Customer Reviews

Jazz Alley Tapes (With Clayton)

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[Warning! Amazon's song listing for this CD is wrong: "Jazz Alley Tapes" is a single CD, and the program, imo, is of greater interest than the one Amazon gives--which is apparently for another collection of Lanphere material.]

There are many jazz vocalists who are an acquired taste--eg. a Betty Carter or Abbey Lincoln cannot be appreciated until allowances have been made for their, uh, singular vocal qualities. Not so Jay Clayton. Her voice is as pure and fresh as a mountain stream, and the things that she does with it are as various as the sounds of nature. Whether interpreting the lyric or scatting on the chords (at times, "warbling"--literally), she's as vital, as vibrant, as pleasing to the ear as any present-day vocalist. No one does Victor Young's gorgeous "You're a Weaver of Dreams" any more (in spite of Coltrane's "rescuing" the tune). If anyone's going to remember it, thank goodness it's Jay. "Nearness," "Softly," "Clifford" are equally stunning performances, as is her rejuvenation of an antique chestnut, "Silent Love."

The instrumentals, competently played as they are, don't maintain the same level of intensity or distinction for me. Recently I attended a concert by a favorite vocalist and got downright irritated at the grossly overamplified acoustic bass player dominating my "listening space" during every note of the concert. The combination of huge amplifiers and tone-deaf sound engineers is creating an intrusive monster. (At least Dave Holland is still producing and recording a true bass sound.) On several cuts on this CD I can boost high frequencies, reduce low, and the bass still upstages piano and percussion. Jay's pellucid soprano, fortunately, cuts right through the thick underbrush.