Show: Sachal Vasandani at Jazz Alley

Is it just me, or does referring to someone as a "crooner" feel like a putdown? Come to think of it, it probably is me.

Back in the college, I auditioned for a spot in the chapel choir. As a nervous sophomore transfer student  - and an admittedly poor site reader - my approach was on the tentative side, rather than the hammy imitation of the Bugs Bunny opera singer I'd learned to do in high school. This started as a gag to do for my friends; much to my surprise, choir teachers loved it. "Why don't you sing like that all the time?" one asked me. Anyway, after I'd stumbled through my Chapel Choir audition piece, the director muttered something about me being "more of a crooner." It was something in the tone of his voice, but I found myself wanting to leap across the room and choke him.

This memory resurfaced the other night at singer Sachal Vasandani's show at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley.The man introducing Vasandani described him as "a great crooner. These words were followed by an audible gulp, after which he hastily added, "...uh, and a first-rate jazz artist." It was the kind of recovery you might hear from a guy on a blind date who announces that Ugg boots are the least flattering footwear ever foisted on the feminine gender, only to look down and see a pair of chestnut brown Sundance IIs, the toe of one tapping ominously. "But they look great on you! Now what's taking so long with that table?"

Or anyway that's how I heard it.

The good news for the capacity crowd that greeted Vasandani - emerging from the back of the house, all movie-star handsome in a sharp suit and tie, gliding to the stage under the adoring gaze of a follow spot - is that the he is, in fact, both a great crooner and a first-rate jazz artist. He can also belt it out when called upon, and scat with smooth assurance.

He's also a gifted songwriter, capable of both adding to and re-interpreting the traditional jazz repertoire. A case in point is "Escape," a new introduction to "There's a Small Hotel." "Escape" not only stands on it’s own, while also allowing you to appreciate the original from a new angle.

Vasandani is touring in support of a new release, "We Move," on the excellent Mack Avenue label. The CD's production is quite lush, at times too much so for me. (I wouldn't be surprised to hear the title track turn up in the background of Grey's Anatomy.) On stage with his excellent young trio (Jeb Patton, piano; David Wong, bass; and the occasionally too loud Jeremy Brown, drums), Vasandani seemed to be having a high old time and exuded the charm and ease of classic Bobby Darin. The droning influence of Vasandani's fellow Chicagoan Kurt Elling, in evidence on both "We Move" and Vasandani's debut recording "Eyes Wide Open" was all but absent. To me that's a good thing.

On the cusp of his 30s, Vasandani is still working out who he is as an artist, incorporating influences as diverse as Sinatra, Jon Hendricks, Joni Mitchell, and Sade. The mix isn't perfectly distilled yet, but he and the trio consistently served up the good turtle soup. Mic dynamics proved to be an issue throughout the night, but I’m not sure whether this was his problem or something that should have been worked out during the sound check. Whichever, it was definitely a distraction.

The crowd (which included a lot of the under-30s everybody in the jazz intelligentsia is so exercised about) seemed to eat it up, but at the end of the set there was no encore. This struck me as odd, but then Seattle-ites are notorious for their polite equanimity.

Where ever the road leads him, Vasandani merits watching. As we passed by the autograph line on the way out, a swoony woman in her 40s standing next to the singer called out to her mortified teenage daughter, “Get over here with that camera and take my picture!”

A certain Canadian crooner whose name rhymes with “poo-flay” would do well to take note.

(Image pilfered from Mack Avenue Records.)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Show: Sachal Vasandani at Jazz Alley - Seattle - November 11, 2009

Set list:
That Old Black Magic
Escape/There's a Small Hotel
Don't Worry About Me
Please Mr. Ogilvy
Medley: Royal Eyes/There Are Such Things/My Dear
All The Way
Ring Road (Back to You)
Monk's Dream
Every Ocean, Every Star
We Move
No More

Viddie: September

Earlier this month I realized that I'd let the entire month of September go by without blasting Earth Wind and Fire's "September," which is just wrong (and a sign of how little I listen to commercial radio these days, even in the car). So there was something cosmically satisfying in the fact that a college friend of mine posted the video above on Facebook.

Who is Pamplamoose? Hell if I know. The Bay Area twosome have a dedicated following on the hipsternet and have posted similarly delightful light-handed covers (Single Ladies, Mrs. Robinson, for example) on their YouTube channel, along with songs of their own. On his music blog Pampelmoose, Dave Allen, the bass player for Gang of Four says:

Artists like Pomplamoose who embrace the social web are not a subset of savvy marketers, they are disrupters and re-purposers who break the record companies business models. This is a good thing.

All of which seems a little ponderous to contemplate on a drizzly Friday. One thing I'm sure of is that one mark of good cover is that it reminds you of what was great about the original (like when EWF covered the Beatle's "Got To Get You Into My Life," for example). And adding a dancing granny never hurts.

So enjoy the video. And while you're at it, enjoy the original.

TNLD Podcast 02: Rhythm and Ribs Flashback

Drum roll, please…

The New Low Down podcast is back!

This time around we take a trip back in time to the 2007 Rhythm and Ribs Festival in Kansas City, MO. Why? Because I was there, microphone in hand.

And why now? Sadly, the 2009 edition of the festival was canceled. But TNLD wishes the organizers the best of luck in 2010.

Also in this podcast, new summer mood music from The Sons of Brazil, Kansas City's longest-gigging Brazilian jazz combo. Their sunny 2009 release While You Were Out is available for order from Stan Kessler's website.

Listen now:



Download the podcast | Subscribe on iTunes

You'll also be interested to know that my friend Michael Byars, who appears in this podcast, has a weekly new music podcast of his own called The Mailbox. TNLD says check it out!

Notes on TNLD Podcast
I plan to get these podcasts onto a regular schedule, which will take a little doing. The logistics of equipment and editing and feeds and so on, have proven to be a big time suck, particularly when I've got paying work to do. So while that's all getting sorted out, I thank you for your patience.

Comments please
I would love to hear any feedback you have, either in the comments or emailed to lowdown@newlowdown.com.

Finally a loudly hollered thank you to Jake Blanton for our theme music. Jake, wherever you are, you are awesome (but you already know that).

New: Ben Allison's "Think Free"

"Think Free," bassist/composer Ben Allison's next album drops officially on October 13, but the whole shebang is available for download and/or streaming on the Palmetto Records site.

[Palmetto's embeddable player doesn't seem to work on my browser, but here goes:]


The album is the third in a cycle that started with "Cowboy Justice" (2006) and "Little Things Run The World" (2008). "I wanted a band that rocked," Allison says, and he clearly got his wish. The first two albums featured a fusion (note the lower-case f) of the rock and jazz idioms, marked by the pairing of Steve Cardenas's guitar with Ron Horton's trumpet over the rhythm section. Think Free continues the theme with Shane Endsley replacing Horton, but Allison ups the ante by adding violinist Jenny Scheinman to the mix. It's a brilliant choice.

The first two albums were direct, often angry responses to the George W. Bush era (with titles like "Tricky Dick" and "Man Sized Safe," Allison didn't exactly qualify as a Bush Ranger). Think Free carries a lot of the same rage, but it seems to be resolving into something more hopeful. By the time you reach "Green Al," the final track, you get the sense that things may be looking up. Let's hope.

New: Ghosty's "A Mystic's Robe" EP

Just finished listening to Ghosty's new three-song EP "A Mystic's Robe."

TNLD verdict: two thumbs up (one for each hand, see?). It's everything you depend on from the Kansas City band: Peerless pop construction, beautiful harmonies and tasty lyrics. My only complaint would be that there isn't more.

It's available for streaming or download now. Do yourself a favor and lend your ears.

Related post: TNLD interview with Ghosty's Andrew Connor

Learning to listen

Darcy Jame Argue has an excellent post on Jelly Roll Morton, but this passage struck a chord with me.

Listening to pre-WWII records is an act of imagination, and the further you go back, the more imagination it takes -- in order for you to really hear what's going on, your "mind's ear," so to speak, needs to fill in a lot. This is something that I think people who were born before 1960 or so don't fully grasp, because those people have completely different expectations when it comes to recorded music -- the technology was maturing at the same time they were. (I mean, the Beatles didn't fully embrace the radical concept of stereo until after the White Album.) Obviously, this is a vitally important skill that anyone who's serious about music needs to develop, but it doesn't come naturally to most. It takes a considerable amount of practice and effort to develop.

TNLD says read the post, then follow the links.

Viddie: Ben Folds covers Such Great Heights

Something light and frothy for your Friday. Ben Folds and three percussionists improvise this cover of The Postal Service song on Australian television. (MP3 available here.)

Viddie: Caetano Veloso's Billie Jean

The Brazilian star shedding new light on classic pop. (Tip via Groovenotes.)

Viddie: Odetta and Tennessee Ernie Ford Sing Woody Guthrie

Not a pair of names you'd generally put together, but they are obviously having a high old time in this clip from Ford's television show. (That's right, kids, Tennessee Ernie Ford used to have a television show.)

The doggone Jacko's gone

Unless you bury your head in the sand, you're unlikely to miss the deluge of Michael Jackson tributes (or the accompanying snark festivals) to come in the following days. For me, few will top this preemptive salute from the mighty Millish, performed at the 2008 Kansas City Irish Festival. And, yes, that's Brubeck in there as well. (Tip via Jesse Mason of Millish.)

Listen to the crowd's reaction at the 4:40 mark. For all the weirdness, and there was plenty, the guy could write a hook. RIP Michael: you freak, you genius.

Part 1



And part 2:

Viddie: Sweet Georgia Brown

More bad news for drummers everywhere. (Rumor has it Apple is preparing a tractor Jam Pack for Garageband. Of course you didn't hear that here.)

Tip: KK at Groove Notes

Mingus at the Showplace

Today's Writer's Almanac includes the poem "Mingus at the Showplace" by William Matthews about writing a bad poem at age 17 and having the nerve to show it to Charles Mingus. I loved these lines:

He didn't look as if he thought

bad poems were dangerous, the way some poets do.
If they were baseball executives they'd plot

to destroy sandlots everywhere so that the game
could be saved from children.

TNLD says check it out. And check out some Mingus, recorded in Stockholm with Eric Dolphy, Clifford Jordan, Jaki Byard and Dannie Richmond.

See you in June

That's probably the next time you'll see a post hereabouts. In the meantime, we're packing like mad in anticipation of pulling up stakes and heading for Seattle. Thanks for everything Chicago, but it's time to make westing.

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Photo above via laflaneuse who merits watching.

Review: Nils Lindberg and Margareta Bengtson - As We Are

As We Are (2008, Prophone) starts with a 19th Century meditation on death ("Remember," a setting a poem by Christina Rosetti) then moves on through the blues, folk tunes from Finland and Sweden, bossa nova, Hoagy Carmichael and Ellingtonian vocalese before arriving at Shakespeare. Talk about your strange meadowlarks.

There's something otherworldly about the whole enterprise, as if Nils Lindberg (composer, arranger and pianist) were a Martian who spent a his childhood listening to radio waves from the next planet over, picking up jazz and classical and all those popular tunes broadcast before 1960 and then deciding to have a go at it himself. While those signals might have left this world in discreet streams, what Lindberg sends back to earth is all mixed together, as if the boundaries between genres don't matter. As it turns out, Lindberg is from Sweden, where, thankfully, they don't. The result is as crisp and classic as a restored black & white movie and as new as next Tuesday.

Chief among Lindberg's co-conspirators on this project is singer Margareta Bengtson, who appears on 11 of the 13 tracks. Bengtson's Nordic cool may be a million miles from Ella Fitzgerald in style but they both share a gift for putting the across the lyric with great feeling, while avoiding the "watch me, watch me" embellishment that many singers use to prove that they're singing jazz, as if you didn't know. But Bengtson is also no slouch when it's time to bust out the scat chops.

What Lindberg and Bengston achieve on As We Are is a remarkable melding of jazz song and art song that I suspect would have pleased a chamber jazz proponent like Billy Strayhorn no end. Only the tune "Santa Barbara" comes off a little cheesy, but it's a pleasant cheese and entirely in keeping with the city that inspired it (see/hear for your own self).

• Note on purchasing - Much as I commend this CD to your listening ears, it isn't sold on Amazon, CD Baby or any of the usual suspects. The Prophone link above will eventually get you to a purchase link, but it's a long and winding road that leads nowhere. Several sketchy bit torent avenues turn up on searches but those always make me feel dirty. I'll try to update this post if I find a solution.

Further linkage
Nils Lindberg (official site | wikipedia) is as celebrated in Sweden for his work in jazz settings as he is for his classical compositions, film and TV scores, as well as settings of Swedish folk music.

Margareta Bengtson's myspace page - includes the opening track "Remember" as well as a sprightly version of Annie Ross's "Twisted."

Berkeley Streetcar 1906

A trip east on Hearst, from Oxford to Euclid. A trip I took many times myself when I lived up in the Berkeley Hills. The scuffle at about the 2:00 mark is particularly choice.

Happy Birthday, Duke!

C Jam Blues featuring Ray Nance (on violin), 'Tricky Sam' Nanton, Rex Stewart, Ben Webster, Barney Bigard, and Sonny Greer. And, of course, Duke ends up with the shawtys.

More on Ellington.

Viddie: Mission Impossible Cumbia

Happy Friday, one and all.

With 80 degree temperatures and sunshine in the Chicago forecast, it will be hard to stay at the desk long today. I hope to get outside and gain a fresh perspective on... something. Does it really matter what?

In that spirit, I pass along the homemade viddie above from Denton's gift to the world, with a reminder that the mission need not be impossible at all.

Bonus points to anyone who can confirm or deny the band's now-legendary show at Kansas City's Grand Emporium in the 1980s, during which they led the audience across Main Street and into the Pink Garter strip club. Were you there? Was your cousin? Spill it.

Extra supreme bonus points to the person who creates a wiki page for the aforementioned venue.

And now, please excuse me while I kiss the sky.

TNLD Podcast 01: Andrew Connor of Ghosty

Drum roll, please…

Introducing the premier of The New Low Down podcast.

Podcast 01 features a chat with Andrew Connor of the band Ghosty. Specifically we chat about the track "Dumbo Wins Again" from Ghosty's most recent album Answers (on Oxblood Records). While "Dumbo" may not be "a song about heartbreak and failed relationships," as reported by NPR Music, it is a delicious and shiny pop jewel. It's also -- another drum roll, please --

TNLD's Song of the Year! (Actually last year, but still. Better late than never.)

Listen now:



Download the podcast

Andrew/Ghosty linkage

Ghosty on myspace

Ghosty's website - which includes all kinds of fun stuff, including a marimba version of Dumbo and more photos like this one by Jennifer Brothers.

Ghosty (l-r): Josh Adams, Mike Nolte, Jake Blanton, Andrew Connor, David Wetzel

Notes on TNLD Podcast
I plan to get these podcasts onto a regular schedule, which will take a little doing. The logistics of equipment and editing and feeds and so on, have proven to be a big time suck, particularly when I've got paying work to do. So while that's all getting sorted out, I thank you for your patience.

And since this is the first TNLD podcast, I would love to hear any feedback you have, either in the comments or emailed to lowdown@newlowdown.com.

Finally a big hollered thank you to Jake Blanton for letting me use "Almost Hit That Lady" for theme music. You are awesome.

Quotating: B.B. King

"Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy's playing blues like we play, he's in high school. When he starts playing jazz it's like going on to college, to a school of higher learning."

B.B. King (quoted in the Sunday Times of London, Nov. 4, 1984)

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Via TT at About Last Night

Viddie: Andy Scott's Fishin

Newly minted whimsy by Andy Cahill to accompany the tune "Fishin'" from Andy Scott's "Don't Tempt Fate."

And while we're on the subject, you can read my ambivalent review of the album.

More info here:

andyjazz.com

myspace.com/andyscottjazz

Buy music to smash atoms by

FYI - The music for the documentary The Atom Smashers is available for download tomorrow from the good folks at Ghostly.

Read about the documentary and the music and then click your way to additional reading from here:

"Music to smash atoms by" - TNLD 10/2008

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Tip via the Atom Smashers blog.

Adventures in Dogwalking

The Path Less Shoveled
Originally uploaded by leespeaks.

The length of unshoveled sidewalk between us had been tromped into single-file trench. The other guy and his dog stood at the other end waving for Gordy and me to come on through. Back at my end of the trough, I was thinking about crossing the street, but Kenmore was looking pretty slushy and full of melty chemicals that are unfriendly to dog feet. So I took the other guy's offer.

Gordy is in most respects an upstanding animal, but he does tend to lose his cool around other dogs, complete with the apeshit yapping and even the occasional throat lunge. We used to have a big dog, three times Gordy's size, who thought this was a blast. Most people and dogs you meet out on the street are not so understanding.

So halfway through the trench, I scooped Gordy up and prepared my usual explanation: "This one's a troublemaker," or words to that effect. As we passed, the other guy's dog rose up tentatively on its hind legs for a polite sniff, and I said something like, "Well, aren't you a cutie," because it was indeed a cute dog, a tawny mid-sized whippet-pinscher mix. I was about to turn and say thanks to the other guy when he erupted.

"You're not even gonna say thank you? What an ASSHOLE!"

With that, he stomped off down the little snow ditch, yanking the whippet-pinscher mix behind him. The next words from me were the thanks he was apparently so in need of, but his reply was to yell, "Fuck you, man!"

Like the first thing he said, this came out sounding so wounded and plaintive and out of proportion that I was trying not to laugh when I called out another thanks and added a wish for a good evening. Still clomping away, the other guy hollered back another F bomb, adding his hope that Gordy would someday get hit by a car. I called back another wish for a good evening and closed with a "God bless!" that I'll admit strayed into Jerry Lewis territory.

As Gordy and I went on up the street, I tried but failed to maintain any sense of offense as the whole business quickly transmuted into satire. Sure, my mind churned out the usual sarcastic things that tend to come to you after such an encounter, but it was also turning every "fuck" the other guy said into "flurg," making it even more difficult not to laugh, because to me, "Flurg you, man!" is pretty fucking funny.

Of course, I still feel sorry for the other guy's dog.

Words and Music: Xi Chuan and, later, Ken Nordine

Just in time for Friday the 13th, Anthony Tao posts this video of poet Xi Chuan and musician Bruce Gremo performing at the Beijing Bookworm International Literary Festival.



The Tao notes on his Heart of Beijing blog:

The instrument Gremo is playing is called the celia and is apparently the only of its kind in existence in the world. I believe it.

Xi Chuan had his Chinese poems translated into English, which he read with slight difficulty. He paused during one poem to ask Bruce how to pronounce "infinitum," which he pronounced as "in-finy-i-tum." He also had a weird way of pronouncing "mosquito" as "moss-guy-to," but we understood. The mispronunciations actually enhanced the overall esthetic effect, I thought. They were going after a certain mood characterized by unfamiliarity and otherworldliness, and I think it was better that the poet read read in an alien tongue...

I agree.

And this led me to think of Ken Nordine, who managed to make this out of Edward Lear:



A happy Friday the 13th to one and all.

Viddie: Semi-Simple Variations (TBP)

Finally, a notable jazz video less than 40 years old. No doubt it took a lot of arm twisting to get superlative geek jazzers The Bad Plus to play along in this video accompaniment to their recording of modernist composer Milton Babbitt's "Semi-Simple Variations." The track is from TBP's album "For All I Care" out last month on Concord.



Tip: Do the Math, The Bad Plus Blog, which has stills from the shoot and, as if to justify the peripatetic eye-candy, an essay by pianist Ethan Iverson on the blending of jazz and classic forms. (They also express the hope that Babbitt gets a chance to see the video before his 92nd birthday in May. I'm sure Rush would also appreciate a similar treatment for TBP's cover of Tom Sawyer.)

More on Babbitt (TNLD's own justification for the aforementioned leggy goodness, you ask? Uh huh.): AN NPR interview with the "difficult" composer

Fessing up

The news of singer Blossom Dearie's death at age 84 last weekend has inspired a host of tribute posts this week, many of them with mp3s or YouTube videos attached. I've enjoyed reading them all. While I generally try to keep this an obit-free zone, the occasion prompts me to offer a long-overdue apology to my first wife.

It was the late 80s and, as was so often the case, we found ourselves short on cash and decided to sell some old LPs at one of the record stores in Westport. One of those old records was a Blossom Dearie album (I've forgotten which). Janis had played some of it for me once and I suspect that I heard the little girl voice and saw the cutey pie on the cover and, knowing Janis's love of mid-century kitsch, wrote the whole thing off as an affectation. The album soon disappeared down the gaping maw of Penny Lane (probably) where it hopefully found a more unanimously appreciative home.

So let me officially declare: Boy, was I wrong about Blossom Dearie. She was the real deal. Over the years I grew into an outright fan, although there was always a nagging regret about that lost disc of vinyl. It also bothered me to be have been complicit in an economic argument trumping an aesthetic one. Life's too short for that.

And so the apologies: Sorry, Janis, that you had to part with your treasure. And likewise to you, Ms. Dearie, wherever you are, for not listening well enough at first.

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Further Blossom Dearie clickage

About Last Night - Teachout says he first heard BD in 1979 and "became a fan on the spot." Way to go, smartypants.

DJA's Secret Society - who never seems to miss a trick

Fernham - cutely calls Dearie's style "ultra-white"

Rifftides - also has a fascinating note from Dave Frishberg about how Dearie's piano playing influenced Bill Evans. Fascinating, I tells ya!

There Stands the Glass - hurry while link lasts

JazzWax - a wealth of interesting details

NYT obit by Stephen Holden

LA Times obit by Jon Thurber

Review: Andy Scott - Don't Tempt Fate

Making a good cream puff is hard. Sure, you can buy them by the frozen bucketful at Costco. And while you're there you can also buy a cushy leather sofa and that big flat screen television you've had your eye on. Then you can go home, put on your sweat pants and eat that whole bucket while you watch all those Friends episodes on DVD and mourn the fact that you never moved to New York like you told all your actual friends you were going to back in the 90s.

Someone who won't be joining you on the couch for your pity party is Andrew Scott Rosen, who left Cleveland behind for a music career in New York. For a while he left that name behind, too, putting out two albums out under the name Goat ("Great Life" made it onto the soundtrack of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and some car ads). But that's the great thing about moving off to the big city: reinventing yourself. (Remember how you were going to change your name to Schuyler Della Verite when you got to New York and wear all in those vintage duds you bought at the DAV thrift store? Well, did ya ever, steampunk? Did ya?)

And now he's gone from Goat to Andy Scott and he's just released a new album, "Don't Tempt Fate." Where Goat was a puckish pop artist with eclectic influences that included jazz and cabaret, Andy Scott is a straight up cabaret jazz artist. It's a move that really works for him, so I hope he sticks with it.

Getting back to baked goods, "Don't Tempt Fate" is as fine a cream puff as you are likely to find. All ten songs are smartly written and the arrangements expertly crafted, something to be lauded from the highest Upper East condo in these days of sampling and mishmashups. And this attention to craft is enhanced by the great musicians backing Scott throughout, including the venerable Victor Lewis on drums and Sam Yahel on keyboards.

Sadly, there's also an air of playacting hanging about the project. It's there right from the start with title track, a duet featuring Madeliene Peyroux. I've never been a fan of Peyroux, who has always struck me as Billie Holiday without the Strange Fruit. Andy Scott, on the available evidence, is Randy Newman without the Bad Love. I suspect they're both stronger singers than they let on.

Critics have dropped the name Hoagy Carmichael in connection with this CD and Andy would do well to study Carmichael's knack for allusive specificity. Carmichael may have a kid from Indiana but could make you believe that he had Georgia on his mind or that a skylark could hear the music of the night. By contrast, many of the lyrics on "Fate" have a borrowed quality that keeps them from rising much higher than a commercial jingle.

Andy escapes this trap on the album's penultimate track, "Who Doesn't Call" (see spanky video below) where the elusive becomes the point, in the process taking on an existential dimension. He strips the accompaniment down to an acoustic guitar and the result reminds me favorably of classic Leon Redbone (born Dickran Gobalian, supposedly). It also gave me hope that the next time out Andy Scott will offer us a whole meal and not just dessert.


Video: Who Doesn't Call, with animation by Andy Cahill


Further Clickage

Andy Scott on MySpace

MilkRocks.com - The music of Goat

Amplifier Magazine - Interview with Goat

Review: Erin Bode's Little Garden

So who is this Erin Bode? Was she marooned on a desert island as a child with only a stack of Paul Simon records for company? Maybe, at least on the evidence of "The Little Garden."

"The Little Garden" is the St. Louis-based singer's third studio album and by far her strongest effort. The writing partnership between Bode and Adam Maness continues to deepen and the songs they've come up with are all first rate. Bode and the band -- Maness (piano, etc.), Syd Rodway (bass) and Derrek Phillips (drums & percussion) -- produced the CD themselves and the arrangements are sophisticated and assured. And although Bode & Company generally get categorized as a jazz group, "The Little Garden" is further evidence of her trajectory away from the standard jazz vocalist template. Not that Bode is averse to jazz or the charms of the American Songbook. She's just not cracking that corn this time around. And I don't care.

On the track "Long, Long Time" from her 2006 album "Over and Over" Bode sings:

You're playing old songs. That's been done before.
What are you playing all those old songs for?
Will you look back on yesterdays
And wish that you had so much more to say?

Perhaps tellingly, the following year Bode and her former label (on St. Louis-based MaxJazz) went through what seemed from the outside like a bitter split. (Sample the scuttlebutt on Dean Minderman's excellent St. Louis Jazznotes.) Neither side has discussed it publicly, but it resulted in Bode posting an appeal for "legal defense" funds on her website in August 2007. Then in January 2008, another posting announced that the legal issue was "resolved" and a few months later Bode signed with California independent jazz label Native Language.

So was MaxJazz trying to keep Bode on the jazz standard straight-and-narrow? Or did it have more to do with booking, or personalities, or whatever? At this point, it's anyone's guess. But her career does present a case study of the dilemma facing the young jazz-oriented musician.

• Bode's debut album "Don't Take Your Time" (MaxJazz 2004) was an impressive cover-heavy mix of pop, country, bluegrass, and jazz standards (with one original composition, the title track, by Bode and Maness) and she was backed by some heavyweight jazz sidemen including Bruce Barth, Mulgrew Miller, Larry Grenadier and Montez Coleman among them.

• On "Over and Over" the Bode's and her working band came to the fore. Maness and Bode also wrote most of the CD's fourteen songs and only one of the three covers, "Alone Together," is a standard.

• And now The Little Garden, which clearly has jazz somewhere in its DNA, but would rest comfortably on a shelf next to any number of late 70s albums by Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Boz Scaggs, or James Taylor.

Which brings us back to Paul Simon, who seems to be a touchstone for both Bode and Maness. (Significantly, a side project of the band's was a 2006 trip to South Africa to record with the Themba Girl's Choir, and since it's hard not to draw a comparison to Simon's "Graceland" project I won't even try.) Bode covered "Graceland" on "Over and Over" and it was one of two weak moments on the album. The other was the cover of Simply Red's "Holding Back the Years." To me, both tracks come off a little too reverential and plodding.

By contrast, the only cover on "The Little Garden" is Simon's "Born at the Right Time" (from 1990's "Rhythm of the Saints") and this time they actually outdo the original by removing the World Market exoticism and rendering the song the way Simon might have in the 70's, on a lush bed of Fender Rhodes. (Had I been asked to pick out the Paul Simon cover on first hearing, I might have gone for "Chasing After You" instead.)

Songs about difficult lovers ("Sweater Song" and "Sydney Come Down" representing the ying and yang of the Bode/Maness approach, respectively) occupy much of "The Little Garden," and really, where would popular song be without them? Where Bode and Maness move beyond this format the results are especially satisfying.

On the string-infused "Fences," they manage a spooky sweetness that Kurt Weil would have appreciated.

I've tried reason, but they don't comprehend.
I've tried sanctions, but they won't make amends.
I've taken hostages, but the won't meet my demands.
I've tired blackmail, but they have too many friends.

The album closer, "Goodnight," is a beautiful lullaby complicated by a perplexing point of view and an undercurrent of resignation worthy of a suicide note. But that may just be Bode's Swedish Lutheran upbringing.

So who is this Erin Bode? Whoever she is, I'm looking forward to seeing what she and the band come up with next.

Freebies: There are plenty to be had on Bode's website.