Louise Rogers – Black Coffee – Chesky Records

by | Sep 14, 2010 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews | 0 comments

Louise Rogers – Black Coffee – Chesky Records multichannel SACD 345, 58:20 ***½:

(Louise Rogers – vocals; Billy Drummond – drums; Rick Strong – bass; Paul Meyers – guitar)

Music has the capacity to do more than aesthetic expression. Louise Rogers is a living testament to this notion. The daughter of music professors at the University of New Hampshire, she would graduate with a B.M. in Music Education. After founding, the Jazz Choir at her alma mater, she would become a featured, award winning vocalist for the Seacoast Big Band. A move to New York led to work with jazz practitioners such as John Faddis, Lionel Hampton, Bill Charlop, Darmon Meador, Peter Elridge, and a host of others. More importantly, Rogers teaches music in New York and is the director of two children’s choirs. With her husband, bassist Rick Strong, she has performed jazz for children in a variety of venues throughout the Tri-State area.

Black Coffee
, an intimate songbook of American Jazz, is her fifth recording, and her first for Chesky Records. The thirteen-song collection is a relaxed artistic endeavor, utilizing a minimalist approach with a voice whose purity and and colorful tones have been compared to Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Doris Day. The subtlety is established on the opening track, “Comes Love”, as her lithe, drifting phrasing merges with Strong’s walking bass line in a listenable duet. This format is reworked for voice and guitar on the Peggy Lee hit, “Black Coffee”. Paul Meyers’ jazzy chords provide a fitting counterpoint to the delicate, fluid singing. With the full combo, “Pennies From Heaven” assumes a breezy, lighthearted timbre. The skillful trio complements the innate harmonic quality of Rogers’ voice. There are a number of tasteful bass solos, and the guitar uses traditional solo lines and chord accompaniment (“Lazy Afternoon”, “Skylark”) to fuse the dynamics. Billy Drummond’s drumming, (and in particular, brush drumming), maintains a consistent pulse.

Rogers gets the opportunity to showcase her versatility on “Pennies From Heaven” and “Alright Okay You Win”, two swing pieces that are set apart by vibrant intonation and engaging scat idiom. Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’”, is rendered with a discerning, bouncy interpretation. Possessed of a commanding voice, she has made a genuine commitment to the aesthetic context of the album.  An intrinsic elegance and lyricism is evoked on the tender bossa nova number, “Gentle Rain”, as her voice drifts in a silken reverie. Her spontaneous talents are briefly displayed on the wordless intro to the atmospheric “Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe”, exquisite in its nighttime evocation.

Chesky Records is known for recording outside of studios: in clubs, small concert venues and churches, in order to take advantage of natural acoustics. On this CD, a single stereo microphone was used for a more integrated sound. With increased volume, the instrument separation is achieved with significant clarity. The SACD format enhances the auditory intricacy and texture of this exceptional jazz voice.   

TrackList: Comes Love; Alice in Wonderland; Easy to Love; Sentimental Journey; Lazy Afternoon; Pennies from Heaven; Alright Okay You Win; Black Coffee; Ain’t Misbehavin’; Happiness is a Thing Called Joe; Skylark; When the Sun Comes Out; Be My Baby; Gentle Rain.

—  Robbie Gerson

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