Natalie Aldema Band: Softly In The Blue
This is yet one more tiny atoll of good taste in the ocean of dross that is the “modern” popular musical landscape. I doubt seriously whether Ms Adema is much more than 30 years old and yet, against the run of play, she has contrived to record an album whose 10 songs span the 32 years from 1928 to 1960, or, to put it another way, an album in which the newest song is some 66 years old, whilst the oldest is two years shy of a telegram from the reigning monarch.
Ms Aldema is accompanied by a piano-less trio of bass, drums and guitar, an arrangement that works quite well, albeit the guitar does all the heavy lifting. Perhaps I should note that the album was listed simply as Natalie Aldema, yet the cover says Natalie Aldema Band, this is, of course, academic, as the people who shell out good money to purchase the album will ask only is it good, bad or indifferent, rather than query the nomenclature. I can answer that succinctly; this is a very fine album indeed, and I speak as one who is hard to please. This is not to say this review will be free from the odd cavil; Ms. Aldema has a penchant for changing the lyrics slightly, in one case at the expense of the melody but against that only a pedant like myself (oh, what a rogue and pedant slave am I) is likely to notice.
Ms. Aldema has a fine set of pipes and is fully at ease within the trio. If I had to pick a favourite track it would be Sand In My Shoes, from 1941, one of the last songs for which Frank Loesser supplied lyrics only, in this case to music by Victor Schertzinger, who also directed the film for which it formed part of the score, Kiss The Boys Goodbye. Soon afterwards, Loesser, who had been writing lyrics in Hollywood since the mid 1930s, began writing both words and music, and did so for the rest of his life. I have singled out Sand In My Shoes largely because it is woefully under recorded, but in truth there isn’t a bad track on the album, and it’s one I’ll play again, simply for pleasure.
Discography
It Might As Well Be Spring; Dindi; The Nearness Of You; Blue Moon; When I Fall In Love; Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise; What A Wonderful World; Sand In My Shoes; Moon River; Smile (37.45)
Aldema (v); Morten Kvam (b); Jarle Vespestad (d); Asle Roe (g). Monkeybar Studios, Oslo, Norway. July, 2025, October, 2025, February – March 2026.
Independent
Ari & Cecil Alexander: Kaleidoscope
Once again, given that the bulk of “modern” albums bring me out in hives, I approached this one heavily veiled and clad in industrial strength gardening gloves. I needn’t have bothered because it’s actually quite good. Husband-and-wife Cecil and Ari Alexander are a hugely gifted, multi-talented double act. Both write and both play, guitar and piano respectively. Four of the 10 tracks are standards – the oldest of which, Tea For Two, is 102 years old – and of the remaining six, two (the first and last tracks) are joint compositions, with the other four written by Ari, albeit one, Celia, is a Bud Powell instrumental to which Ari added lyrics, very much in the style of Jon Hendricks.
Blessed with a clear, pure, voice, Ari is also adept at scat, reminiscent of both Ella, and Mel Tormé. Rob Linton and Danny McGonegle lend sterling support on bass and drums respectively, and McGonegle gets to strut his stuff on Nobody Else But Me, and What Do You Know. This is, of course, a modern album, recorded in two sessions within the last 12 months, which means, inevitably, that the standards – with the exception of Till There Was You, which is left unmolested – are “reimagined”, and after playing the whole album, I was moved to turn to the 1940 recording of Brooks Bowman’s East Of The Sun by Tommy Dorsey, with “vocal refrain” by Frank Sinatra and a trumpet break by Bunny Berigan. I have no hesitation in recommending this fine album unreservedly.
Discography
Kaleidoscope; Me After You; Cozy; East Of The Sun; It’s Grand, It’s Weird; Celia; Nobody Else But Me; Till There Was You; Tea For Two; What Do You Know (42.00)
Ari Alexander (p, v); Cecil Alexander (g); Rob Linton (b); Danny McGonegle (d). Jay’s Place, Nashville, 25 September 2025; Country Q, Nashville, 28 April 2026.
Independent