Customer Reviews

This Heart of Mine

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One of Ellyn's earlier albums, and a recent acquisition for me, this would be a good, representative first-CD pick-up for those unfamiliar with her music. She's joined by one of the legendary greats of the bass--Red Mitchell--along with one of the most in-demand drummers of the past 20 years--Marvin "Smitty" Smith. Company this formidable can be intimidating (as a pianist who once played with Smitty, I speak from experience), but not for Ellyn. This is a loose, free-wheeling, give and take session that at the same time manages to be tight and in the groove. The program is ambitious, including two Bill Evans' staples (played with great respect and yet with the unmistakable Rucker signature), a Billy Taylor original, and the exquisite but under-recorded "All This and Heaven Too."

On the latter tune, Red Mitchell practically matches the delicate phrasing and melodic sensibilities of the vocal with his extended bass solo. On many similar sessions, bass solos are little more than "extenders" and "fillers," conventions that permit the featured soloist to catch her breath, or regather her strength, before the "out" chorus. But on this date, Mitchell is afforded opportunities to play an entire chorus even on the ballads, and he makes the most of each turn, eschewing fingery technique in favor of thoughtful melodic constructions.

My only quibble is with the sound of the recorded acoustic bass. Since at least the early '70's, engineers have boosted the sound of the bass while bassists themselves have gone to lighter strings placed closer to fingerboards sporting overly sensitive pick-ups. The result is a bass sound that is "organ-like" and far more "generic" than the individual, inimitable bass voices of Ray, Pettiford, Mingus, Watkins, Paul, Sam, and even Red himself in the '50's and '60's. I wish we could return to "honest," balanced sound and trash the sub-woofers but, as I was reminded when a teen-ager's van pulled up alongside me the other day, these are different times. (Unfortunately, my ears haven't changed with them.)