New entrees for the lonely category of male jazz vocalists.
John Allee plays the piano, sings with sardonic wit and writes with the cleverness of Dave Frishberg on this album of originals. Backed by John Harvey/dr, Mike Scnoebelen/b, Adam Bravo/p, Javier Vergara/ts, Jeff Kaye/fhtp and Jane Lui-Cortes Alexander/voc, Allee goes from cool street poet on ”Let’s Hear It” to Tin Pan Alley wit for “A Typical Paris Affair”. With the horns, he’s energetic and a hoot on ”Get a Real Job” and jivey during “Hard Sell”. He slinks the blues on “Until The Money’s Gone” and personal for “Some Other Way” with a noir closing of the evening supplied by Kaye’s muted horn on “Where’s The Door”. When’s this guy hitting LA?
Ben Cassara gives an Old School treatment to standards, while throwing in some clever covers on this album with Josh Richman-Ronny White/p, Harry Allen/ts, Boots Maleson/b and Tim Horner/dr. He’s got an affinity for Dave Frishberg, having fun with Allen on ”Zanzibar”, breezing through “Wheelers and Dealers” and cozy with Richman on ”Let’s Eat Home”. He slows down Duke Ellington’s “I Let A Song Go Out of My Heart” to sonata level and skips to “I Just Found About Love” while going last set relaxed with White on an intimate “I Think I Fell In Love Today”. A sporty sport coat.