|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Acclaimed Guitarist JOHN STEIN's "AMONG FRIENDS," His 20th Album In 1997, just two years after the versatile guitarist JOHN STEIN launched his extraordinary three-decade career as a recording artist, he invited cellist CHRIS WHITE and vocalist FAY WHITTAKER to his home for a spirited, live session in his living room. Stein borrowed a DAT recorder, mixer, and some mics from Berklee College of Music where he was a professor in the Harmony Department and recorded four guitar/cello/vocal trio pieces and two guitar/cello duets. He later recorded four guitar/vocal duets with Whittaker in his office at Berklee after hours using the same equipment. For his 20th album, Stein is finally releasing these sessions with a title that captures the trio's great camaraderie: AMONG FRIENDS. Stein's cohorts are longtime pals from his early performance days, both prominent performers in the Northeast. The guitarist first met White when he lived in Vermont and, newly interested in playing jazz, was looking for great collaborators. White, a classically trained cellist with special affinity for improvisational music and many other styles, became a favorite. The cello provides a wonderful duet possibility for the guitar, capable of providing both a bass part and soaring melody. Based now in Ithaca, NY, White has performed and taught around the U.S., Canada, Europe, and North Africa. The founder and former director of the New Directions Cello Festival (a haven for alternative uses for the instrument), White's latest solo album is Song for Rob (2018), a set of original acoustic world jazz with a Spanish flair. Later, living in Boston in the 90s, and well into his first decade as a professor at Berklee, Stein got a steady gig for several years playing in duet settings with female vocalists at a café on Thursday and Friday nights. Although he worked with just about "every female vocalist who lived in the Boston area, " he most enjoyed working with Whittaker. Whittaker, whose mother was also a professional singer, began her career in the late 80s and has performed jazz and blues at popular venues in the region ever since. Over the years, she has worked with some of New England's top jazz performers. Stein's recent recordings have all been mastered by engineer John Mailloux at Bongo Beach Productions in Westport, MA. Through the expertise of Mailloux, the music on this home-grown album is sonically superb. AMONG FRIENDS features dynamic duo and trio arrangements of eight Songbook standards and three Stein originals. The album opens with an easy swinging spin on Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Mercer's 1939 song "I Thought About You, " a great introductory showcase for Whittaker's sensual vocals with sweet guitar and cello solos. Rodgers & Hammerstein's "It Might as Well Be Spring" (from the 1945 film State Fair) is presented as a spirited voice and guitar duet in double-time with a straight 8th feel. Duke Ellington's timeless "Prelude To A Kiss" is a moody vocal ballad featuring haunting cello accompaniment and a melodic cello solo, with delicate guitar support. Stein's first original piece in the collection is "Sarlat, " a minor key guitar and cello duet with interactive improvisations. After a seductive, bluesy stroll through a vocal/guitar duet on "Since I Fell for You" (popularized by Lenny Welch's 1958 version), the trio presents "Our Love Will See Us Through, " another Stein original with lyrics by vocalist Ron Gill. The tune has an elegant guitar and cello intro, a gentle swing feel, with dynamic singing cello and guitar solos, and a wonderful vocal performance. The next two tracks are compelling vocal/guitar duets – a bluesy, swinging romp through Bobby Troup's classic road tune "Route 66" and a wistful gently reflective "Autumn Nocturne, " featuring a sweetly emotional vocal with delicate textured guitar accompaniment. Stein, White and Whittaker cover the Gershwins' oft-interpreted "Summertime, " which begins as a dark ballad before becoming an up-tempo swinger. Next is Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne's "Time After Time." It features the three musical friends inhabiting their communal musical space together: Whittaker's mellow vocal supported by Stein's chordal accompaniment and melodic soloing; White's plucked bass part, along with a pizzicato and arco solo. AMONG FRIENDS wraps with Stein's final original of the set, "Switch-A-Roo, " a whimsical straight 8th boogaloo blues presented as a guitar/cello duet with interactive improvisation. The two musicians listen and react to each other beautifully, weaving funky lines around each other. Since recording the 11 tracks of AMONG FRIENDS with Chris White and Faye Whittaker very early in his career, John Stein has become one of jazz's most versatile and acclaimed guitarists, with three decades of recordings in a wide variety of settings. In addition to introducing his fans to the talents of two of the Northeast's most powerful jazz performers, this album gives Stein's fans special insight into the artist's early sensibilities and points the way toward the large body of work he has accomplished in his stellar recording career. Tracks 1. I Thought About You 4:33 2. It Might as Well Be Spring 4:17 3. Prelude to a Kiss 5:09 4. Sarlat 4:32 5. Since I Fell For You 5:19 6. Our Love Will See Us Through 6:50 7. Route 66 2:58 8. Autumn Nocturne 4:45 9. Summertime 7:36 10. Time After Time 4:50 11. Switch-A-Roo 6:41 write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |