CD Review
Tuck & Patti
A Gift Of Love
(T&P Records, 2004, 3331)
by Steve Mainwaring
Review date: June 2005
|
|
"Keeping the Blues Alive Award" Achievement for Blues on the Internet Presented by The Blues Foundation
| |
It’s a shame that “smooth jazz” usually means jazz with the guts surgically removed. Otherwise it would be a good term to describe Tuck and Patti Andress. They have all the technique of Kenny G or Bob James, but what restrains Tuck and Patti, instead of a digestive bypass, is simple good taste. Most tracks are just Tuck’s guitar and Patti’s heartfelt vocals, and the soul in her voice is smooth without being ‘smooth’.
They have incorporated a few cover versions into their albums and concerts in the past, completely reinterpreting songs by their influences such as Joni Mitchell and Jimi Hendrix. This album though is made up completely of covers. It was originally intended for the Japanese and Southeast Asian markets only but after giving copies to family and friends other people kept asking for them until it got to the point where a proper release was inevitable.
Those who have already heard them will have a fair idea of what this sounds like. Listening to Tuck makes you keep checking the booklet – surely there’s more than one guitarist? – and Patti has few equals at the junction of soul and jazz. They are powerful but relaxed, always sounding as if they have something in reserve. A few tracks have added cello and keyboards.
Some of the versions here are sublime. Leon Russell’s “Song For You” is a revelation and they shed as much new light on Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” as Miles Davis did. On the other hand, there are a couple of songs that we’ve already heard several hundred times too many. Even they cannot get me interested in “Close To You”, while Billy Joel’s “Just They Way You Are” is done as a solo Tuck instrumental. Because of this I miss hearing one of my favorite chat-up lines, ‘I don’t want clever conversation .. I want you just the way you are’. (Thanks, Billy, that always works for me). Mostly, though, they are revisiting good songs in their own right like “Up On The Roof” and “Lovin’ You” which allow enough spicing up to tempt the most jaded palate.
A warning to blues fans out there: this is not blues. It doesn’t have the rough edges. If however your ears are open to music with more soft curves this should delight them.
www.tuckandpatti.com
Buy this CD NOW:
Your purchase through the Amazon.com links at the end of each review, or by simply clicking on this banner (below) to order this or many other products from Amazon, helps to support this website as well as the featured blues artist.
"This review is copyright © 2005 by Steve Mainwaring, and Blues On Stage at: www.mnblues.com, all rights reserved. Copy, duplication or download prohibited without permission."
Copyright reuse notice: If you would like to reprint or use this review please include the above copyright notice, contained within the quotation marks, PLUS this statement: "Used with permission." Then send an email to Ray at: mnblues@aol.com indicating how you are using the review or the website page address it will be appearing on. Thanks!
Your purchase through the Amazon.com links at the end of each review, or by simply clicking on this banner (below) to order this or many other products from Amazon, helps to support this website as well as the featured blues artist.
Click on this banner to get you new low percent credit card:
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! You can help support this blues website by making a contribution (click on the banner below for details).
Or mail a donation to: Ray Stiles % Blues On Stage, PO Box 582983, Mpls, MN 55458. Thanks!
Web Hosting & Design:
CLICK HERE for Web Design SPECIAL, get your own website for just $75.
The most affordable web hosting and design services available. Click Here
to find out how you can host your current site at Blues On Stage, or how I can help you design your own website!
If you would like your CD reviewed, please send TWO (2) copies, along with promotional material to:
Blues On Stage
PO Box 582983
Minneapolis, MN 55458-2983
E-mail Ray Stiles @ mnblues@aol.com with any questions.
|
Ray Stiles at: mnblues@aol.com
Copyright © 2005 Ray M. Stiles & Blues On Stage All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. Blues On Stage is a ® Trademark of Ray Stiles.
|
|