Album Review: You and the Night and the Music from Lucia Jackson

Album:  You and the Night and the Music
Artist:  Lucia Jackson
Label:  Roni Music
Website:  www.luciajackson.com

The culmination of bluesy bossa nova vocals and smooth jazz instrumentation makes for an easy listening repertoire on You and the Night and the Music from chanteuse Lucia Jackson.  Her debut offering, produced by her father Ron Jackson, sheds new light on classic selections from the Great American Songbook and the pages of Billboards top 20 pop hits.   Honorably, her interpretation of Paul McCartney and John Lennon's timeless melody "And I Love Him" is exquisite, conditioning the ballad with her soothing vocals sprinkled in sparse guitar chords performed by her father.  Her version of the classic melody breathes new life into a favorite pop novelty.  

Jackson kicks up her heels along the bopping rhythm of the title track written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz.  Her refined and relaxing vocal style treats the number with a casual, cool jazz aplomb that is aurally alluring.  The gentle swivels of the strings moving sensually along the tango rhythm of "I'm a Fool To Want You" accentuate Jackson's vocals as she lingers at poignant moments along the song, making her audience feel the lament and longing expressed in the lyrics.  Jackson embraces the salsa beats/bolero-threaded rhythm rippling along "Feel the Love" fashioned by flamenco guitarist Daniel Garcia then switches to a soulful lull in "Sophisticated Lady."  The torchlight embers of the latter bring out the tenderness in Jackson's timbres reminiscent of the silky vibrations of vintage Sarah Vaughan.

The casual, cool jazz aplomb intrinsic to her vocal register returns in "No Regrets" as the shuffling strokes of the arrangement paint a cabaret-tinged atmosphere.   "Never Let Me Go" continues this theme of torchlight motifs brushed into the track by the piano keys and caressing guitar chords, stoking a cabaret-tinged atmosphere.  The loving sentiment permeating from Jackson's vocals coat the track in a loveliness that cradles the listener in warmth.  Her remake of "When You're Smiling" is a sparsely layered melody that highlights her leap into jaunts of scat, which are conducive to the elasticity of her vocals and the jovial mood of the tune.

Lucia Jackson showcases the breadth of her vocal aptitude from classic jazz novelties to vintage pop favorites.  Her treatment of these standards display variations on the songs, enhancing them, bringing out new textures in them, and putting emphasis in moments along the tracks that had not been there prior.  Re-imagined renditions and cover versions of standards are often tested and redundant but Jackson really does make the old classics new again.

Musicians:
Lucia Jackson - vocals
Ron Jackson - guitar
Yago Vazquaz - piano
Matt Clohesy - bass
Corey Rawls - drums
Daniel Garcia - flamenco guitar
Frederika Krier - violin
Javier Sanchez - bandoneon
Samuel Torres - percussion, cajon and congas
Yaacov Mayman - tenor saxophone