With the passing of Betty Carter, a case can be made that the mantle
as preeminent bop and post bop vocalist should be draped across the
shoulders of Portland, Oregon denizen, Nancy King. And if there were
any lingering doubts about her potential beatification, her performance
on this album should eliminate them
entirely. For more than 78 minutes, King and her very capable quartet
regale the listener with vocal/instrumental art of the highest caliber.
From the first track to the last, King and her cohorts engage the
listener with as imaginative a musical presentation as one can legitimately
expect. Clearly encouraged by the informal, relaxed atmosphere of
a jazz, the improvisation and just plain letting loose is apparent
with each tune. There are yelps of surprise when something unexpected
happens or out of sheer satisfaction with a good performance. Ergo,
King's hoot at the end of "Yesterdays" or the shouts of
encouragement from one of the musicians during King's scatting on
Jobim's "Quiet Nights". Her wordless vocalizing throughout
the session gives special meaning to the "voice as an instrument"
doctrine. It reaches its heights on "How High the Moon".
But King can be sweet and gentle as on "Everything Happens to
Me" where she saunters in and out of John Stowell's guitar strumming.
With her play list selection, King pays homage to some of the leading
contributors to the Great American Song Book, both classic contributors
and those from the bop side of jazz. Tunes by Artie Shaw, Hoagy Carmichael
and Jerome Kern are given unique treatments. The presence of the two
bop staples, Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple"
and Sonny Rollins' "St. Thomas" shows King is not only willing
to take risks, she relishes the challenge. And the challenge of performing
these tunes is to create improvisation of equivalent quality to that
of their composers. She passes this test with the highest scores possible
- - an absolute tour de force as is the classic Wardell Gray/Annie
Ross "Twisted". The latter is the subject of an exhaustive
10 minutes examination where, appropriately, King twists the harmonies
up and down and in and out. Wonderful stuff!
Mention has to be made of King's "4", all Italian jazz
musicians, but one. Because there is no piano, except for the last
track, considerable pressure is on the rhythm section to provide the
requisite support for the singer. They do this as if they had been
working together for years. Attilio Zanchi's bass at first listen
is like a guitar meandering in the lower registers. American John
Stowell's guitar assumes the role of the piano as he takes extended,
intelligent solos on several cuts. The drums of Gianni Cazzola provide
punctuation when needed, but are never intrusive.
If you have a limited jazz album budget, make sure you have room
for this one.
Track Listing: Moon Ray; Yesterdays; Twisted; Everything Happens
to Me; How High the Moon; Quiet Nights; St. Thomas; Scrapple from
Apple; Useless Landscape*
Personnel: Nancy King - Vocals; John Stowell - Guitar; Attilio Zanchi
- Bass; Gianni Cazzola - Drums; Giovanni Ceccarelli* - Piano
