Mina Agossi - Red Eyes
I was interested in this latest release by French jazz chanteuse Mina Agossi having seen a couple of her Jimi Hendrix interpretations on YouTube: Voodoo Chile and Manic Depression. In each she gives fairly straight slants to the melody, but it’s her psychedelic, instrumental vocal that provides the idiosyncrasy. There’s another Hendrix presented on this latest release, Red House, and that was an immediate interest.
It is an eclectic album, from lounge jazz to a cover of
Stretch hit Why Did You Do It? [with a
Doobie Brothers guitar intro], an underwhelming version using an ineffectual limited
bandwidth ‘telephone’ effect on vocals. But then there’s Archie Shepp guesting on two
tracks!
After lounge opener Eyes
Without a Face, it’s second The
Crying Girl, penned by Agossi, that lights up the jazz firmament, a slow
and vulnerable vocal echoing a little of Rickie Lee Jones with naive acoustic
guitar and background electrical noise. Then lounge merges with nightclub in
third The Stars Are In Your Eyes with
Archie Shepp’s surprise vocal as pub-crooner foil to Agossi until the saxophone
asserts its quality. Nice. There’s a sweet-soft blues Sleep Baby Blues next by Agossi which has trumpet playfulness by
Sue Richardson and a little of Mina’s instrumental vocalese.
Red House romps in
at seven, a perky offering with Shepp again providing signature saxophone and
Agossi letting him lead – why would you scat with Shepp on sax? Penultimate
track Oh You! applies simple
multi-tracking of Agossi’s vocals on this self-penned Dixieland number,
Richardson providing the Orleans trumpeting. Closer and title track Red Eyes is a slow blues, again
understated with simple vocal echoing. Where I expected more vocal experimentation,
Agossi surprises with her gentle restraint and, as I’ve been noting,
conventional jazz and blues compositions and presentations. Is that a problem?
Not at all.
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