Rethrow the flowers
Retro superpowers are summoned and this all begins counterintuitively with a very cheerful failure to stay divorced song ‘Forever Never Lasts.’
This may be new from vintage jazz duo singer Rachael Price and guitarist/singer-songwriter Vilray Bolles. But new is a relative word of course in the R&V world and we are in La La Land or even vintage Woody Allen movie territory in a certain sense given that everything here needs rose tinted spectacles and a love for old jazz, classic matinée movies, swinging sounds and the allure of New York.
Around for a decade the duo surfaced in 2019 with Rachael and Vilray followed four years later by I Love A Love Song. Personally their earlier work felt a little too twee for me. But I’ve got accustomed to their sound and maybe it’s the arranging here that makes them glow that bit more.
On this studio album produced by Dan Knobler recorded in a top New York studio for jazz, Sear Sound, players joining the duo include saxophonist Steve Wilson, vibist & pertinently xylophone player Warren Wolf, clarinettist Jay Pattman who almost steals the show in a few places, trombonist Adam Dotson, bassist Neal Miner and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra legendary drummer John Riley.
Songs are mainly Vilray’s. “Tortoise” number ‘Is It Jim?’ is fun. There is plenty of joie de vivre on the album and smiles at the wit of the lyrics to be had if you dig that kind of thing. Conversely, if you prefer nonsensical, dumbed down, single syllabic song lyrics running rife set to tunes that sound like nursery rhymes, West of Broadway is a different demographic and you have entered the wrong album.
I don’t even mind the whistling on ‘Lookin’ at You, I Forgot’. Rachael’s vocal on ‘The Stuff’ is a highlight. Wolf brings a Duncan Lamont like Mr Benn sense of rickety fun to the mood. But I didn’t take to ‘Closer’ on a first listen – it grew on me. Far more happily for sleb spotters, however, Stephen Colbert guests on ‘Off Broadway.’ It shouldn’t be given how these things often flatter to deceive but it’s great. Mention too should be made of the arrangements, a significant factor in the success of the album – these include the work of Jacob Zimmerman.
Our kiss was a sky-ride to the highest star
We made it without touching a handlebar
West of Broadway also includes a version of charming 1920s dance tune Louis Alter’s ‘Manhattan Serenade’ (the Harold Adamson words were added I think in the 40s) and notable versions include Harry James’ with Helen Forrest. The ditty hasn’t been covered to my knowledge for years oh since Celia Berk‘s moderately cheesetastic rendition in 2016. Finally I end up digging out some Jackie and Roy records afterwards – and why not. The Glory of Love baton is somehow passed on.
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