Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Ab Baars: And She Speaks - A Collection Of Ballads

4

Ab Baars: And She Speaks - A Collection Of Ballads

By

View read count
Ab Baars: And She Speaks - A Collection Of Ballads
Mike Doughty of the rock band Soul Coughing wrote the lyric "is Chicago, Is Not Chicago..." to the song of the same name, followed by "a man cuts in half, just like he snaps a pencil..." The same could be said of And She Speaks -A Collection Of Ballads by saxophonist / clarinetist Ab Baars. This solo recording, with each song dedicated to a different composer or musician, is devotional without an obligation to be faithful. Johnny Green's 1930 jazz standard bears little resemblance to the original "Body And Soul." Performed on clarinet, Coleman Hawkins might not recognize it today, yet it is "Body And Soul, and is not "Body And Soul."

Baars, along with his partner Ig Henneman, is a central figure in the Dutch jazz improvisation scene, performing in the ICP Orchestra, also in and with members of The Ex and Sonic Youth, Mats Gustafsson, and Ken Vandermark, besides leading his own trio and, of course, performing solo. He is sought out by poets and dancers for a very good reason. He is, is not what you believe an improvising musician to be.

These nine covers, not covers pass almost dreamlike through your ears. Duke Ellington's "Solitude," here "Solitude Cadmium Yellow," could be mistaken for the screamed expletives in St. Patrick's Cathedral that poet Ted Joans described when referring to an Albert Ayler solo. Baars prefers the mash-up to mimicry, although he is not without nostalgic affections. Oscar Levant's "Blame It On My Youth" is given the most gentle passage on clarinet with "Blame It On My Youth Cadmium Red, and so is his dedication to John Carter heard on "And She Speaks Purple Amaranth." If anything, Baars displays a loving kindness here that is in short supply these days.

Track Listing

Saji Deep Saffron; Body And Soul Cerulean Blue; And She Speaks Purple Amaranth; Naima Blue Saphir; Solitude Cadmium Yellow; And The Moon Swam Back; Poor Wheel Persian Blue; We’ll Be Together Again Blue Amber; Blame It On My Youth Cadmium Red.

Personnel

Ab Baars
clarinet

Ab Baars: tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi.

Album information

Title: And She Speaks - A Collection Of Ballads | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Wig

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.