Here are a trio of releases by the relieable Arbors Records that highlight the importance of a good composition. Here, melodies are interpreted, performed and composed by some of the best we’ve got around.
Chuck Folds delivers his contribution the Arbors Piano Series with # 25 in the collection. Folds wrote the title track, but otherwise keeps the job at letting the beautiful melody speak for itself. Like a first rate pasta sauce cook, he puts a simple trust in the basic ingredients and lets them speak for themselves. “Prisoner of Love” lilts along, while more obscure material like Vic Dickenson’s “Constantly” or “Alone” are impressive and strong in their own right. Folds’ touch is Teddy Wilson plaintive and direct, letting the composer get the spotlight. Excellent sounds-I want this guy playing behind me!
Performing together at the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room back in April of 2011, the team of composer/pianist/vocalist/raconteur Dave Frishberg and vocalist Jessica Molaskey dazzles the crowd with the wit, wisdom and delivery of modern tales of Americana. Frishberg’s classics are sometimes delivered in a give and take between the two on tunes like “My Attorney Bernie,” and “Who’s On First,” and at other places letting each singer deliver a solo rendition. Frishberg comes off as a Times Square Rolex salesman on “I Want To Be A Sideman” with his side of the mouth delivery, while Molaskey exudes Dorothy Parker on “Excuse Me For Living.” New York attitudes and mindsets are overflowing here, with hilarity at times, as on “I Can’t Take You Anywhere.” I wish they’d take this one on the road!
At that center of jazz in South Carolina, the trio of Rossano Sportiello/p, Nicki Parrott/b-voc and Eddie Metz/dr swing like they invented the stuff on this charming yet low key affair. Parrott’s voice is a delight as she woos through a seductive “Besame Mucho” and “Fever.” Meanwhile, Sportiello goes Basie hip on “Lil Darlin’” and “Blue and Sentimental” before delivering a white hot Chopin Medley that jazzes up the classics like nothing else. You’re head will be spinning by the end of the “Minute Waltz” and be ready to moan with the rest of the band through the swayin’ 10 minute rendition of the closing down the house take of “St. Louis Blues.” Swing is king here!
Arbors Records
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