Record Reviews

ILONA DAMIECKA / FRANCESCA BERTAZZO HART ~ MONK`S MIDNIGHT HEVHETIA 0128 (Barcode: 8588005257831) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2015 Released: 2016 This is the third album by Polish pianist / vocalist Ilona DamieckaFind albums by this artist and her second recording with the Italian guitarist / vocalist Francesca Bertazzo HartFind albums by this artist. The international quartet is completed by Polish bassist Pawel UrowskiFind albums by this artist and American drummer Eric AllenFind albums by this artist. The album, as the title suggests, presents ten Thelonious MonkFind albums by this artist compositions, nine of which feature lyrics mostly written by Jon HendricksFind albums by this artist. Monk´s music is for me a temple of Jazz spirituality and incredible intellectual depth and albums like this one, which turn his music into "entertainment for the masses" really make me very angry. They might popularize the great composer´s music, but they also trivialize it, by leaving the thin melodic layer on the surface, rather than trying to explore it in depth. After all there are already so many albums similar to this one, why would anyone attempt to make another one. As if the ad meritum problems of this album were not enough, it also suffers from the usual predicaments involving nonnative English speaking vocalist singing in English, which here are painfully obvious, although not equally shared by the two vocalist Ladies. The instrumental parts are fine, nothing spectacular of course just straightforward Bebop played by European (well almost) musicians, which sounds exactly as expected. There is no iota of innovation, ambition or effort to create something meaningful here. The vocalese parts sadly are a pale shadow of what Jazz vocalist have been doing for many decades already. Oh yes! The CD is gold plated!

Updated: 12/09/2016Posted: 12/09/2016

CD 1 Digipak Gold Recommend To A Friend