Bewitched

Jazz Journal International Review

     

GEORGE EVANS: BEWITCHED (M-Swing MSW G028) This set is atmospherically similar to Evans' Eyes For You album, which I reviewed in the January 2004 issue of JJI (along with his From Moment To Moment). Relaxed and always highly musical, Evans reveals very good taste in the songs he selects and he develops interesting and lithly swinging lines. The (1) tracks were prepared for a follow-up to those earlier CDs but fell to the wayside following the death of (drummer Jerry) Fuller. The later tracks have several of the same musicians on board and clearly all are in tune with his thinking. Walker, a newcomer to my ears, offers some interesting moments. The singers' voice has an attractive edginess that is very appealing. Perhaps it's my memory, but the vibrato I referred to in the earlier review, and which is heard here on the slow and longer notes of Bewitched, is much less apparent on the post-2002 tracks. Maybe it's something Evans has chosen to ammend. Among the songs is one with a Johnny Mercer lyric that Evans says, in his note, has been recorded only once before. I'll take his word for it, I certainly have not heard it before; this is Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life and it's hard to understand why it has been overlooked. Another nice track is Watch What Happens, one of my favourite Legrand songs that is given a gently persuasive interpretation, and has an elegantly simple guitar solo from Schwager. Nice on then from this Canada-based American singer who deserves to be heard more widely. Bruce Crowther - Jazz Journal International