Vocalist Kate Reid shows some backbone and style on "The Heart Already Knows"

Kate Reid :The Heart Already Knows 

Despite a plethora of female jazz vocalists who release albums on any given week, rarely do I hear what I consider to be a voice that catches my ear, a voice clearly distinguishable from a sea of pedestrian singers out there desperately trying to gain recognition. To separate themselves from the pack, many singers hire top name musicians or employ lush orchestrations to give them credibility or to hide their vocal deficiencies. Along comes Kate Reid. I have never heard of her and admit to picking up her latest cd The Heart Already Knows with a bit of skepticism. Yes, she employed some of the most accomplished musicians to accompany her on this outing, but instead of hiding behind their virtuosity or employing a big band with over the top arrangements, she daringly chooses to lay herself bare, performing in a series of duets with just her voice and either a piano or guitar accompaniment. There is no hiding in this format. You either have the goods or you don’t. Kate Reid’s The Heart Already Knows shows she is the real deal. Clearly, she chose her collaborators wisely, bringing in some of the cream of the crop to accompany her. Pianists Fred Hersch and Taylor Eigsti or guitarists Paul Meyers, Romero Lubambo and Larry Koonse all contribute admirably to the effort, but it is Kate Reid who shines.

Reid hails from the Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and received her bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from Western Michigan University. She continued her education at the University of Miami where she received a masters and eventually a Doctor of Music Arts.  She moved to Los Angeles and continued as an educator, teaching music and voice at Cypress College also working with her own quartet around the LA area. She became a sought-after studio and session musician lending her voice to several notable films, network television soundtracks and commercials. She is presently a Director of Jazz Vocal Performance and Associate Professor of jazz voice at the Frost School of Music at her alma mater University of Miami. The woman clearly has the goods.

With such an esteemed career in the studio and academia it’s no wonder why many of us haven’t heard of her at the national level.  With her latest release, The Heart Already Knows, that should change.

Reid’s voice is smooth, sultry with a Julie London-like intimate quality, especially in this very pared down duet format. It’s as if she is singing to you personally. Her tone is warm, her delivery is polished, and she modulates between notes with effortless ease.  

The songs are not your usual fare, more contemporary than the run of the mill standards from the Great American Songbook, but they have their own charm and certainly suit her voice.  She sings Strayhorn’s “Something to Live For” like a wizened storyteller and with tender poignancy, accompanied by Paul Taylor’s nimble guitar. Taylor’s guitar accompaniment also shines on the Ellington Blues “Just a Lucky So and So” where Reid’s velvety voice floats on top of the melody like a dollop of ice cream on a root beer float.

The masterful guitarist Larry Koonse’s weaves his magic on “Confessin’” laying down the perfect backdrop for Reid to soulfully scat to the melody. Reid also uses Koonse’s filigreed guitar work on Joni Mitchell’s “Two Grey Rooms.” Koonse plays the chord changes on an acoustic guitar and overdubs some superb harmony lines on a western-tinged electric guitar. Reid’s voice is clear and impassioned by the Mitchell lyrics and at times, although her voice has a lower timber, she almost sounds like Joni.

The pianist Fred Hersch can be heard accompanying Reid on the haunting Billie Holiday song “No More” which she sings with her own sense of pathos. He also accompanies Reid on a song sung by Nina Simone “If I Should Lose You” which is done with an up tempo beat and again on Hersch’s own languid composition “Lazin’ Around.”

The Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo lends his exquisite mastery and gives Fred Hersch’s” Endless Stars” a samba beat. Reid sings the Norma Winestone lyrics with an easy lilt. Later the two return on the Ivan Lins’ composition “Minds of Their Own” with lyrics by producer Peter Eldridge.

Perhaps the most synergistic combination on the album is Reid with the pianist Taylor Eigsti on the Peter Eldridge song “Busy Being Blue.”  Reid’s voice rings with a sense of having lived the lyrics and Eigsti’s accompaniment is perceptive and lyrical. Reid’s delivery is so natural and unforced that it draws you into the melancholy of the song without ever becoming maudlin. Eigsti also accompanies Reid’s on the James Taylor classic “Secret of Life.”

As Producer Peter Eldridge says in the liner notes, the duet “…concept could either send chills down your spine or reveal a backbone you never knew you had.” I think its safe to say that with The Heart Already Knows, vocalist Kate Reid 's backbone is alive and well. 

"Anat Cohen & Fred Hersch Live In Healdsburg": Simply Sublime

Anat Cohen & Fred Hersch Live in  Healdsburg  Anzic Records ANZ 0061

The clarinet is an instrument that harkens back to the early days of Dixieland, later becoming a prominent vehicle of expression in the swing era. Names like Barney Bigard, Sidney Bechet, Artie Shaw, Buddy DeFranco, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Bob Wilber and the king of swing Benny Goodman all brought the clarinet to the forefront of jazz in their respective eras. The instrument saw a resurgence in the hands of innovators like Jimmy Giuffre, Eric Dolphy, Ken Peplowski and Eddie Daniels in later years. These artists all have one thing in common, they are all men.

Today the preeminent practitioner of this wooden instrument is a petite Israeli woman named Anat Cohen. Not only has Cohen almost single-handedly resurrected an interest in this marvelously expressive instrument, she has shown that in the right hands the clarinet can be both modern and versatile. With Cohen the clarinet can more than hold its own as a dominant voice on the present-day jazz bandstand.  Her remarkable virtuosity and creativity have been duly recognized with her two recent Grammy nominations.

The pianist Fred Hersch has been long considered one of the most sensitive of players in jazz. He is said to play with a great romanticism, employing a superb touch. His deep immersion into what he is playing is often manifested by his expressive physical movements while playing, showing the depth of his  emotional connection to the music. The now sixty-two-year-old Hersch has a storied history, having shared the stage with icons like Art Farmer, Charlie Haden, Joe Henderson and Toots Thielemans to name just a few. He has had working trios under his own name since 1985 and has been nominated twelve times for a  Grammy award for his work.

Fred Hersch and Anat Cohen (photo credit unknown)

It is a rare treat when you get a chance to hear two such accomplished and nuanced musicians work together in a live setting. Hersch is no stranger to the duet format. In 1997 he recorded The Duo Album which featured a series of duets with Jim Hall, Kenny Barron, Lee Konitz, Tom Harrell, Gary Burton, Tommy Flanagan, Joe Lovano, Dianna Krall and Janis Siegel. But it is one thing to perform a single song as a duet and a whole different endeavor to record an entire album with another artist and no supporting rhythm section. The communication has got to be flawless and the intuition nearly telepathic. With Anat Cohen and Fred Hersch live in Healdsburg, which was released March 9, 2018 on Anzic Records, the two seemed to have accomplished this feat in spades.

The album was superbly recorded by Steve Moon at the Raven Performing Arts Theater in Healdsburg, CA on June 11, 2016. The music is simply sublime. The compositions covered included Hersch’s “A Lark,” “ Child’s Song,” and “Lee’s Dream,” Cohen’s “The Purple Piece,” and four classics,  Strayhorn’s “Isfahan,” Ellington’s “Mood Indigo,” Waller’s “ “Jitterbug Waltz,” and Jimmy Rowles “The Peacocks.” The chemistry these two have is just combustible in a very positive way. Hersch is generally the lead off batter in this ball game with Cohen adding her considerable technique and aplomb in exquisite counterpoint.

On the opener “A Lark,” Hersch creates a, crystalline intro before Cohen sails onto the scene like the songbird in flight floating on thermals. The two have more than a conversation, their instruments embrace like two dancers in perfect unison; two bodies merging into one, no longer separated by space or time. The effect is quite moving, never a note out of place, never a swerve or misstep.

The two repeat this empathetic embrace throughout the program, dancing, swirling, playfully challenging each other, interchanging ideas in the moment, using the melodies of the songs as mere armatures upon which to spin magical interludes, to create unexpected conversations. Hersch’s piano is delicate, melodic and gorgeous.  Cohen’s clarinet is mellow, fluttering and warm-toned with moments of burnished luster. The audience is quietly enraptured, reverential to the art, it’s presence only made aware by a spontaneous eruption of applause at the end of each selection.

My favorite selections include the aforementioned “A Lark,” Cohen’s movingly played “The Purple Piece,” a jaunty rendition of Strayhorn’s “Isfahan” which Cohen plays with marvelous tonal purity and a lingering vibrato.

I’m particularly fond of Jimmy Rowles” The Peacocks” which maybe the tour de force of expression on this album. The two find the haunting song a wellspring of inspiration. Hersch with his delicately dancing notes and magically light touch and Cohen with her resonantly long lingering lines.  She shows her prodigious technique slurring with exquisite precision, hanging notes in the dense air like  deliciously ripened grapes off a vine. She exploits the hollow wooden timbre of her instrument to great effect.  The mood these two set is like walking you through an enchanted forest.

Fats Waller “Jitterbug Waltz” is delightfully playful. Hersch and Cohen obviously enjoy themselves reveling in the endless possibilities this spirited song can elicit. The two tease you with a little minuet of notes finding inventive ways to reimagine the Waller melody.

The program ends with a slow moody rendering of Ellington’s “Mood Indigo” with Cohen showing her most sensitive side, taking on the role that Barney Bigard invented with Ellington.

With a musical repertoire that should please anyone, Anat Cohen and Fred Hersch Live in Healdsburg is a musical masterpiece that will be enjoyed for the ages.