Regular readers of this blog may well know already that Alex Bird is my friend, and for that reason I cannot call this a review. So, this non-review is more of a personal introduction to Alex’s second album, You are the Light and the Way, which is due out on November 5th.
Since I published my “non-review” of Alex’s first album, Whisky Kisses, nearly a year ago, the album and the compositions on it have garnered much attention, and Alex himself even has his own weekly radio show now. I confess that I’m envious. I always wanted a radio show, too! And, this week, Where the Blackbird Sings, the first single from the forthcoming album, topped the iTunes jazz charts. The rest of the top five in that chart were Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, and Nina Simone. Pretty good company that Mr. Bird is keeping these days.
So, let’s start with Where the Blackbird Sings, which is probably the most intriguing of the songs on the new album. When I first heard it, I described it as a rhumba with Yiddish influences in the arrangement and instrumentations – and the climax sounds like it could be from a James Bond film. In many ways, it aptly demonstrates the similarities and differences between this and the Whisky Kisses album. The funding for the album by the Canada Council for the Arts has allowed Alex and his musicians, The Jazz Mavericks, to expand their sound. Added to the trio this time around are Jacob Gorzhaltsan on saxophone and clarinet, and, on some tracks, a string quartet and/or a quartet of wind instruments. However, these extra instruments haven’t been shoehorned into every song. They are used sparingly, and are more effective for this. The string quartet are used to great effect on Where the Blackbird Sings. But the song also expands on the previous album in a different way. Alex and co-writer Ewen Farncombe are still wearing their influences on their sleeve, but this time around they have taken those influences and run with them, forging more individual songs and sounds.
But there is a great deal of variety here. Way Back Home is completely different to Where the Blackbird Sings. If Blackbird is the most dramatic number on the new album, Way Back Home is one of the most intimate. Musically, it’s a relatively simple song in waltz time, and rather sentimental in its lyrics. But the simplicity is a strength. This is a charming number, that could quite easily find its way into the repertoire of late-night singers everywhere.
Bird has been compared with another Canadian, Michael Bublé, but the comparison doesn’t really work. Bird is much more rooted in jazz than straight-ahead big band music, and Bublé has yet to do an album of original songs – although I’m sure Alex doesn’t mind the comparison! But, in many ways, this new set of songs reminds me of a Harry Connick Jr album from nearly twenty-five years ago, To See You. That was an album of all-original ballads, often augmented by a lush orchestra and/or a string quartet. You Are the Light and the Way isn’t an all-ballad affair, but songs like I Held You in My Arms and Thinkin’ Bout You Tonight certainly sound as if they could have come from that Connick project.
There are more influences on display on the likes Tell Me It’s You, whose first phrase unapologetically makes one think of More Than You Know before the melody goes off on its own course. Elsewhere, My Cutie Pie is a song reminiscent of Fats Waller. And it’s interesting how differently the extra instruments are used on certain songs. On My Cutie Pie, the horns take us off in a New Orleans direction, but during Old Soul, the same horns sound like they have been arranged by Marty Paich for his Dek-tette. The string and horns arrangements are actually the fine work of pianist and co-writer Ewen Farncombe.
The aforementioned Old Soul could quite easily have been the title of the album, and would have worked well as the opening track. Instead, the opening/title track is You Are the Light and the Way. It makes for an attention-grabbing start to the CD, with Bird’s dramatic vocal being the only thing we hear for close to thirty seconds, before the instruments join in for what turns out to be one of the jazziest of all the tracks. The album closes out in a very different way, with just vocal and piano on Honey Bee Lullaby, which almost sounds like a coda to the Whisky Kisses album.
If Whisky Kisses was a warm, quintessential love album, then You are the Light and the Way has a different personality. It is less safe in many ways, with Alex and his musicians feeling more confident and trying out a variety of new ideas in the compositions and new arrangements. This most definitely isn’t Whisky Kisses 2. Most of these songs would never have fitted on that album. It’s going to be intriguing to see what musical direction Alex & co. are going to take during the years to come.
Alex has said that he was keen not to release his debut album and then wait several years for a follow-up. Bearing that in mind, this sophomore effort arrives just a year after the first. And it’s clear why Alex felt that way: the artists who influenced him were recording three or more albums a year during the peak of their careers. One of his biggest influences, Bobby Darin, recorded six LPs in twelve months. The days of that happening in the music industry are long gone, but here’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long for a third album.
Beyond Boundaries 