Beautiful Love

Jay Clayton, Fred Hersch | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 15, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sunny Side
• ASIN: B0000035Z3
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #57,297 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sparkling Gem, January 14, 2004

By 

Samuel Chell (Kenosha,, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beautiful Love (Audio CD)

A companionable recording that gets better with each new listening. I became aware of Jay Clayton very recently and was surprised to learn that she's often labeled as an "experimental" singer, an epithet that can not serve her well with the larger audience she deserves. Her instrument, to my ears, is instantly communicative if not irresistible--at times pure and silvery, like Paul Desmond's alto; at times, venturesome and rhapsodic like Coltrane's soprano. She "allows" her tones to take flight; there's no forcing of the voice, no contrivance, artifice, gratuitous drama. With a vocalist this free of mannerisms, there's no problem going along with her, whether she takes us to a fresh new reading or a complete reinvention of the material.

That said, the performances on the first half of the program sound occasionally tentative to me, but by the time Jay gets to "Day by Day" the artist has established an organic relationship with her material. The performance of Cole Porter's "Everything I Love" is particularly revelatory and incandescent. Hersch's sensitive support, whether as accompanist or as an alternate melodic voice, exhibits the selflessness of a true musical master. Nothing is out of balance: he impresses by calling so little attention to himself.

Apart from reissues, this album strikes me as one of a mere handful of significant releases in jazz or popular music over the past ten years.