You tend not to think of mellow folk music when drummers come to mind, but leader John Hollenbeck pulls a fast one as he’s teamed up with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band and brings in the ethereal and reflective voices of Kate McGarry and Theo Bleckmann with support by keyboardist Gary Versace for some impressionistic interpretations of originals and boomer tunes.
McGarry holds back to create tension between voice and support on the complex and intricate take of the Bee Gee’s “How Deep Is Your Love” while she sounds wondrous and innocent backed by bassist Hans Glawischnig and trombonist Christan Jaksjo on James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”. There is a fascinating kinetic and almost cuboid quality to Bleckman’s take of Brian Wilson’s “God Only Knows” and he sounds fragile and wide eyed with Versace to “Pure Imagination”. It doesn’t matter whether or not you know these songs in order to compare them to the originals; they stand up fascinatingly on their own.