke, Mercer)/Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? (Shakespeare - Sonnet 18); Autumn (Harris)/Wild Geese (Mary Oliver); Charade (Mancini, Mercer)/When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes (Shakespeare - Sonnet 29); Shallow Man (Harris)/ Do not go Gentle into That Good Night (Dylan Thomas); Desafinado (Jobim)/Let me not to the marriage of two minds admit impediments ( Shakespeare - Sonnet 116); When I'm Born Again (Harris)/She Walks in Beauty (Lord Byron); Sea Line Woman (trad.)/Still I Rise (Angelou); Secret Moments (Harris)/How do I Love Thee? (Elizabeth Barrett Browning); Time Just Slips Away (Harris)/The Road Not Taken (Robert Frost)
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