David Wise: Till They Lay Me Down

Saxophonist David Wise studied under the venerable Gary Bartz but has seemingly been listening to the likes of the later oeuvre of George Benson and maybe some David Sanborn too. No bad thing and the result is this self-produced debut album comprising predominantly self-penned compositions.

The album is fairly diverse inasmuch as not all the tracks are strictly jazz. For example the opener, "What More Could A Man Want?" is a supercharged soul number with a brass ensemble and vocals by Jason Joseph. The title track is sumptuously languid 12 bar blues and "Kol Nidre," a thoughtful, lugubrious dirge, based on the Aramaic prayer, features Wise on solo baritone.

The standard "Here's That Rainy Day" is given a conventional treatment and "Sylvia," "Lullaby" and "Home" (with special mention for Bruce Forman on guitar) are all dulcet ballads.

The closing two compositions are given vocal treatments by Wise himself. On "Life Is But A Song, Parts 1 & 2" he sings in unison to a melody played on tenor sax with a cello accompaniment sounding surprisingly fulsome. The final track, "Life Is But A Song, Part 3" is faster and funkier than its predecessor, but still uses the device of sax and vocals in unison. Both tracks are nearer to jazz rock but the catchy last number sounds a little Breckerish, which again is no bad thing.