Jazz Review: Valentine's Eve

I am not a critic and don't write reviews of other musician's work, so technically this post is not a review. But, I just can't help commenting on this album.

If you are a jazz musician, you have to hear this album. It features Kitty LaRoar (vocals), Nick Shankland (piano) and Ed Jones (sax). No drummer. No bass player. I listen to a lot of music but I can't say that I have ever heard an album like this before (you can tell me in the comments if you have). But, I have experienced the feel of this album one time before. It was at the end of a long engagement. The last set. The last song. It was late. The bar was empty except for a small audience, all sitting apart at different tables. It was the last time this group would ever play together. They were all exhausted.

Somehow, the players all managed to dig in and give one final quiet, beautiful last performance of their standard ending tune. The playing was quiet, intense, not an extra note played anywhere, just the distilled essence of a year working together. A peak experience for everyone. No one talked as the group packed up and went home.

This, I have found, is what jazz musicians play for, night after night in rooms with poor acoustics, inattentive audiences, misbehaving equipment and rude club owners. It's that one peak experience. It has only happened to me once.

What is so unusual about "Valentine's Eve" is that every song feels like, and takes me back to, that one night a long time ago in a club I can't remember. I wrote Nick Shankland that, at first I could taste my martini and smell the smoke. After listening to the entire album, it was much more than that. If you are a musician and have never had that peak experience, the only way I could possibly tell you about it is to have you listen to this album. The musicians in the group I played with have never talked with me about that last set. We probably would not know what to say to each other.

The trailer above will give you brief sample. If you like it and get just a little transported or are just a little interest in what a peak playing experience feels like, by all means buy the entire album. Just remember, this is not a review. I'm not a critic and don't write reviews.

P.S. If you are a musician, please pay close attention to the sections where voice, sax and some times piano work in unison. This is not easy. It's especially difficult to play quietly, maintain your intensity and maintain your pitch. I never lost my attention for one minute while listening to this album and I am the most easily distracted person the universe.