Robin Grant & The Standard showcase truly artful jazz
Stunned. That’s my initial reaction to the debut album, Good Girl, by local artist Robin Grant. When I sat down to give it a first listen I honestly had no idea what to expect.
I had been assured that, “She’s really good,” and I had no reason to doubt that, but good lord…she isn’t “really good,” she and her band, The Standard, are in every conceivable way phenomenal.
This is jazz, smooth jazz, chic and sophisticated, an echo of a bygone era when music as art reached a high water mark.
Years ago there was a “study”, or rather an urban legend, which suggested that listening to Mozart made you smarter. There is no denying the genius of Mozart, but there is also no evidence that the mere act of listening to his music actually boosts your intelligence.
On the other hand, listening to Mozart does make you feel smarter, and by the same token, listening to Robin Grant makes you feel cooler, cosmopolitan and urbane.The opening track, “Brilliant,” is a slinky tune that establishes two things immediately.
The band, consisting of messieurs Marquis Dotson, Robert Grier, Conrad Hyde and Mike Salter, sound like they were born playing jazz. Theirs is an organic precision, mastering the math behind the music as well as the expressiveness of the art. It is this vehicle that serves to deliver the other half of the equation, Ms. Grants’ voice.
I claim no particular expertise where jazz is concerned, but I’ve heard a hell of a lot of it, and many a great band was dulled by a mediocre voice.
The ratio of “would be” jazz singers to actual jazz singers is woefully lopsided in favor of the former, but Robin Grant has a relationship with her voice like a master violinist has with a Stradivarius, and the quality of the instrument is equaled by the skill of the one wielding it.
In one moment her voice is clear and ringing while she navigates the angles of a verse, in the next she slips effortlessly into a glissando with dulcet, rounded tones and then moves sideways in to a lively scat that is as natural and unforced as any of the greats ever managed.
In a word, this collection of musical artists knows their business. There are no pretenders here, no “fake it till you make it”. Robin Grant and The Standard make some of the finest jazz of any era.
There are ten tracks altogether, each one a gem. “Good Girl” is a personal favorite, a song that manages to be pouty and playful but sultry as well. The tango, “Love Me Wrong,” sounds like the soundtrack to the life of the “Most Interesting Man in the World,” and seems plucked from the golden age of cinema. “Not a Love Song” is a stand out example of Grant’s skill as a lyricist.
In fact, lyrically, the whole album is poetry, all composed by Grant herself, as is the music. That’s right, Robin Grant is no mere pretty voice, she is a highly skilled composer and writer who just happens to have an incredible voice and a backing band to match.
The album is Good Girl and it is one of the most surprising and rewarding finds of 2017. The level of musicianship is world-class and the passion of the performance is genuinely moving.
The album is available via iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and RobinGrantMusic.net.