New York Voices: Sing! Sing! Sing!

After recording a lively and well-received series of albums on GRP and then RCA Victor, New York Voices now is recording on Concord. Consistent with that label's tradition for straight-ahead jazz and with the New York Voices' animated interpretations of standards—as well as unpredictable projects like the songs of Paul Simon— Sing! Sing! Sing! merges both parties' interests to offer an album of well-arranged swing tunes in a big band format.

The fact that New York Voices member Darmon Meader arranged most of the tunes contributes in no small part to the album's success. As a reed player, Meader understands the exigencies of an engaging band presence. As one of the singers, he understands the harmonic movement among the voices that contains broadly chorded richness and shrewd note placement. In fact, Meader solos on tenor sax several times throughout Sing! Sing! Sing! and then he slips into the vocal lead of a few of the songs like "Cloudburst."

Beyond the arrangements, though, New York Voices infuses the tunes with their own personalities, a sigh here or a swooping of tone there. While the group recalls big band vocal quartets, particularly on tunes like "Sing Sing Sing," their frame of reference is wider than that. With "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens," they include jump tunes of Louis Jordan, while "Orange Colored Sky" obtains its colors from the reassurance and unexpected punch of Nat Cole. "Cloudburst" covers the early vocalese of Jon Hendricks, and then songs like "Stardust" and "Early Autumn" reveal New York Voices' mastery of ballads as well.

Once a first listen-through gives an overview of the CD's spirit, a second hearing highlights the details contained within the arrangements and within the stylistic characteristics of the singers. "I Can't Believe You're In Love With Me" alternates the singers for solo development of the melody through the first chorus before they dissolve into four-part variations that simulate a big band arrangement. An entertaining reed-and-muted-trumpet intro sets up the mood, and the motive, of "Bli Blip" with the jabbing of the two-note onomatopoetic assertion that carries through the song. Beyond that, the singers extend the musical expression of the song's pretended silliness with seamless scatting that's a lead-in to the saxophone solo that follows. Even minor touches like the "shouted" male responses to the "chicks'" complaints on "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" or one of the "chick's" "ee-oooo" at the end of the song add flourishes of humor that expand upon the lyrics.

The band's drive and the excellence of the instrumentalists' solos in the middle of the tracks (like Marvin Stamm's and Jay Ashby's on "Don't Be That Way") not only add significantly to the success of the album. Those characteristics also provide further evidence that everyone involved in this album had fun while it was being recorded.

Always performing at a high level of energy while empathetically listening to the other members of the group for ideas and harmonic cues, New York Voices' Sing! Sing! Sing! creates another entertaining avenue for their recording interests while it extends their reputation as one of the finest vocal groups singing jazz today.

http://www.concordrecords.com

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