Lucia Jackson – You And The Night And The Music – Roni Music 

by | Sep 25, 2018 | Jazz CD Reviews | 0 comments

Lucia Jackson – You And The Night And The Music – Roni Music 6672 49:43***:

In this debut album You And The Night And The Music, Lucia Jackson touches all the bases with her musical choices from jazz to pop to American standards. With a warm, charming voice, that on close listening still has traces of her Spanish upbringing, Jackson shows she has the goods to be heard in this competitive market.

In this outing, Jackson is backed by a tight little band led by her father guitarist Ron Jackson, who also arranged the majority of the charts. Clearly Jackson père understands the creative capabilities of his daughter as the arrangements fit like a glove. Opening with Cole Porter’s “Just One Of Those Things”, the number swings along at full tilt with Lucia in firm control of the lyrics.

Unafraid to venture beyond the nine dots, Jackson takes on the Lennon/McCartney pop classic “And I Love Him”. Done as slow walk ballad, she captures the power of the lyric backed only by her father on a steel 7 string guitar. Arthur Schwartz/Howard Dietz wrote the title track “You And The Night And The Music for the 1934 Broadway show Revenge With Music. The show had a brief life, but this composition has lived on. Jackson offers a spirited take on the number accompanied in boisterous fashion by Yaacov Mayman on tenor saxophone.

While Frank Sinatra’s name was attached to numerous songs that he made famous during his lifetime, there appears to be only seven numbers on which he shares a composer credit.  Along with Jack Wolf and Joel Herron Sinatra wrote “ I’m A Fool To Want You” in 1951 about the time he was divorcing his first wife Nancy and began his affair with Ava Gardner. Jackson recognizes the underlying pathos and heartbreak inherent in the number. These emotions as expressed  by Jackson’s voice are enhanced by the bandoneon of Javier Sánchez and the violin of Frederika Krier.

It would be unusual if a debut album did not contain a Duke Ellington  number and this one is no exception. The quintessential “Sophisticated Lady” is delivered wth the requisite panache that the number demands.

As Lucia Jackson covers the balance of the material with ballads such as “Never Let me Go” and “I Fall In Love Too Easily” or the emotional “Toda Una Vida” the singer demonstrates that she has a firm idea on what she wants to accomplish with this release; to expose the range and timbre of her voice and that she plans on becoming a singer to be reckoned with.

Performing Artists:
Lucia Jackson – vocals; Ron Jackson – 7 string electric arch top guitar; Yago Vasquez – piano; Matt Clohesy – double bass; Corey Rawls – drums; Yaacov Mayman – tenor saxophone track #5; Javier Sánchez – bandoneon, Frederika Krier – violin track # 6; Don Garcia – flamenco classical guitar, Samuel Torres  – cajon/congas/percussion track #7

TrackList: Just One Of Those Things; Beautiful Love; Issues; And I Love Him; You And The Night And The Music; I’m A Fool To Want You; Feel The Love; Sophisticated Lady; No Regrets; Never Let Me Go; I Fall In Love Too Easily; Toda Una Vida; When You’re Smiling

—Pierre Giroux

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