By Ric Bang
Buy CD: Loads of Love
You’ve got to hand it to
Houston Person. The 78-year-old tenor sax player isn’t merely an icon who has performed
professionally for more than four decades, with a discography of almost 80
albums; he also has helped relatively unknown jazz vocalists develop their
careers. He assists in a production capacity, and often helps select the
backup groups for recording sessions. Such is the case with Diane Marino’s
new album, Loads of Love.
Marino plays swinging piano,
sings up a storm, and is an accomplished arranger. She initially worked
solo in New York City jazz clubs, until she met and married bassist Frank
Marino. They subsequently worked together, formed the M&M record
company and began to release albums; Loads of Love is
her fifth. The combo used for this session features Person on 10 of the dozen
tracks, which probably will help this album get the attention it deserves.
The backup musicians are
excellent. Diane plays grooving piano, and husband Frank is a driving
bassist; he lays down a beat that really drives the group. Guitarist George
Bergeson and drummer Chris Brown complete the fine rhythm section. Trumpeter
George Tidwell guests on one track. As for Diane’s vocal skills, she’s one of
the best I’ve heard in the past several years. Her voice and phrasing are
great. I suspect she’d sound even better, if she didn’t also need to concentrate
on the keyboard.
This set mostly visits the Great
American Songbook, with contributions from Cole Porter, Richard Rogers, Duke
Ellington, Jimmy McHugh, J. Lerner and Louis Armstrong, along with lesser-heard
gems such as “Never Let Me Go”
and “I See
Your Face Before Me.”
Diane demonstrates her
ability to swing on the album’s opening track, “Get Out of Town.” She does the tune up-tempo, and some very tasty
tenor sax work by Person immediately establishes his importance to this
session. Add Diane’s well-crafted arrangements, and the resulting
album deserves to be called special. This isn’t your usual “support the singer”
group; a lot of thought went into creating the charts, so that each
instrumentalist can demonstrate his prowess.
Congratulations to
all concerned: If this album doesn’t bring Diane Marino more notoriety, nothing
will!
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