What's New on WDCB... with Paul Abella

Anais Reno – Lady of the Lavender Mist (Club 44 Records)

Anais Reno is a young vocalist with a new album, Lady of the Lavender Mist. Named after an instrumental Duke Ellington song, when she discovered its lack of lyrics, she wrote her own. That level of tenacity shows itself throughout this album. Surrounded by a dream team of a rhythm section (Peter Bernstein on the guitar, David Wong on bass and Joe Farnsworth playing drums), her voice has a character that belies her age. I love that she tackled some less than obvious material here, too. “Gravy Waltz” and “Poinciana” might have lyrics, but they’re rarely sung. The version of “Take Love Easy” heard here (with the addition of violin by Juliet Kurtzman) is charming, and the choice to start “I’ll Remember April” as a voice and drums duet is a bold one. There are bold choices made throughout Lady of the Lavender Mist, and that’s a great thing. Especially because, as you’ll hear on WDCB, those choices pay off.

Saul Dautch – Music for the People (Doubleton Records)

I was three songs into Saul Dautch’s Music for the People when “Odious Din” came on. That’s when this album went from “this is a solid record, I think we’ll play it on WDCB…” to “well, I think we have ourselves a winner here!!!” It just swung hard, fast and loose, like they did on the legendary Blue Note and Prestige records of old. Saul’s the baritone saxophonist and leader on the album, and he’s accompanied by Noah Halpern on trumpet, Louie Leager on bass, Hank Allen-Barfield on drums, and Miki Yamanaka is the pianist. There’s a confidence on the midtempo swinger “Nighttime on the Red Line” that belies the fact that this is a debut album. Yamanaka’s playing on “Grateful” turns it into a top-notch ballad. “The Guru” has hints of Wayne Shorter’s writing in it, and “The Climbing Silver” is imbued with an infectious bounce. Yeah, we have a winner. I think we’ll play it on WDCB…