Jimmy Heath Love Letter

Jimmy Heath
Love Letter
Verve

Gary Giddins relates in the liner notes for "Love Letter," its origin arose from a query, friend, and photographer, Carol Friedman, who asked if Jimmy Heath would record an album of ballads. The answer is this recording, which Giddins scribes as "Heath's stunningly elegant last testament." On this, his final recordings, Heath is supported by a fabulous backing band of pianist Kenny Barron, guitarist Russell Malone, vibraphonist Monte Croft, bassist David Wong, and drummer Lewis Nash. Augmenting the group on separate tracks are vocalists Gregory Porter and Cécile McLorin Salvant, and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

Giddins quotes, from conversations with Friedman, Heath about saxophonists playing ballads, "Ben Webster would play in the lower register of the saxophone and you could hear his breath. But Coltrane found a way to play in the high register of the tenor. Having played alto before, he could hear up there and he learned the altissimo range of the tenor. When he played a melody of a ballad it was ethereal. It was like heaven. Coltrane would play up in the heavens. Ben and Coleman Hawkins and everybody would be downstairs—they'd be down here on earth! Trane found a way to Trane found a way to sing in the high register that I found was unique." Heath has incorporated some both approaches as he often plays in the tenor sax's lower register but without Webster's pronounced vibrato or Hawkins relatively harsh sound.

This splendid recording opens with Heath's "Ballad from Upper Neighbor's Suite," on which Heath  exhibits his nuanced tone and phrasing set against an exquisite, delicate quartet backing with Barron being especially outstanding. One should not be surprised by the superb singing by Cécile McLorin Salvant ("Left Alone") and Gregory Porter ("Don't Misunderstand"). There is a purity in Ms. Salvant's voice with the airy backing by Malone, Croft, Wong, and Nash, before Heath's gorgeous solo. Porter's romanticism on "Don't Misunderstand" is enhanced by Barron's sophisticated elegance as Heath sings with his tenor sax.

There is a gentle warmth exhibited when Heath, with Malone and Croft in support, provides a lyrical reading of Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma." Wynton Marsalis joins Heath, Barron, Croft, and Nash for a winsome rendition of Kenny Dorham's ballad, "La Mesha." In addition to the sublime beauty of the horns, Barron's solo is one of elegant sophistication. There is a reflective quality to Heath's playing on "Inside Your Heart," the one track on which he employs the soprano sax.

The album closes with Heath's poignant performance of "Don't Explain," a song that Barron, Croft, and Nash recorded with Heath, later overdubbing a solo of considerable beauty and feeling. As Carol Friedman stated about Heath, "His mastery is such that you could swear that the rhythm section—Kenny in particular—is following Jimmy's lead." It is the coda of a remarkable recording, and career belies the fact that Jimmy Heath was 93 at the time. There is nothing in the robustness of his playing and impeccable pitch and timing that suggested any diminishment of his talent. Gary Giddins closes his liner notes, "Farewell, Jimmy, and welcome back. Consider this the second *rebirth*, because people are going to be talking about you all over again." Indeed, with this outstanding recording, people will be talking about Jimmy Heath for many more years.

I received a  download to review from a publicist. Here is "Con Alma" from this recording.