STEPHEN RILEY & PETER ZAK - Deuce
Steeplechase SCCD 31825
Stephen Riley (tenor sax) Peter Zak (piano) Recorded December 2015
ALLEGRA LEVY - Cities Between Us
Steeplechase SCCD 31827
Allegra Levy (vocal) Kirk Knuffke (cornet) Stephen Riley (tenor sax) Carmen Staaf (piano) Jay Anderson (bass) Billy Drummond (drums) Recorded February 2016
Steeplechase SCCD 31825
Stephen Riley (tenor sax) Peter Zak (piano) Recorded December 2015
ALLEGRA LEVY - Cities Between Us
Steeplechase SCCD 31827
Allegra Levy (vocal) Kirk Knuffke (cornet) Stephen Riley (tenor sax) Carmen Staaf (piano) Jay Anderson (bass) Billy Drummond (drums) Recorded February 2016
Another fine pair of discs from Steeplechase both of which feature the sax talent of Stephen Riley, one, a duet with Peter Zak, a pianist who has supped at the table laid by Tommy Flanagan and Hank Jones, and the second as a member of a resourceful combo supporting singer Allegra Levy in a recital of confessional songs on the theme of lost love and the distances and departures engendered.
Riley plays a light toned tenor with a breathy vibrato in style that, at a stretch, could be described as Lester Young meets Ben Webster and treats the listener to a pleasingly melodic set of variations on jazz and songbook standards interspersed with a trio of self -penned etudes and including an original by Zak. It is gentle, contemplative music that one can ease into like putting on a pair of comfortable slippers. Nearly everything proceeds at a middle tempo with a final flourish coming from a sprightly version of `Without a Song`.
Riley turns up again on Allegra Levy’s disc which reveals her as a clever songwriter and lyricist whose dulcet toned voice and ability to craft canorous tunes lightens the ennui laden themes and prevents the project falling into self-pitying gloom. She is aided and abetted in this respect by an excellent band in which the distinctive snufly tones of the saxophonist are off-set by the burnished incisiveness of Knuffke’s cornet. The bulk of Levy’s material is of her own making but she works in a novel re-arrangement of Kern and Harbach’s `Yesterdays` and adds her own lyrics to Dexter Gordon’s tune `Soy Califa` and Duke Jordan’s `Lullaby of the Orient`.
Prior to receiving these discs, I have to confess to knowing nothing about either artist but on this showing I’ll certainly be on the look-out for their future releases which I’m sure will be of the same excellent standard – a standard we have come to expect from the reliable house of Steeplechase Productions.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Riley plays a light toned tenor with a breathy vibrato in style that, at a stretch, could be described as Lester Young meets Ben Webster and treats the listener to a pleasingly melodic set of variations on jazz and songbook standards interspersed with a trio of self -penned etudes and including an original by Zak. It is gentle, contemplative music that one can ease into like putting on a pair of comfortable slippers. Nearly everything proceeds at a middle tempo with a final flourish coming from a sprightly version of `Without a Song`.
Riley turns up again on Allegra Levy’s disc which reveals her as a clever songwriter and lyricist whose dulcet toned voice and ability to craft canorous tunes lightens the ennui laden themes and prevents the project falling into self-pitying gloom. She is aided and abetted in this respect by an excellent band in which the distinctive snufly tones of the saxophonist are off-set by the burnished incisiveness of Knuffke’s cornet. The bulk of Levy’s material is of her own making but she works in a novel re-arrangement of Kern and Harbach’s `Yesterdays` and adds her own lyrics to Dexter Gordon’s tune `Soy Califa` and Duke Jordan’s `Lullaby of the Orient`.
Prior to receiving these discs, I have to confess to knowing nothing about either artist but on this showing I’ll certainly be on the look-out for their future releases which I’m sure will be of the same excellent standard – a standard we have come to expect from the reliable house of Steeplechase Productions.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
