Trumpeter
Herb Alpert and vocalist and wife
Lani Hall teamed as a duo for the critically acclaimed live recording
Anything Goes in 2009.
I Feel You is the studio follow-up to that fine recording, and the contrasts between the two are marked. While the former album reflected new takes on the jazz canon, this one delves into rock, pop, jazz, and Brazilian tunes and interprets them with a contemporary international feel, without leaving jazz behind. Backed by their touring group -- pianist/keyboardist
Bill Cantos, drummer/percussionist
Michael Shapiro, and bassist
Hussain Jiffry --
Alpert and
Hall commence with a reading of
Van Morrison's
"Moondance" that is as influenced by Arabic modalism as it is the nocturnal bop-noir inherent in its melody. Led by a fretless bassline and shakers,
Alpert runs through the lyric on muted trumpet. The pair begins singing together, over a minute in as the piano enters the fray and shakers are complemented by hand drums.
"Cast Your Fate to the Wind" is a showcase for
Hall's trademark phrasing and
Alpert's jazz-wise improvisation on a Caribbean-based rhythm. It's languid, lovely, and, in its gentle way, it pops thanks to the rhythm section. Other highlights here include the Brazilian-flavored tunes:
"There Will Never Be Another You" (even with
Alpert's reedy vocals),
"Berimbau," "The Corner (Clube' de Esquina)," and
"Viola." Hall's vocals -- which are still in top form -- and
Alpert's playing complement one another symbiotically (especially on the latter tune). The reading of
"Here Comes the Sun" is radical. It's double-timed by
Shapiro's snare and painted by
Cantos' Rhodes piano with an alternate melody played by
Jiffry's electric bass while
Alpert and
Hall hold down the original melody (trumpet and vocal) in the quiet storm. Likewise,
"Blackbird" is performed as a funky modern jazz number with smooth samba overtones. The African drumming on
"What Now My Love," with
Alpert's clipped (and slightly reverbed) phrasing on the melody transforms the tune. The reading of
"Call Me" (which he produced for
Chris Montez in 1965) is reinvented here as a lithe, syncopated romantic groover. Less successful is
"Fever," because its center isn't in the vocal or trumpet but in the rhythm section's interplay. That quibble aside,
I Feel You is an excellent contemporary jazz recording by a veteran duo whose intuition is nearly flawless. ~ Thom Jurek
