LORI CULLEN w/THE RON DAVIS TRIO
So Much (Cullinor)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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I first heard Lori Cullen as a guest artists on pianist Ron Davis' album SoloDuoTrio. While I was impressed by the entire album, the two tracks featuring Cullen particularly caught my ear, both for the quality of her vocal performance and for Davis' skill and sensitivity as an accompanist. At the time, I expressed the wish that there was an entire album of the combination available. Sometimes wishes come true in a way that provides even more than you might have wished for. This turns out to be one of those times.

So Much provides 13 Lori Cullen vocal performances, a dozen of which include Ron Davis leading his trio (Drew Birston, bass, and Mark Mariash, drums). The exceptions are her interpretation of Janis Ian's "At 17," which features the solo guitar of Kevin Barrett, guitarist Jesse Barksdale's addition to the Trio to accompany "Every Day I Have The Blues" and Davis' solo accompaniment on "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." While the entire supporting cast provides rich reward to the listener, the interaction of Cullen and Davis, either in a duo or group setting, provides most of the album's brightest highlights.

Cullen is a relative newcomer to jazz, having spent most of the last decade establishing herself as a singer/songwriter on the Toronto pop and folk circuit. Comparisons to Rickie Lee Jones and Joni Mitchell, though, indicate that there have been 'jazzy' elements of her other performing life as well. At any rate, with the release of So Much she establishes herself as a significant new voice in vocal jazz. Her style avoids the too-common trend for brassy, belting performances, demonstrating an understanding of the value of understatement in the interpretive arsenal. When the material calls for power, Cullen tends to derive it from emotional depth rather than vocal histrionics, which puts her far ahead of the pack, in my view.

Davis is an impressive talent in his own right, comfortable in a variety of styles and settings, capable of some inventive and enjoyable solos, but here, as on his last album, he demonstrates remarkable ability as an accompanist, with an unerring sense of time and the ability to say in the brief space of a singer's pause for breath what many players need several bars on their own to express. His approach is an impeccable match for Cullen's style.

My only complaint about So Much is that it ends. I wish there were more (hey, it worked the last time...).

Track List:

The Best Is Yet To Come * Eleanor Rigby * The Folks Who Live On The Hill * Cherokee * At 17 * Every Day I Have The Blues * Little Things * Gentle Rain * S Much Larger Than Life * Don't Get Around Much Anymore * If I Only Had A Brain * Two Sleepy People * My Cherie Amour

[Pick this up at CDBaby.]

© 2002 - Shaun Dale