Jenny Davis
Rearranged
Three Penny Records
Exploring the relationship between closeness and distance, vocalist and composer Jenny Davis sings, “You’re far away / but I can feel you,” on the opening bossa nova “Aceptar,” off her fourth release Rearranged. An active and accomplished bandleader, Davis’ skill connects certain distances that, until recently, were bridged in the club between performer and audience. Joining Davis in fostering connection are award-winning pianist Jovino Santos Neto and his trio (bassist Chuck Deardorf and drummer Jeff Busch), along with a host of guests, who remain close by to give her long, lifting phrases and inventive tunes room for rhythm.
Davis’ singing explores these chord changes—passionate yet pensive— accompanied by Dimitri Matheny’s flugelhorn on her spare version of Bob Telson’s “Calling You.” Vocalist Lorrie Ruiz joins Davis on her refreshing new standard about personal boundaries, the firm funk of “Saying Yes,” (check out Busch’s tasteful cymbal work near the finish). The separation of symbol and emotion come up on “Gemini Tango,” a graceful bit of humor spiced with guest solos by violinist Heather Bentley and accordionist David Lange, whose melodies march like plot twists through the two-step trope of romance.
Davis’ compositional talent shines brightly through the playing of others, which refract back to Davis, illuminating her multi-faceted musical personality. The angular instrumental “Wise Up,” features polished playing by reedman Mark Taylor, while the grind-and-pull blues-morph of “Yeoman Warders,” offers an impressive Oliver-Nelson style arrangement for sax quartet featuring Kate Olson, Cynthia Mullis, Jim Dejoie, and Taylor.
On a reprise of the title track, accompanied live by the Sirius String quartet, Davis sets her voice to the emotional stridency of chamber music, letting it linger in the changes with the same vibrating pathos of the bowed strings themselves. “If you could take my fear / and rearrange me…” she sings, asking in music for a change close as a chord can come to renewal, never too far from feeling.
–Ian Gwin
