JIMMY JOHNSON - Every Road Leads Somewhere - RUF RECORDS
Jimmy Johnson's infrequent albums are always occasions of great interest for blues lovers. With his wiry guitar attack and high tenor vocals, the Chicago bluesman has produced some very distinctive and fine recordings. This new one is another strong addition to his discography.
Johnson has contributed some fine originals like the opening “Roots of All Evil” (about money, and sporting a trumpet solo by Claude Egea), “End of the Road,” which contains an appearance by the late Luther Allison who rides the song out with a fiery short solo, and “The Street You Live On,” with its lilting reggae beat. In addition, Johnson's covers of “Black Night,” “Cut You Loose,” and James ‘Thunderbird’ Davis' “Blue Monday” are fresh, with crisp funky arrangements.
Throughout this, Johnson plays in his recognizable style that perhaps show the influence of Otis Rush and Albert King more than others, as well as delivering his vocals without too much in the nature of hysterics. In addition to his fine band, Johnson is backed by a nice horn section that includes jazz trombonist Frank Lacy and saxophonist Paul Cerra in addition to trumpeter Egea. With Johnson being in strong form both vocally and instrumentally, he has produced a very fine release.
This review originally appeared in the November-December 1999 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 242). I have made a few minor formatting and stylistic changes. I likely received a review copy from Ruf Records or a publicist. This may be hard to find, so you may have to find it from used record stores. Here is Jimmy in a performance from 1994.
The first time I saw the remarkable vocalist, Jazzmeia Horn, was as a member of drummer Winard Harper's group at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival. I have had the pleasure of seeing her several times subsequent to that time and have been impressed everytime. She was the winner of the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition that was devoted to jazz vocals. One of the prizes was a recording contract with Concord Records which is issuing her debut album on the reactivated Prestige label. On this recording she is supported by Victor Gould on piano, Stacy Dillard on saxophone, trumpeter Josh Evans, trombonist Frank Lacy, bassist Ben Williams (himself a previous Monk Competition winner); and drummer Jerome Jennings.
Originally inspired by Sarah Vaughan, and mentored by Rachelle Farrell, she also was guided by Bobby McFerrin, Abby Lincoln and Betty Carter. She posseses a remarkable vocal range, and with her perfect pitch and her horn-like scatting and phrasing, one is struck by the clarity, vitality and expressiveness of Jazzmeia's sining. She has an exceptional vocal instrument that is displayed on the performances with a terrific backing band and a well-conceived program of standards, hard bop classics and adaptations of contemporary material. This opens with a compelling rendition of Betty Carter's "Tight," with terrific backing. Dillard takes a terrific short solo, before she scats and trade fours with him. Her rendition of the standard "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)," has a wonderful solo from Gould along with more scatting. It is followed by the full band lending a little big band feel for the Sister Rosetta Tharpe classic, "Up Above My Head," with a lovely delivery of the lyric with light scatting before Frank Lacy takes a gruff solo.
Gigi Gryce's "Social Call," opens with her singing Jon Hendricks' lyrics only accompanied by Williams' bass before the full rhythm enters with wonderful playing from Gould and Jennings' light touch driving this gem. Her spoken social commentary set against Williams' bass and Jennings cymbal work begins a stunning reworking of The Stylistics "People Make The World Go Round." This is taken at a brisker tempo than the original. In addition to the precise enunciation, she adds emphasis by speeding up and then extending her phrasing as the horns adding to the atmosphere with quasi-frenzied interplay.
When I first saw her with Winard Harper, I recall her performing the classic "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Here she sings it accompanied with Gould's accompaniment which segues into a full band rendition of Bobby Timmons' "Moanin'," with her scatting followed by a brief segment from Lacy and a blistering chorus from Evans, a walking bass solo, before she closes this taking her voice to the stratosphere. The lovely rendition of "The Peacocks," has a fine accompaniment from Young to which Evans adds some nice brass, and followed by a whirlwind paced "I Remember You,"with a brief drum break.
On this superb recording, a highlight might be the medley of "Medley: Afro Blues/ Eye See You / Wade in the Water." It begins with an imaginative, tour de force reworking of the Mongo Santamaria classic, initially performed as a duet with Jennings before the rhythm enters and has some operatic vocalizing at the upper reaches of her extensive range. This segues into a spoken social commentary rap before transitioning into the spiritual with gutbucket trombone also heard. The album closes with a lively and uplifting cover of Mary J. Blige's "I'm Going Down." Again, she her vocal soars while she delivers a message for brothers and sisters to hold on and stay strong in trying times
Jazzmeia Horn is a most gifted singer whose originality, horn-like phrasing, timbre and timing will enthrall listeners on this auspicious debut.
I received a review copy from Concord Records. Here she performs Thelonious Monk's "Evidence," at the Mink vocal competition semi-finals.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Jimmy Johnson
End of the Road
Ruf Records
Jimmy Johnson’s infrequent albums are always occasions of great interest for blues lovers. With his wiry guitar attack and high tenor vocals, the Chicago bluesman has produced some very distinctive and fine recordings. This new one is another strong addition to his discography. Johnson has contributed some fine originals like the opening Roots of All Evil (about money, and sporting a trumpet solo by
Jimmy Johnson at the 2007 Pocono Blues Festival
Claude Egea), End of the Road which contains an appearance by the late Luther Allison who rides the song out with a fiery short solo, and The Street You Live On, with its lilting reggae beat.
In addition, Johnson’s covers of Thunderbird Davis’ Blue Monday, Black Night and Cut You Loose are fresh, with crisp funky arrangements. Throughout this, Johnson plays in his recognizable style that perhaps show the influence of Otis Rush and Albert King more than others, as well as delivering his vocals without too much in the nature of hysterics.
In addition to his fine band, Johnson is backed by a nice horn section that includes jazz trombonist Frank Lacy and saxophonist Paul Cerra in addition to trumpeter Egea. With Johnson being in strong form both vocally and instrumentally, he has produced a very fine release.
Trombonist Frank Lacy has a weekly gig at Smalls, the Greenwich Village jazz club with his Legacy Band. Spike Wilmer got Frank Lacy & The Smalls Legacy Band a weekend to record them for the club’s SmallsLive label resulting in a new Live at Smalls recording. Joining Lacy that weekend is trumpeter Josh Evans, tenor saxophonist Stacy Dillard, pianist Theo Hill, bassist Rashaan Carter and drummer Kush Abadey.
Live at 2014 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival
This is one superb band on a recording the evokes Blakey’s great bands with Wayne Shorter, Curtis Fuller and either Lee Morgan or Freddie Hubbard; Charles Tolliver’s ensembles; the great Woody Shaw groups (with Louis Hayes and after). The mood is set with Lacy’s Stranded, and concludes with Freddie Hubbard’s The Intrepid Fox. The whole band is outstanding with trumpeter Evans playing with the fire and imagination that Hubbard and Shaw brought thirty-five years ago. Drummer Abadey stands out playiung with the explosiveness and nuance of Elvin Jones and Tony Williams.
Lacy is an unsung trombonist who can get gut-bucket with some tailgating on the trombone as well as navigate the more intricate changes in the compositions (including George Cables’ wonderful Think of Me that was on Woody Shaw's Blackstone Legacy LP). Lacy even sings on Carolyn’s Dance in a fashion not that far removed from Archie Shepp’s vocals on Shepp's recent Attica Blues Orchestra recording. His vocal may jar some, but is only a small part of one selection here.
This writer recently saw Lacy as part of a trombone summit with Delfaeyo Marsalis and Steve Turre. He impressed in that company and plays with so much of the personality he displays on this live recording. I would love to see him playing with this outstanding group.
I purchased this CD. Here is a small clip of him performing at Smalls.
Posts
