Vocal Explorations Across the Spectrum

Singers, singers, singers--they just keep coming. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because vocalists--often more so than instrumentalists--can be the conduits that lead listeners into the full experience of jazz. The best most recent example, of course, is Diana Krall, but there are plenty of other gifted singers on the scene. Here’s a look at a few who have new releases out this month.

*** 1/2 Abbey Lincoln, “Over the Years” (Verve). Lincoln celebrates her 70th birthday with the release of an album that happily avoids retrospective nostalgia. She is, with Nina Simone and Anita O’Day, among the few surviving members of a post-WWII generation of vocalists who prided themselves on their unique qualities, and she shows no sign of slowing the continuing process of musical evolution that has characterized her entire career. Lincoln touches a lot of bases in this outing, starting off with a rendition of the poignantly optimistic war-era song, “When the Lights Go on Again.” She adds a rendering of the Bernstein-Comden & Green tune “Lucky to Be Made” that finds the magic in the deceptively simple lyrics, and she sings Mexican composer Armando Manzanero’s hit “Somos Novios” in Spanish (known in English as “It’s Impossible”). Most intriguing of all, Lincoln offers five of her own pieces, from the subtle relationship tale of “I’m Not Supposed to Know” to the hopeful but cautionary social messages of “What Will Tomorrow Bring” and “A Heart Is Not a Toy.” Vintage Lincoln is the best way to describe it. Lincoln concludes a three-night run at the Jazz Bakery tonight.

*** Nnenna Freelon, “Soulcall” (Concord Jazz). Freelon is credited as producer of this new CD, but she deserves double credit for coming up with a musical package that provides the ideal wrapping for her ebullient vocal style. The selections embrace her own touching “One Child at a Time,” the hip jazz vocal line “Better Than Anything,” the traditional spiritual “Amazing Grace,” and standards such as “Just in Time” and “Paper Moon.” In addition, Freelon has called for arrangements that bring new life to familiar material: “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” with the group Take 6 grooving behind her; a fascinating, darkly rhythmic arrangement of “Button Up Your Overcoat” that tosses in a musical quote from the Leon Thomas-Pharoah Sanders jazz classic “The Creator Has a Master Plan,” and a stirring tenor solo by Chris Potter; and a bright, rhythmic updating of Bacharach & David’s “I Say a Little Prayer For You.” The album’s only flaw is Freelon’s tendency to approach almost every number with a similar vocal timbre; she’s too good a singer not to bring more tonal color to her otherwise attractive interpretations. Freelon performs at Catalina Bar & Grill Tuesday through Saturday.

*** Mark Murphy, “The Latin Porter” (Go Jazz). There’s not a lot of middle ground when it comes to Murphy. Jazz fans seem to either love him or hate him. That’s probably because Murphy has always been an idiosyncratic singer, insistent upon following his own stylistic path. And it’s a typical Murphy move to choose a somewhat ambiguous title for this new album. The Latin Porter’s first name is Cole, and the material is a complete program of his standards performed with an undercurrent of Latin rhythms. Recorded at a club in St. Paul, Minn., with a group that included trumpeter Tom Harrell as a guest, the performances swing with unrelenting force. Ballads such as “In the Still of the Night” are rendered with Murphy’s individualized manipulation of sound, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” emerges differently from the trademark Sinatra version, and Murphy scats hard with both words and syllables on tunes such as “Get Out of Town” and “All of You.” As a bonus, the album includes such offbeat Porter items as “Experimental” and “Everything I Love,” the latter featuring a velvety additional vocal by singer-percussionist Esther Godinez.

*** Patricia Barber, “Nightclub” (Blue Note/Premonition). Barber makes the ambience of her new album clear with both the title and the liner-note observation that “Something special can happen late at night in a jazz club as the crowd thins.” She’s right about that, because what transpires in those midnight hours is that the mood often gets darker and the emotions more intense. That’s what takes place here. Barber’s singing and her piano work are filled with shadowy imagery, even in tunes--”Bye Bye Blackbird” and “A Man & a Woman,” for example--that might ordinarily be rendered in a more luminous fashion. Her unrelentingly low-pitched, dramatic voice can be wearing and mannered at times, but its intimate interaction with her piano playing is a saving factor, bringing much-needed shifts of color to her readings. “Nightclub,” along with “Never Never Land” by another gifted young singer, Jane Monheit, is cresting the jazz charts just beneath Krall’s most recent CDs--heartening evidence that audiences are receptive to new talent. Good as Barber is, however, it will take more contrasts of musical light and shade for her to reveal her full artistic persona.

** 1/2 Kendra Shank, “Reflections” (Focus). A singer with enormous potential, Shank deserves four stars for her excellent choice of material. Reaching well beyond the familiar jazz-singer repertoire, she has gathered a captivating set of songs with a program that ranges from Lennon & McCartney (“Let It Be”) to Duke Ellington (“Reflections”--based upon his “Reflections in D”) and Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin (“This Is New”). Shank does a generally commendable interpretive job with this unusual array of material--and even better with pieces such as “A Timeless Place” (with lyrics by Norma Winstone to Jimmy Rowles’ classic and difficult-to-sing melody), “The Peacocks” and Abbey Lincoln’s “Throw It Away.” But a few of the numbers feel like rushed efforts, both in terms of intonation and phrasing. And one suspects the album would have been considerably more effective with an additional take or two here and there.

** 1/2 Diane Schuur, “Friends for Schuur” (Concord Jazz). The title is on target. Assisting Schuur on various tracks here are Alan Bergman, Dave Grusin, Stephen Bishop, Herbie Hancock, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and--via a tape insert--the tenor saxophone of Stan Getz. All the celebrity firepower, however, doesn’t quite make up for Schuur’s interpretive limitations. Too often, she either attempts a Sarah Vaughan simulation, holding long, vibrating tones, or drives her voice into grating high notes. Curiously, many of the negative aspects of her singing fade away in a spirited pair of live tracks--”It Had to Be You” (with Charles) and “I Just Called to Say I Love You” (with Hancock). In both cases, Schuur sounds more relaxed, her phrasing comes alive, and her stratospheric range is used for impressive, gospel-style articulation. Maybe the best solution for Schuur’s production team is to stay out of the studio and record instead in the more amiable environment of live performance.