Ross Lorraine: More From The Heart (RLR002)
Songwriter Ross Lorraine teams up with Claire Martin (as co-producer and backing vocalist) for a second album of emotionally intelligent, highly listenable songs about the ups and downs of life. Whether it’s reflections on childhood from the perspective of older age, ironic takes on relationships or other quirky observations on what it is to be human, Lorraine has certainly found his voice as a lyricist and songwriter.
The 12 tracks feature a range of contributors, including Joanna Eden, Christine Tobin and Charlie Wood, all of them adding style and atmosphere to Lorraine’s material. Overall, the mood is one of retrospection, and one track – Dear Betty – is based on a genuine three-line Victorian letter which reads as follows: “Dear Betty, I hate you, love, George.” One would love to know who those characters were and what that was all about.
Although Claire Martin doesn’t take a prominent role as a performer on the album, the songs are exactly the sort of material you can imagine her singing in her familiar smoky, wistful style, so the pairing with Ross Lorraine as co-producer makes complete sense musically. From Quiet Money Studios down in Hastings, a real jazz gem has emerged.
Rose Mallett: Dreams Realized (Carrie-On Productions)
Veteran jazz and soul singer Rose Mallett tackles a wide range of material on Dreams Realized. Songs by Stevie Wonder, Oscar Brown Junior, BB King and Michel Legrand all feature, along with personal takes on some well-known standards. Mallett’s experience of singing in musical theatre and nightclubs informs a lot of her style as a performer and it has to be said that some songs work better than other. On Oscar Brown Junior’s The Snake, Mallet’s voicing of some of the characters in the song is perhaps questionable, making it sound like something from a Disney cartoon – sometimes it makes for an uncomfortable listen. It’s Impossible – already a very sugary song, gets coated in even more of the sweet stuff in Mallet’s interpretation. The album is slick, well-produced and features any number of highly competent musicians, but it’s likely to appeal mostly to those who like the power ballad and theatricality of musical performance over anything more subtle or demanding.
Monika Herzig’s Sheroes: All In Good Time (Zoho ZM202404)
Monika Herzig’s mission to elevate women composers, bandleaders and players continues with this fourth release under the Sheroes banner. This is the 10th anniversary of where it all started. There is a 70s vibe to the sound, with Herzig paying tribute to the influence of Chick Corea and his Return To Forever bands. Sax, flutes and Fender Rhodes weave around the melody and indeed it is the tight, intuitive interplay between the various members of the band that characterises the album.
Monika has been an advocate for female jazz since the 1980s ‘when diversity and inclusion wasn’t even a thought’, as she remarks
Herzig offers a unique and engaging arrangement of Beyonce’s Run The World (Girls) and on PC Herzig acknowledges the passing of Wayne Shorter and also dedicates the song to the post-Covid world. Four years on from the pandemic, Herzig acknowledges that the world has fundamentally changed, and that loss needs to be balanced with looking ahead and accepting new realities.
This is an album rich with sophisticated harmonies, disciplined but fluid solos and a sense of looking back at how far Herzig’s mission has come and how much she still wants to achieve. As a player, composer and bandleader, Monika has been an advocate for female jazz since the 1980s “when diversity and inclusion wasn’t even a thought”, as she remarks. All In Good Time continues to raise the profile with this stylish and engaging release.
Hyeseon Hong Jazz Orchestra: Things Will Pass (Pacific Coast Jazz PJ94621)
As with Monika Herzig’s release, the pandemic influences the work of Hyeseon Hong. Things Will Pass is an orchestral journey through recent chapters of the musician’s life, acknowledging upheaval and personal loss. The fusion of different styles always makes for an interesting listen, and on this album American big-band jazz connects with Korean musical influences.
It’s a big-sounding album, full of lush orchestral arrangements that also shows lots of different moods. From the bouncy opener Road To Hana, the album leads us through mid tempo numbers, the mysterious Dance With Dracula, and wistful compositions including Memoirs Of Ladies and Raindrop’s Journey. As with any personal project like this, some of the nuances and significance are perhaps lost on the listener with a big-band sound. A lot of this sounds very upbeat and theatrical, whereas the sentiment behind the composition could be much sadder, given the inspiration for the writing is loss and sorrow.
Hong’s pedigree as a musician is impressive: she served as assistant professor at a college in South Korea before moving to New York where she is a member of the prestigious MBI Jazz workshop. Work is already underway on a follow up to Things Will Pass.