(Reprinted from the July 2024 edition of New York City Jazz Record. Photo: Cara Collins.)
During the 2010s, John Dokes was the regular front man for the George Gee Swing Orchestra, the de facto house band at Swing46 for the last 20 years. It’s hard to imagine a more apt setting for the smooth baritone, just as it’s hard to avoid favorable comparisons to Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, and other charismatic crooners whose contributions to the vocal canon readily bridge any gap between jazz and traditional pop.
On his third album as leader, Our Day (Swing Theory Entertainment), Dokes excels as an interpreter of cherished favorites like “Our Day Will Come”, a brightly choreographed opener; “Moanin’”, with its sophisticated blues phrasing; and “L-O-V-E”, as a happy samba. He reserves the album’s middle tracks for some vocal tunes heard less often, like Michel Legrand’s “I Will Wait For You”, its text less poignant but more pointed in the big band format, and Freddie Hubbard’s jagged melody, “On The Red Clay”, with Mark Murphy’s tactile lyrics.
Beyond these tunes, so closely related to the Songbook, Dokes ventures into classic R&B—a natural fit for his deliciously sonorous instrument. He settles comfortably into Billy Ocean’s pop hit “Suddenly”, dramatically enhanced by the horn section’s clean interjections, and Benard Ighner’s “Everything Must Change”, usually performed as an aching, wistful ballad. In Dokes’ big voice, however, the lyrics’ focus lands on their redemptive message: “Broken hearts will heal…that’s just the way of time…nothing goes unchanged”, he sings. Dokes will officially launch the record at Birdland with George Gee and company (Jul. 7).
Besides Dokes’ Our Day, several other note-worthy vocal albums will light up the skies over New York City this month. Chanteuse Allyson Briggs makes full use of her appreciation for all things retro on her newest release, Promises, Prayers, and Raindrops: Allyson Briggs Sings Burt Bacharach (Algos Music). Backed by her band, Fleur Seule, she tackles the 1960s catalog of this songwriting master, taking most of the albums’ 20 tracks from charting songs written with lyricist Hal David (just randomly, given the sheer number of the duo’s hits: “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?”, “What the World Needs Now Is Love” and “(They Long to Be) Close to You”). But she also includes Bacharach music from other times and collaborators, like “That’s What Friends Are For”, written with Carole Bayer Sager, and “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)”, with Sager, Christopher Cross and Peter Allen. Most curious is Friedrich Holländer’s “Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte”, popularized by Marlene Dietreich in 1931; almost 30 years later, Bacharach would arrange the piece for Dietreich and his orchestra, and today, Briggs makes this one her own. She releases the album at Birdland Theater in Bacharach at Birdland (Jul. 9).
Trumpeter/vocalist Matt Von Roderick brings a modern rock sensibility to his vocal tracks on Celestial Heart (BFD), using distorting effects (“Fly Me To The Moon”), bluesy growls (“The Seventh Son”) and insouciant phrasing (“I Fall In Love Too Easily”) to convey a confident detachment. In and around these discrete vocalizations, Von Roderick leads his superbly improvisatory trio, toggling between dystopian visions and heartfelt affirmations. He plays from the record in duo formation with pianist Gil Goldstein at Dizzy's Club (Jul. 23).
The following evening, in the same venue, singer Fay Victor leads her instrumental ensemble, Herbie Nichols SUNG, in selections from Life Is Funny That Way (TAO Forms). Using melodies taken mostly from pianist Nichols’ 1955-56 Blue Note sessions, Victor wrote lyrics and arrangements to honor the composer’s influence on her own musicianship. She brings her inimitable scatting to each of the tunes (“Shuffle Montgomery” and “Sinners, All Of Us!”, for instance)—but most notable is her rendition of “Lady Sings The Blues”, a confab of Billie Holiday’s lyrics and Nichols’ melody from “Serenade”. Though one of Holiday’s signature tunes, the blues singer always left off the bridge in performance, Victor explains. “So I wanted to sing the lyrics with his bridge.”
Summer Gigs: Vocal jazz innovators Jenna Camille and Anaïs Maviel each have a set at Ibeam’s Brooklyn Free Spirit Festival (Jul. 12-13). The 92NY brings together three consummate singers from different eras in Singers and the Song, featuring Marilyn Maye, Catherine Russell, and Ekep Nkwelle, as part of its Jazz in July series (Jul. 20). Dena DeRose visits Birdland Theater with her exceptional trio in two different configurations (Jul. 19-21).