Ultimately hip spoken word jazz John Allee – BARDFLY: Actor and playwright John is also an excellent musician/vocalist/spoken-word performer, and he (definitely) proves it on his new release… I got my first “break” with spoken-word performance, and from having done a bit of that, I can tell you that this truly is the ultimately hip(pest) spoken-word jazz I’ve listened to in several years… on one of the promo pages, he had a definition for “bardfly”… “bärd-ˌflī/ n. (pl. -ies) informal: a be-bop balladeer who spends much time drinking in Shakespeare“… Shakespeare or not, John just KICKS out the word jams on this splendid aural adventure.
He has some EXCELLENT players joining him… Mahesh Balasooriya, Piano; Aaron McLendon, Drums; Dominic Thiroux, Bass; Javier Vergara, Tenor Sax and Matt Von Roderick, Trumpet give superb performances on tunes like the 3:10 “Full Fathom Five“… it was ultra-cool to listen to John turning spoken-word phrases into laid-back jazz vocals on this tune, & Dominic’s bass intro is too cool!
From the standpoint of spoken-word performance, my personal favorite of the thirteen tracks offered up is the opener, “Bardfly Blues/Samingo“… as he says on the liners, the words were composed (jointly) by William Shakespeare and John… if you don’t purchase another album this year – GET this one… this tune alone makes it well worth it.
I give John and his players a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) score of 4.98 for this fine sonic journey. Get more information on John’s website. Rotcod Zzaj
#Ultimately #hip #spoken #word #jazz #John #Allee
