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Review of
Devil May Care -
by Drew Wheeler
Devil May Care,
the 1956 debut album from Bob Dorough, ebulliently announced the
arrival of a different kind of jazz singer -- one who was not only
hip to bebop, but other liberating musical ideas of the day. Like
his friend Blossom Dearie, Dorough was unapologetic about his
voice's dissimilarity from jazz singers of previous eras, and set
about to radically recast his role. Dorough accompanies himself on
piano, backed by trumpeter Warren Fitzgerald, vibist Jack Hitchcock,
drummer Jerry Segal and longtime bassist/friend Bill
Takas.
The album opens on "Old Devil Moon," with Dorough swinging the
classic Harburg-Lane number with the
soft-spoken tones of a hip elf -- and in an impressionistic
arrangement of "Polka Dots And Moonbeams," his hushed delivery
brings his voice going so low it nearly scrapes the chassis. He
turns Hoagy Carmichael's "Baltimore Oriole" into an anthropomorphic
hipster's fable, and he remakes Rodgers and Hart number "Johnny One
Note" at full tilt, with Hitchcock's vibes ringing in the background
like a racetrack bell.
Dorough's bop heritage is explored on Dizzy Gillespie's "Ow,"
sung entirely wordlessly, and followed by elaborate, yet low-key,
scatting. And, as an early vocalese practitioner, Dorough adds his
own lyrics to Charlie Parker's "Yardbird Suite," which he delivers
with a quiet intensity as a loving homage to the legend who'd died
only a year before. (This reissue features an alternate version of
this track.)
Dorough's songcraft -- which would
become more prominent as his career progressed -- is represented by
the sharply-swinging "You're The Dangerous Type," and the lyrical,
yet angular melody "Devil May Care." That title track would go on to
become a classic, covered electrifyingly by Miles Davis in the early
'60s and, more recently, by Diana Krall
and Claire Martin.
This second reissue of Devil May Care was probably prompted
by Dorough's latter-day success as a Blue Note artist, and serves to
remind his new fans of the deep roots of his delightful
songcraft.
(reviewed for CDNow by Drew Wheeler) |