DIANE SCHUUR - Running On Faith
Diane Schuur (v,p); Ernie Watts (ts,ss); Nye Palmer (t,flh); Thom Rotella (elg); Kendall Kay (d); Bruce Lett (b)
Recorded CA, no dates listed.
Diane Schuur talks about her world being full of love, faith and diversity on the liner notes. She could have added that it was full of jazz and the blues too, as demonstrated in her album here. Walking On A tightrope by Curtis Mayfield is the opening track where both Ms Schuur and guitarist Rotella get to exercise their blues chops at length. Soulful trumpet segments too by Nye Palmer and he is featured also on All Blues, the Miles Davis classic. Diane has her own highly effective take on this, and nobody could confuse her version with anybody else’s. She also comes up with some original stylings on Let It Be, starting off with just her piano introduction, at low key but gradually building up and fashioning an individualistic vocal. Paul Simon’s Something So Right, is the closest she gets to pop singing but even here there are those tell- tale jazz inflections in her voice.
Most of the rest of these tracks are heavily infused with blues content in which, she is well supported by the band. This Bitter Earth is sung slowly ad with feeling. Ernie Watts is well represented, mostly with the tart, spiralling tenor solos he is known for, but he does contribute on soprano as well. Ms Schuur backs herself effectively on piano and on the last selection here, Swing Low Sweet Chariot she improvises freely on this gospel piece as an instrumental reading only. The album certainly runs on faith as the title suggests although it could just as easily have been titled All Blues because that basically what it is.
Reviewed by Derek Ansell
Diane Schuur (v,p); Ernie Watts (ts,ss); Nye Palmer (t,flh); Thom Rotella (elg); Kendall Kay (d); Bruce Lett (b)
Recorded CA, no dates listed.
Diane Schuur talks about her world being full of love, faith and diversity on the liner notes. She could have added that it was full of jazz and the blues too, as demonstrated in her album here. Walking On A tightrope by Curtis Mayfield is the opening track where both Ms Schuur and guitarist Rotella get to exercise their blues chops at length. Soulful trumpet segments too by Nye Palmer and he is featured also on All Blues, the Miles Davis classic. Diane has her own highly effective take on this, and nobody could confuse her version with anybody else’s. She also comes up with some original stylings on Let It Be, starting off with just her piano introduction, at low key but gradually building up and fashioning an individualistic vocal. Paul Simon’s Something So Right, is the closest she gets to pop singing but even here there are those tell- tale jazz inflections in her voice.
Most of the rest of these tracks are heavily infused with blues content in which, she is well supported by the band. This Bitter Earth is sung slowly ad with feeling. Ernie Watts is well represented, mostly with the tart, spiralling tenor solos he is known for, but he does contribute on soprano as well. Ms Schuur backs herself effectively on piano and on the last selection here, Swing Low Sweet Chariot she improvises freely on this gospel piece as an instrumental reading only. The album certainly runs on faith as the title suggests although it could just as easily have been titled All Blues because that basically what it is.
Reviewed by Derek Ansell
