Jen Chapin - reVisions: Songs Of Stevie Wonder (2009) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

This is a tribute album with a difference. Vocalist Jen Chapin, daughter of Harry, has decided to take on the Stevie Wonder songbook with the minimalist accompaniment of bass and saxophone alone, played by Stephan Crump and Chris Cheek respectively. "ReVISIONS" is more of personal project, close to an all-original jazz set, similar in feeling and sound to Sheila Jordan's duos with the solo bassist Harvey Swartz. These boys and a lady create groove and feeling with only 2 instruments and natural jazzy voice!

…This suits Chapin's purposes just fine; it makes ReVISIONS even more of personal project, close to an all-original jazz set, similar in feeling and sound to Sheila Jordan's duos with the solo bassist Harvey Swartz. Saxophonist Chris Cheek, who also plays with trumpeter Dave Douglas, provides another lead voice on tenor, baritone, and soprano, weaving and dancing around Chapin's keen interpretations, many of which, like "You Haven't Done Nothing," "Higher Ground," and "Big Brother," have a just as much political resonance in the '00s as they did when they were written.

Jen Chapin, the daughter of the late folksinger Harry Chapin, has performed many styles of music and is not one to be easily classified. She is not the first artist to explore the music of Stevie Wonder in a jazz setting, nor is she the first vocalist to do so. But her stripped-down settings utilizing her husband Stephan Crump on bass and saxophonist Chris Cheek are striking, because they omit keyboards entirely and effectively blend pop, soul, and jazz into music that should be accessible to a wide variety of listeners. Chapin also skips over the Wonder compositions favored by jazz artists, opening with the funky “You Haven't Done Nothin'," in which Crump adds some percussion by tapping the body of his bass while Cheek's sonorous baritone provides a perfect foil for the leader's hip vocals. The sparse instrumental backing also works beautifully in her treatment of the reggae piece “Master Blaster (Jammin')." Chapin saunters over the infectious bassline of “Village Ghetto Land," with Cheek's playful soprano dancing around her delicious vocal, while she captures the sassy attitude of “Big Brother" perfectly. Jen Chapin's spirit of adventure is to be applauded in an age when too many singers either restrict themselves to safe standards or songbooks of all too frequently recorded works.

Tracklist:

01 - You Haven't Done Nothin'
02 - Master Blaster (Jammin')
03 - Visions
04 - Higher Ground
05 - Renewable
06 - Jesus Children of America
07 - Village Ghetto Land
08 - If It's Magic
09 - She's Gone
10 - Pastime Paradise
11 - Big Brother
12 - Saturn


Thanks to the Original customer!