Sam Braysher - "That's him" - the music of Kurt Weill
S
Crescent Records
This is Sam Braysher's third album as a band leader, and it's a potent mix featuring a fine London rhythm section, guest vocalist Sara Dowling and the music of Kurt Weill.
The career of German-American composer Weill began with classical studies in Germany, a successful collaboration with Bertolt Brecht, escape from the Nazis in 1933 and a new life in New York. Here he studied American popular and stage music and made a major contribution to the Great American Songbook, working with lyricists including Ira Gershwin and Oscar Hammerstein.
This album features some of his lesser known compositions; nine tunes including three sung by Sara Dowling, who has the rare ability to combine a jazz sensibility with a theatrical flair for show tunes. There's also one fine composition by Braysher, "Ships adrift" which provides a crisp bebop pallet cleanser half way through.
The band works together to create imaginative and subtle arrangements featuring Mátyás Gayer piano, Dario Di Lecce double bass and Steve Brown drums. Damon Sawyer at Swindon's Crescent Records handled the recording, which is warm and vivid with some gorgeous sounds, particularly from piano and bass.
Album opener "Here I'll stay" is arranged as a fast waltz, moving in and out of propulsive swing, and with a solo showcasing Braysher's tonal range, from breathy velvet to a robust "vox humana". Sara Dowling is featured on three relatively unknown but brilliant songs, her voice well suited to the material with shades of Peggy Lee and Nancy Wilson. "What good would the moon be?" is from Weill's American opera "Street Scene", with lyrics by African American writer and activist Langston Hughes. "The right guy for me" is another forgotten gem with lyrics by Sam Coslow, whilst title track "That's him" has nicely oblique words by Ogden Nash.
The instrumental tracks showcase Weill's beautiful melodies and imaginative harmonies and contrast his early work - "Marteri" from 1928's Berlin Requiem is given an almost classical treatment with sax and piano duet - with his bluesier American period. The album provides a great illustration of how the German art song flowed into the Great American Songbook and created fertile ground for jazz improvisers. A very fine album.
© Stephen Godsall
Musicians:
Sam Braysher - alto saxophone
Sara Dowling - vocals (tracks 2, 6 and 9)
Mátyás Gayer – piano
Dario Di Lecce - double bass
Steve Brown - drums
