Do you know that our soul is composed of harmony?
- Leonardo DaVinci
I remember my first experience with New York Voices – fall of 2002, my semester in UNT’s Jazz Singers. I grew up listening to Take 6 as a Christian band and being enthralled by their jazz sound, and was exposed to some Manhattan Transfer, but not a whole lot more vocal jazz beyond that. I loved (and still love) Take 6, but their gospel and sacred roots seemed too often to hold them back from being a legit jazz ensemble in my mind to some extent, and Manhattan Transfer came across as somewhat sappy – and didn’t hold a candle to the complexity and brute chops of the former.
Then I heard and sang NYV’s “Dare the Moon.” This chart was hip. There was a strong sense of a driving, Latin grove I never got from vocal groups before, and a level of complexity in Darmon Meader’s writing that surpassed Manhattan Transfer. (“A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square” being an exception… if Gene Puerling had written more for them, perhaps I’d been drawn toward MT more.)
Now, listening to NYV’s self-titled debut, the arrangements seem incredibly dated, (one of the other things that repels me from MT,) but the approach to “groove” is beyond most other vocal groups. There’s a smooth, polished, quality to their sound that almost lends itself to being synthetic – it’s too clean to feel organic at times. A think a lot of it is just the album dating itself… it was the 80’s, that’s the way records were made, blah blah blah. Regardless, I hardly ever get that sense listening to other jazz recordings; for example, 1980’s Pat Metheny still sounds fresh and organic, not canned and overprocessed (to carry forward a fairly accurate food metaphor.)
At the same time, this album is like a walk down memory lane, which is odd for a CD I’ve never listened through before. Perhaps some of it’s ego, perhaps some of it’s true, but the charts I’ve sung before back in college, I honestly feel we did a better job with. Perhaps it’s because I knew we were organic and real – no auto-tuning or overdubbing, no cheesy synth percussion, etc. We were on top of the music and took it aggressively and owned it as opposed to finding our place within it. Specifically, “Now or Never.” I loved this chart, but it seems to come too easy on the album, whereas we fought with it, wrestled with the mixed meters, the crazy soprano ranges, and just seemed to push energy into the music I don’t get listening to it now. Perhaps that’s just the difference between a performer’s perspective and a listener’s experience, and again, I’m sure there’s some ego driven bias here J
“Caravan” however, is a great track with some amazing solo work as well. It’s near impossible for me to listen to a vocalise based on a horn player’s pre-existing solo without drawing reference to Jon Hendricks and his command of the style, and this tune does his art form justice. Hands down the strongest piece on the album, although “’Round Midnight” is also a contender for that honor.
Likewise, as “Caravan” feels on some level a tribute to Hendricks, “Baroque Samba” seems to draw from the Swingle Singers tradition of taking classical and baroque music and putting it into a vocal setting either in a more pure traditional vocalise form or, in this case reinterpreting it to suit their stylings. The a capella opening of this track was a refreshing change from the textures of the surrounding works, and I found myself really getting into it until the rhythm section kicked in. Pity. This piece had so much going for it until it fell into the same sonic texture as everything else on the album.
Fortunately, “’Round Midnight” picks up on that same acoustic-into-a capella vibe and stays there. Even when the rhythm section kicks in (and kick it they do!) there is a sense of restraint that seems missing from the remainder of the album. I would love to listen to more from NTV in this format – focused much more on the music then on the recording. An acoustic offering would be a treat.
The final track, “Come Home,” with it’s a capella, unmetered modal vertical structures, seems almost a nod to the plainchant from yesterday’s review. The ethereal-ness of a simply set text without the need for meter and rhythm seems both so natural and at the same time foreign, particularly in the midst of an otherwise overly busy recording.
In conclusion, New York Voices debut album is incredibly cool and hip. Often too much so for their own good. It’s when they break the over-synthesized, over-produced mold that they really shine – “Caravan,” “’Round Midninght,” and “Come Home.” Carry this album out of the realm of ‘80’s synth pop-jazz into something with a little more authenticity and heart than their surrounding opus.
Next up - Piano Concerto #2 in C-minor (Rachmaninov)
Next week - The Very Best of Django Reinhardt
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