Korean singer Hyeonseon Baek makes his recording debut on this release. At 30+ he is a late starter in the recording game, but he’s spent his earlier years attending Maastricht University in the Netherlands and taking a scholarship-funded master of music degree at Boston’s New England Conservatory.
For Longing he supplied four originals but wisely perhaps went the tested route with such tunes as Charles Mingus’s Duke Ellington’s Sound Of Love, Joe Henderson’s Black Narcissus and Strayhorn’s Lush Life. In addition, he acquired the services of the excellent Kevin Hays and bass player Han Oh.
His tenor voice is a pleasant enough instrument and he likes to throw in some scat from time to time, which he achieves with mixed results; his timing is a little suspect on occasion, clearly so on the opening Caravan. But for the most part he handles the material pretty well, giving us a touch of Korean on the first version of West 4th Street. An interesting choice is A Timeless Place, written by Jimmy Rowles with lyrics supplied by Norma Winstone, who would surely approve of Baek’s interpretation.
Discography
(1) Caravan; Black Narcissus; Duke Ellington’s Sound Of Love; (1) West 4th St (Kor); Longing; (1) My Temptation; Lush Life; A Timeless Place; Peace; (1) West 4th St (Eng) (55.45)
(1) Baek (v); Lucas Pino (ts); Kevin Hays (p); Linda May Han Oh (b); Jochen Reuckert (d). New York, 19 December 2023. (2) as (1) but omit Pino.
You & Me Music
