 Lisa Ekdahl Most jazz critics scowled at Lisa Ekdahl's previous album When Did You Leave Heaven, a lot of the criticism aimed at the fact that Ekdahl was a pop artist in her native Sweden and was aiming at a crossover into the US jazz market with an album of standards. I would love to hear Ekdahl's Swedish pop music so I could get a bit more of a grasp on what her deal is. From her two US-distributed releases, though, I'm beginning to fall a little in love with her. Her voice is tiny and bizarre, something of a blend of Eartha Kitt and Blossom Dearie, and she does time-worn standards with utter freshness – in some ways, a freshness only a non-jazz singer could pull off. Perhaps it's beginner's luck, but in fact the new album is better than the earlier one. Back to Earth finds Ekdahl in no better of a voice from a purely technical perspective, but she's found a much bigger sense of confidence about phrasing and delivery. She totally breaks all the rules, but her audacity is more than just charming. To a certain degree, Lisa Ekdahl kicks ass. She's backed by the Peter Nordahl trio (Nordahl on piano, Patrik Boman on bass, Ronnie Gardiner on drums), who are real jazz players and a tight band reminiscent of the classic Oscar Peterson trio. The result could easily be like the Björk jazz album, which is good but it's not really jazz – it's Björk backed by a jazz band. Ekdahl is a real jazz singer, very much in command of what she's doing. I can see how some people would be infuriated by her, because her voice is very much a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing. But I always root for the underdog, especially when they can retread Blossom Dearie herself and not come out looking foolish. Ekdahl does "Down With Love" and "Tea For Two" in virtually identical arrangements as on Blossom's Once Upon a Summertime album, and although when I first heard them I was flummoxed, I am fascinated by her taste and boldness. It may well be that she's just ripping Blossom off, but it works, and in any case it must be homage. I mean, one Blossom Dearie arrangement on an album might be coincidence or thievery, but two taken from the same album is tribute. The rest of the tracks are mostly well-traveled standards (jeez, another "Night and Day?" But I already have nine versions!), but she honestly does them so cleverly that you don't mind hearing them. She's not really redefining the songs so much as contemporizing them, making them less academic and more listener-friendly (not too far from Diana Krall in that respect). Four Cole Porter tunes make the cut (quit rolling your eyes), including "What is This Thing Called Love" and "I Get a Kick Out of You," both done zillions of times before, but they still work well here. And no, we don't really need another "It Had to Be You," but Ekdahl is very seductive with it. The better tracks are the lesser known ones, like "Nature Boy," "Laziest Girl in Town" and "The Lonely One." The killer track is the opener, "Now or Never," which I could play a hundred times though and still want more of. It's like the best Ann-Margaret track ever, created in some virtual-reality music lab. Ekdahl's odd English diction serves her well, giving the tracks a curiosity factor that makes you keep playing the disc, trying to just understand the logic behind it. There is none, of course, it just works. Sometimes that's unexplainable. "Now or Never" is bound to be one of my two or three favorite songs this year, and never mind the fact that it sounds like an Elvis movie outtake, it's more infectious than Britney Spears, and only slightly less pedophilic. Nordahl's trio gets a showcase on the original "Plaintive Rumba" which closes the album, and it leaves the impression of one of those great vocal gems on EmArcy or Verve, or like an Etta Jones album. None of these types of albums are ever called classic, but the bias against vocalists (particularly light vocalists) needs to be corrected. I mean, Once Upon a Summertime is just as good as Kind of Blue, in my opinion. And I would not rule out Lisa Ekdahl making one of those. This one is damn close, hopefully in the future she'll take a few more risks with repertoire and really make a kooky-ass classic.
Review by Prince Pasolini |