Jimmy Scott: Falling In Love Is Wonderful
Released in 1963 on Ray Charles’s Tangerine Records label, Falling In Love Is Wonderful stands today as one of the most legendary albums in vocal jazz. Produced and directed by Ray Charles, who also performs all the piano accompaniment, the record brings together 10 ballads drawn from the era’s standard repertoire. It should be remembered that Jimmy Scott’s work was already held in the highest regard by the leading vocalists of his time, including Dinah Washington, Ruth Brown and Billie Holiday.
Not a single one of these performances contains a flaw. Scott draws from the Great American Songbook to explore the most subtle shades of regret rather than its opposite pole, joy, and he embraces this melancholy with a fully committed intensity. From the opening track, They Say It’s Wonderful, he stretches the cautious phrase “so they say…” until it becomes a central motif. The two sides of romantic experience, before and after, are then fully expanded in I Wish I Didn’t Love You So and I’m Getting Sentimental Over You, where even pain seems to reach a form of grace.
Each track is of an almost unreal beauty, revealing Scott at the peak of his sovereign fragility. His voice, marked by an almost tearful sensitivity, transforms typically bright pieces such as They Say It’s Wonderful, and I Didn’t Know What Time It Was into true prayers for inner peace, a state that, throughout a turbulent life, long remained out of his reach.
Discography
They Say It’s Wonderful; I Wish I Didn’t Love You So; There Is No Greater Love; If I Should Lose You; Why Try to Change Me Now?; I’m Getting Sentimental Over You; Someone To Watch Over Me; How Deep Is the Ocean?; I Didn’t Know What Time It Was; Sunday, Monday Or Always (38.00)
Scott (v); Ray Charles (p), Gerald Wilson, Marty Paich (arr). c. 1963.
Candid Records TRC15012, reviewed by Emma Forestier
Jack Wilson: The Bear And The Wolf
With The Bear And The Wolf, Jack Wilson delivers a compelling debut that reveals a composer as attuned to the power of storytelling as he is to lyrical melody. Backed by a tightly knit quartet featuring Billy Marrows on electric guitar, Max Kahn on double bass and Jack Yardley on drums, the saxophonist crafts a musical language in which deep mutual listening gives rise to performances that are both free-flowing and remarkably cohesive.
The album’s title has an unexpected origin. While immersed in the God Of War Ragnarök video game, Wilson came across a trophy called “The Bear And The Wolf”. Captivated by the imagery and quiet tension evoked by those words, he adopted the title for one of his compositions, which naturally went on to become the name and emblem of his debut album.
The album opens with the superb Cascade, a piece that immediately stands out for the prominent role given to the saxophone. Around it, the trio weaves a subtle and finely textured accompaniment before the drums bring the performance to a close with a solo that is as restrained as it is expressive.
From the opening bars, the guitar’s insistent motif leaves a lasting impression. Repeated with an almost incantatory persistence, it creates a hypnotic atmosphere that draws the listener in and shapes the piece’s entire trajectory. The tension arises not from striking dissonances or dramatic harmonic clashes, but from the sustained exploration of the same musical material, with its resolution continually deferred. When that release finally arrives, it feels both inevitable and deeply satisfying, lending the composition its full expressive power.
The compositions on The Bear And The Wolf provide the quartet with an open musical landscape where improvisation and collective intuition continually reshape the music. No two performances unfold in quite the same way, as each piece evolves organically, guided by the spontaneity of the moment and the chemistry between the musicians.
Drawing on jazz while embracing elements of world music and folk traditions, Jack Wilson has forged a distinctive musical voice – one that is both expansive and deeply lyrical. With this singular artistic vision, he is rapidly emerging as one of the most compelling talents on the contemporary British jazz scene, earning recognition well beyond the UK’s borders.
Discography
Cascade; Prelude For The Departed; P&P; Lullaby; The Bear And The Wolf; Sodermalm; Mr Fox (40.00)
Wilson (s); Billy Marrows (elg); Max Kahn (b); Jack Yardley (d). Lightship 95, London, 28 & 29 October 2025.
Whittington Records WR002, reviewed by Emma Forestier
