REVIEW
All
About Jazz, April 23, 2004
by Dan McClenaghan
In a lot of years of listening I've come across a
couple of five star takes on Fats Waller's classic song, Honeysuckle
Rose: Benny's Goodman's extended, loose-limbed, rollicking live version
on Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert; and Louis Armstrong and Vela Middleman's
good time rendition—featuring a characteristic pinpoint precision
trumpet solo by Pops—on Batch Plays Fats. Now I've found a
third.
Vocalist Laura Welland chose the classic to open her debut CD, Love
is Never Out of Season, allowing the song to whisper to life on Joe
LaBarbera's shuffling drum work and John Clayton's cool-walking bass,
that interacts with Welland's singing beautifully as the vocalist croons
in, slow and smooth, like a flow of… well, warm honey; and then the
energy builds on a swelling tempo that pushes Welland's delivery from
hushed and understated into the realm of belting it out with a supreme
assurance full of nuanced phrasings, melding with her superb backing band,
a meshing of vocalist and trio that reminds me of Tony Bennett's work
with the Ralph Sharon Trio.
Welland's vocal style is refreshingly direct, bringing Rosemary Clooney
or Irene Kral to mind; and here's betting she's soaked up some Ella Fitzgerald
and Carmen McRae, too. But overall, her style is her own—unaffected,
straightforward, clean-toned, with a personal way of turning a phrase
with natural ease. And, man, can she and the trio swing, especially on
the title tune and I've Got the Sun in the Morning.
She's not Ella—who is?—but she scats like an angel (too briefly),
with a less brassy, sparer approach and richer tones on You'd Be So
Nice To Come Home To; and her duet with pianist Bill Mays on I'm
Confessin' has that late '40's, classic feel to it.
An outstanding recording; an uncluttered take on some of the standards,
a finely focused effort from start to finish.