Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Van Morrison: What

118

Van Morrison: What

By

View read count
Van Morrison: What
For those readers who may think that Van Morrison has no business recording for Blue Note Records, I have just two words...



Norah Jones.



What’s Wrong with Picture? is Morrison’s debut on the jazz label and I suppose it is jazzy enough. He provides his characteristic Celtic blue-eyed soul over a broad landscape of musical styles. The blues play a big part, of course, and show up in the some spectacular iterations. The title cut and disc opener is a plush crooning vehicle with strings and bass clarinet that curiously reminds me of Eddie Arnold via Ray Charles. Morrison is languid and downright cheerful, laughing at the beginning of the second verse after quoting both Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra, in turn.

"Whinin’ Boy Moan" is a jump tune allusion to Jelly Roll Morton with tight vocals by Morrison and sprite horns that include flamethrowing solos by Martin winning and Matt Holland. The two standards, "Saint James Infirmary" and Lightnin’ Hopkins' "Stop Drinking," are revelations, the former New Orleans-dirge-like and the latter with a rockabilly slant. Morrison flips off fame and the recording industry with "Goldfish Bowl" which recalls, in a strange way, Too Long in Exile ’s "Big Time Operations." "Too Many Myths" includes some most tasty acoustic guitar compliments of Morrison himself.



This disc was not received well by local press and I do not understand why. All elements characteristic of a Van Morrison recording are present, with the plus that Morrison sounds like he is enjoying himself. Eclectic is how I would describe this recording and Van Morrison in general.



For more information, see Van Morrison and Blue Note Records .

Track Listing

What

Personnel

Van Morrison

Album information

Title: What's Wrong With This Picture? | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Blue Note Records

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

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

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.