Lorraine Feather: Tales of the Unusual

By far, Lorraine Feather is one of the most original and clever lyricists in the jazz, and possibly pop world. Raised on bop, her material as of late has taken on a more abstract, pop or folkish feel, almost coming across as a female version of mid career Tom Waits. For instance, on  this latest release, while she’s backed by some of the best artists LA has to offer (Russell Ferrante-Shelly Berg/p, Grant Geisman/g, Michael Valerio/b, Michael Shapiro-Gregg Field/dr) the tunes are more stories with musical accompaniment.  In perfect diction, timing and delivery, she tells tales of obscure slices of American life, ranging from mismatched couples (“Get A Room”) to episodes from The Twilight Zone (Where Is Everybody?”).  Most clever is her tale about a girl obsessed about the number 5, with some incredibly tricky hairpin turns that Feather manipulates like Mario Andretti. A bit more moody than normal, but still intriguing.

Leave a Reply