Kurt Weill is, of course, usually associated with Weimar-era Berlin and the writings of Bertolt Brecht, often at the cost of the music he later wrote in the USA after he emigrated there in 1935. Once in the States, he put aside the style of his European work and studied the Great American Songbook, to great effect.
Saxophonist Sam Braysher has dug through some of this later music in sheet music compendiums, and has come up with a selection of rarely recorded songs that, with the exception of three numbers from 1928–29 – Liebeslied, Marterl and Bilbao-Song – and one original, Ships Adrift – all showcase the American Weill.
Here I’ll Stay (1948), here reworked as a waltz, has a tricky sequence with a descending bassline in the middle section. It originally featured lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner but here is wordless, Braysher is nicely reticent in carrying the theme. The next two songs come from Street Scene (1947), Weill’s American opera with words by Langston Hughes. What Good Would The Moon Be? is a great find, a beautiful song well sung by Sara Dowling. Moon-Faced, Starry Eyed is an easy, swinging delight. Ships Adrift might be a sprightly Braysher original, but it is actually based on the chord sequence to Weill’s Speak Low from 1943. Liebeslied belies its age – it comes from 1928’s The Threepenny Opera – but sounds utterly modern in its nuanced melodic and rhythmic changes.
Sara Dowling returns on The Right Guy For Me, originally written by Weill for Fritz Lang’s 1938 film You And Me. It is a classic American swinger, probably here receiving its first jazz interpretation. In contrast, Marterl, from 1928’s Berlin Requiem, is sombre, Braysher accompanied just by pianist Matyas Gayer in subdued fashion.
Of all the songs on this set, Bilbao-Song (from 1929’s Happy End) needs no introduction, such is its renown, but benefits by being reworked as an inquisitive duo between Braysher and bassist Dario Di Lecce. Abbey Lincoln famously recorded That’s Him with Sonny Rollins and Kenny Dorham – the song was originally from 1943’s One Touch Of Venus, with words by Ogden Nash – and Sara Dowling does the song justice. Finally comes This Is New (1941), the most famous version of which is probably by Chick Corea on Tones For Jones Bones. Braysher stretches out here in strong form, as does Gayer, a fine end to a great set of often unexpected material.
Braysher is now on his third album, after his debut Golden Earrings (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2017) with pianist Michael Kanan, and his triumphant trio album Dance Little Lady, Dance Little Man (Unit Records, 2020) with Tom Farmer and Jorge Rossy. This new self-released set will add to his growing reputation as an adventurous musician always curious to learn more about what he is playing, and then sensitively delivering that music in style.
Discography
Here I’ll Stay; What Good Would The Moon Be; Moon-Faced, Starry-Eyed; Ships Adrift; Liebeslied; The Right Guy For Me; Marterl; Bilbao-Song; That’s Him; This Is New (45.01)
Braysher (as); Matyas Gayer (p); Dario Di Lecce (b); Steve Brown (d); Sara Dowling (v). Swindon, England, 10–11 May 2023.
Sam Braysher SB01
