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JONATHAN BAUER Sings and Plays
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PRIVATE [35:53]
Jonathan Bauer (trumpet, vocal): Alexander Geddes (tenor sax, flute): Mike Clement (guitar): Ryan Hanseler (piano): Alex Dyring (bass): Gerald Watkins Jr. (drums)
Recorded 2020, Butcher Studios, New Orleans
Days of Wine and Roses
It Could Happen To You
Exactly Like You
Love is Here to Stay
Just Friends
September in the Rain
Doodlin’
My last encounter with the New Orleans based Canadian trumpeter Jonathan Bauer came a couple of years ago with his album Walk, Don’t Run (see review ). The band remains the same with the addition of guitarist Mike Clement, and there’s one important other addition: Bauer sings on this new disc.
There are seven tracks on this 35-minute CD and their selection allows Bauer to voyage into the Great American Songbook. The band takes Days of Wine and Roses as a genial mid-tempo swinger, and flecks the arrangement with perceptive solos, such as the melodious tenor of Alexander Geddes, the quote-sporting piano of Ryan Hanseler, the springy guitar and authoritative drumming of Gerald Watkins Jr. Bauer’s vocals are clearly modelled on those of Chet Baker – light and airy. I alluded to Hanseler’s quote in the first track, but he is a truly literate stylist and a fine accompanist too, fluid and swinging, and proves a tower of strength on It Could Happen To You where Bauer’s trumpet is itself warm, rounded and full-toned.
In fact, a sprung rhythm is a fairly constant feature of the band, not least in Exactly Like You where Bauer seems to me to deviate vocally from Baker a little to admit other influences, such as Wingy Manone and even just a soupçon of Louis Prima, when not on his more histrionic vocal duties. There’s a distinct Latin feel toLove is Here to Stay and there’s a very compact version of Just Friends, which lasts only three minutes but allows a skittish Monk-leaning piano intro and for Clement to take a hotly swinging guitar solo, Bauer to sing ‘Chetly’ and take a taut brief interjection and Geddes to unveil his fresh, fine flute.
The last track moves away from the Songbook to end with some laid-back Bop-tinged blues courtesy of Horace Silver’s Doodlin’ Bauer plays his bluesiest solo here – he’s by nature a bop player - then Geddes takes a solo that reveals some influence from Lester Young. I’ve seldom mentioned bass Alex Dyring but he’s a rich toned presence and adds significantly to the corporate sound of the band. There’s a rhythmically nice version of September in the Rain which Bauer starts with a vocal and then picks up his trumpet to stretch out.
His previous album was his first as leader and consisted largely of originals, much to my irritation, but this one introduces Bauer’s vocals in the context of great tunes, honoured down the decades. With clever arrangements – sometimes he starts with a vocal, at other times it emerges later in the tune, good distribution of solos and a tight, cooking band - he has succeeded well and assuredly can add vocals to his musical quiver.
Jonathan Woolf