Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Danny Barrett: Indian Summer

305

Danny Barrett: Indian Summer

By

View read count
Danny Barrett: Indian Summer
One can visualize Kenny Davis, Billy Drummond, Brian Murphy, and Dave Valentin milling around a studio preparing to accompany a singer of renown, the label executives murmuring amongst themselves and with the conductor in the booth. Then the vocalist arrives, and beautiful music is made and duly recorded.



The difference about "Indian Summer is that the label executive, the producer—and the singer—are one and the same. Kudos to Danny Barrett for creating his second work independently. It's an expensive task and not without risk; especially with the use of talented musicians such as those who appear here. Indian Summer is distinctly Danny Barrett—straight, no chaser.



Listeners looking for highly stylized arrangements and delivery, scatting, and lots of vocal frills should steer clear of this record. Barrett can be compared to a fine well-aged bourbon, to be taken neat with perhaps a single ice cube. His style is similar to, but swings more than Vic Damone's—every word articulated, singing the song for the song, not the singer, with a minimum of fluff—and just enough emotion applied where appropriate. His distinctive baritone and well-adjusted timbre are a change from the male singers in abundance these days who sing in a higher register.



Now, jazz fans looking for something new or outré should look elsewhere. Those who appreciate standards, however, will find themselves wanting to light a fire, kick off shoes, and cuddle on the couch to this album. It's about heart—in fact, occasionally Barrett becomes too involved in his lyrics. He applies a touch more emotion than necessary, and some listeners may find that cloying or, for lack of a better word, too "cabaret. But forgive him. Barrett's a lyricist's best friend.



One peculiarity: described above are lovebirds nestling fireside. Barrett made a mistake by including the interesting, nostalgic, but certainly not romantic "Baseball Interlude (I Once Knew A Man). The spoken-word portions thereof are backgrounded nicely but distracting nonetheless.

Indian Summer is available from www.dannybarrett.com.

Track Listing

Quietly There, Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You, Isn't It A Pity, They Say That Falling In Love is Wonderful, Baseball Interlude (I Once Knew A Man), I Cover the Waterfront, How Am I To Know, Blue Gardenia, Medley:You're My Everything/It Might As Well Be Spring/Indian Summer.

Personnel

Danny Barrett,vocals; Bill O'Connell,piano, arranger; Kenny Davis,bass; Billy Drummond,drums; Paul Meyers, guitar; Dave Valentin, flutes; Joe Magnarelli, trumpet/flugelhorn; Jerry Weldon,tenor sax; Brian Murphy, vibes; Daniel Sadowski, percussion; Enrico Granafei; James Randolph, narration.

Album information

Title: Indian Summer | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: DBD

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.