(Reprinted from the March 2024 issue of New York City Jazz Record)
You would hardly suspect that Hilary Gardner, one third of the smashing vocal jazz trio Duchess, grew up in the (comparative) wilds of Alaska, immersed in country music and Western swing. But on her newest record, On the Trail With the Lonesome Pines (Anzic), she not only digs into this musically rich past but reveals how it informs her musically astute present.
Birthed during the stir-crazy days of the pandemic, the album evokes the high skies and wide plains memorialized by the “singing cowboys” in the first half of the 20th century. “These ‘trail songs’ have been neglected for decades because they can’t be easily classified as jazz or country or pop or Americana—they're a combination of all those genres, and they inhabit a sonic landscape uniquely their own, too,” Gardner says in the album press release.
To this point, note how the loping groove and blues licks of Gardner’s take on “Cow Cow Boogie”—first popularized by Ella Fitzgerald in 1943—lend an early swing sophistication to the pastoral mood of the tune. Or how the lilting pulse of Gene Autry’s “Under Fiesta Stars” embodies the easy vibe of traditional Mexican romantic song. Or how the relaxed harmonies of “Twilight on the Trail” (previously recorded by stars like Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and Sam Cooke) still usher in the calm of the setting sun, even if the trail in question is a homeward commute in Manhattan. These tunes settle naturally—and familiarly—in Gardner’s lovely voice.
Notably, they were written when the US was several degrees closer to its pioneering past and images of the unsettled frontier were prominent in the American imagination. Given the country’s fascination with this history—Western movies dominated our culture from the 1930s to the 1950s—Gardner had plenty of material to draw from, some of it even by popular Songbook composers like Frank Loesser (“Jingle Jangle Jingle (I Got Spurs)”) and Johnny Mercer (“I’m an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)”). Gardner will officially release the album at Birdland Theater (Mar. 3)
The ever-surprising Nellie McKay recently dropped her first post-pandemic release, Hey Guys, Watch This, via her label Hungry Mouse Records—her first album of original material in 13 years. Though native to New York and London, McKay recorded this disarming collection in Charleston, West Virginia, all the better to capture the Appalachian sonority that runs throughout. Listen, for instance, to the rollicking fiddle on “Did I Catch You Dreaming”, the cheery harmonica on “Lali”, and the contagious bonhomie of The Carpenter Ants, her “old-style R&B” rhythm section, on tunes like “The Drinking Song” and “The Party Song”. Even so, by McKay’s own admission, the record isn’t strictly Appalachian in feel; her writing tends to straddle jazz and indie rock, and her lyrics smack of an activist’s defiance: “Reap the fruits of sweet resistance”, she sings on “Make A Wish”. McKay performs next at My Father’s Place at the Roslyn Hotel in Glen Cove (Mar. 1).
In 2022, electric guitarist, drummer and singer/songwriter Cedric Burnside won a Best Traditional Blues Grammy for I Be Trying (Single Lock Records), a crowning reward after his years dedicated to furthering the centuries-old musical forms that sprung from the American South. He continues this mission with Hill Country Love (Provogue Records/Mascot Label Group), dubbed “an earnest exploration of roots and evolution in the Hill Country Blues genre.” Recorded in Ripley, Mississippi, these 14 tracks not only recall the grinding blues of his grandfather, renowned guitarist R.L. Burnside, but take the younger Burnside ever deeper into their contemporary expression. Standout tunes: “Juke Joint”, a gritty homage to dive bars everywhere, and “Funky Raw”, an explosion of irrepressible dance energy.
New York singers step out for Women’s History Month: First, The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and vocalist Tammy McCann pay homage to the Queen of Gospel in Who Is Mahalia Jackson? at the Rose Theater (Mar. 16). Then, Louise Rogers presents a set by all-female songwriters like Elisabeth Lohninger, Andrea Wolper, Sue Maskaleris, Val Hawk, Jhoely Garay and Lauren Lee at Pangea (Mar. 20). And finally, also at Pangea, Judi Silvano fronts her quartet in a dedication to the late Jay Clayton as part of the Lady Got Chops Festival 2024 (Mar. 27).