Noa Levy and Paul Edis Trio, Portrait in Evans, Dot Time Records **** recommended

Stephen Graham

2 months ago

“Walking with hope leaves fear behind”

Noa Levy and Paul Edis with bassist Adam King and drummer Joel Barford, above, recording ‘Nardis’ at Richard Hammett’s studio in Greenford, west London, in July 2024.

No stranger to the UK jazz scene having performed in venues such as the Hampstead Jazz Club on New End in recent years, San Francisco scene singer Noa Levy – who hails from Tel Aviv – and pride of Chester-Le-Street English pianist Paul Edis tackle Miles Davis’ ‘Nardis’ with words and vocalese by Levy.

The Levy-Edis pairing released London Session in 2024.

Levy has a gutsy contralto and doesn’t hold back. Her sound is reminiscent a little of Tessa Souter. The vocals all come off very effectively apart from the slightly uncertain take on ‘Time Remembered’ that doesn’t land quite as well.

Alan Barnes is superb on the album’s take on Miles Davis Kind of Blue classic ‘Blue in Green’ – lyrics are by Meredith D’Ambrosio, the Boston born singer and visual artist who worked with Roger Kellaway in the late-1950s.

Touring widely Levy and Edis are to appear in the north-east of England at the Glasshouse in Gateshead with English reeds icon Alan Barnes, bassist Andy Champion – known for his work with Edis in ACV on 2010’s stylistically very different driving jazz rock and free-ish Fail in Wood – and drummer Steve Hanley.

They will be fully unwrapping Portrait In Evans from which ‘Nardis’ ‘Blue in Green’ and ‘Peri’s Scope’ are drawn, an album that features original music of Bill Evans’ with new lyrics, vocal interpretations and original arrangements. There’s a lot to love here including a lovely version of ‘Only Child’ and ‘Waltz For Debby.’

Among the many delights of a rewarding album and beginning with an arrangement in Edis’ hands that makes you think of the music of JS Bach (& using piano in an overlapping fugue with bass in the intro) is a swaying version of Evans’ ‘We Will Meet Again’ which if push were to come to shove I love most on a very lovable album. The piece was a deeply personal tribute to Evans’ older brother, Harry Evans. It was the title track of the Evans album of the same name name issued in 1979 and on which Evans played the piece solo.

The London date, which is part of the tour, again has Barnes with the bassist Simon Read and a drummer widely admired for his work with Scott Hamilton, Steve Brown. Dean Street Nights (2014) that Brown was on is simply a marvel.

Singer Noa Levy and pianist Paul Edis are touring *Portrait in Evans* widely in England this spring

Edis is good with singers and is well known for his work with Jo Harrop, who also hails from Chester-Le-Street.

At the bucolic setting of Magy’s Farm in September the pair in a brief idyll of a one-off show appeared in a drummer-less trio setting along with a guitarist called Mark Williams (also on the ACV release mentioned above) when Harrop made her Northern Ireland debut.