JAZZ ALBUM REVIEW : Wood’s Strengths: Material, Performance

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JACK WOOD

“Baby, Baby, All the Time”

Cexton Records

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Singer Jack Wood shows a lot of taste in his new album for the Santa Ana-based Cexton label, taste in material and musicians and, especially, taste in style.

A regular presence in Orange County, not only as a performer but as an impresario (he helps book Orange Coast College’s Robert B. Moore Theatre as well as arranging several nights a month at Restaurant Kikuya), Wood has assembled an especially romantic recording that gives a good feel for the moods and competence he brings to live performance.

The 11 standards are mostly done at slow or medium tempos.

Wood avoids the downside of love, concentrating instead on admiration (“Girl Talk”), devotion (“I Only Have Eyes for You”) and out-and-out exhilaration (the title tune). Even the more somber mood of “Mona Lisa” is brightened up with a lively Brazilian beat.

Wood’s voice, though not deeply pitched, is friendly and warmly masculine. He delivers his lines in patient, relaxed style, even when singing more up-tempo numbers such as “Time After Time.”

There’s just enough stylistic play in his delivery to keep the sound glistening but never enough to draw attention to itself. He doesn’t work in a wide range, instead keeping his tones inside comfortable confines.

Wood has assembled a top-notch crew of well-connected backup musicians, most from the Orange County area.

Keyboardist Rob Mullins is at the center of the accompaniment, and he develops particularly sensitive readings on “Time After Time” and “Two for the Road.” Bassist Luther Hughes, best known as a member of pianist Gene Harris’ globe-trotting quartet, arranged all but one of the numbers, writing in a style that complements Wood’s happy-go-lucky style. Drummer Jeff Hamilton, a stalwart member of Ray Brown’s trio, gives the session its sophisticated swing, at times ably replaced by O.C. resident Charlie Landis.

Occasionally the mood is just too good-natured to swallow, as when the sweetly confessional “You Are” is followed by the terminally upbeat “Pretty World.”

A touch of bluesy melancholy, something Wood does well live, would have provided needed pause in the uninterrupted optimism. But “Baby, Baby, All the Time,” which was celebrated Sunday at an album release party at Restaurant Kikuya, is a romance-filled outing that matches strong material with strong performance.

Anyone who thinks the art of the male vocalist is a craft slowly being lost should listen to Jack Wood.

* Jack Wood appears every Thursday at Restaurant Kikuya, 8052 Adams Blvd., Huntington Beach. 8 p.m. Free. (714) 536-6665.