Pete Brown & Phil Ryan: Perils of Wisdom

Pete Brown & Phil Ryan: Perils of Wisdom

This album came out eighteen months ago – but given that Pete is right now putting together the finishing touches to what promises to be a fascinating film based on and around his long career and his book 'White Rooms and Imaginary Westerns' – plus the fact that he recently delivered a well-received stonking live set at the Skegness Rock and Blues Festival, I thought it was well worth having a fresh listen.
Working again with long time collaborator, arranger and keyboard genius Phil Ryan, an old mate from his Piblokto band days, this album is a rich mixture of mainly jazz based numbers, laced with a bit of swing and an occasional laid back blues. The arrangements on this fusion of material are absolutely terrific and are the solid core making of the album with Phil's keyboard and the superb sax, trombone and horns frequently mixing it and overlapping with the sweet female backing vocals. Pete would be the first to admit to not having the biggest range or the most distinctive of voices, but as with all his stuff, this is as much about the lyrics as anything else and they are as strong and as interesting as ever. Whatever the project, Pete seems always to have been true to his roots of poetry and lyric.

Given that he set out over fifty years ago reading poetry in The Partisan coffee bar in Soho and segued through working with the beat poets, lyric writing with Jack Bruce and much other material for Cream, plus establishing himself as a sought-after record producer by others in the industry, it is great to see that he can still turn a lyric for himself.

As always, some of his stuff is ironic and humorous ..'Don't Want Nothing Old In My Life', some is wistful and mournful as with the poignant 'Eva's Blues' and - as you would perhaps expect from a long-time bolshie rebel - some can be angry and bitter.....as in ' Living In The Sleaz System'. For me though, everything comes together on the final track 'Go Down Fighting' where the stunning quality of the arrangement (every instrument breaking out a groove) shines through and Pete's lyrics...' we are only growing; when we come back we'll be really blowing' kick the track along to mean effect.
An interesting album that is in some ways a curate's egg of work with some tracks more notable than others. It reminded me briefly of the material jazzman Tony Kinsey did with the poet Christopher Logue in the sixties. Good jazz-based arrangements and fine words can work if they are fine tuned.

Kai Hoffman: Luckiest Girl Alive

There was a moment when, listening to this album, that I felt I might be obliged to put on my Rick (Bogart) Casablanca white jacket as Kai Hoffman took me off to Ronnie Scotts, via The Cotton Club, the Duke, New Orleans and a few of those fabulous forties and fifties joints where Tom Waites might be propping up the bar, Sam would be on the piano and a killer come-hither singer in serious lipstick would be ripping it up under a single spotlight.

This is an absolute roaring party album. Dancing shoes should be supplied with every sale. Starting at a hundred miles an hour and barely pausing for breath, Kai Hoffman's new release 'Luckiest Girl Alive' grabs you warmly by the throat and only lets you go so that you can come off the dance floor, clutch your Manhattan and catch your breath while she soothes your brow with some beautiful, slow and sultry numbers.

Long time resident singer at Ronnie Scotts, Kai is clearly a natural entertainer. For this album of mostly 50s inspired tracks she has looked to many of the women who got original rhythm and blues and rock and roll out there into the clubs and onto vinyl. Comprising mainly of some great standards but with a few self-penned, this big 14 track album simply crackles along and is as near as you can get to a live show. It comes as no surprise to learn that in the past she has rocked the New York Metropolitan Room amongst many other international jazz joints with her blend of hip, swing, cool Monroe-influenced look and smart audience back chat.

Starting with a trio of up-tempo atmospheric numbers..'Lucky Lips', 'Jump Jack Jump' and 'It's Raining Outside', Kai then breaks off into a slow swing piece 'The Night is Never Long Enough' which delivers her vamp side alongside some spot-on rattling night-time keys from Liam Dunachie. 'TV is The Thing This Year' is another eyelash fluttering piece in the same vein and I leave you to imagine what this does to her audience...

There are a few swinging, almost rockabilly, tracks on here (if you've got the stamina, do kick some shapes for two minutes with her Hendricks/Louis Jordan standard 'I want you to be my Baby') but for me her strength emerges when you are sitting it out recovering from the dance floor. The stand-out track is the lengthy and part self-penned 'Late Night Joints' which delivers exactly what it says on the label. Beautifully accompanied by smooth sax and piano, Kai talks straight to her audience about the honesty of strangers and the allure of the late bar 'where you can drink all night'....yep, I know the place Kai - I was wearing my Rick Blaine white tux at the time....

As you would expect from a singer who gets a regular spot at Ronnie's, she has a tight and smart band alongside her. Here I would like to give a nod to her main saxophonist Dan Faulkner, who one minute is channeling an on-fire Don Lang and the next conjuring up the smoothest of smooth silky solos.

This is a very cool album, as close as you can get to a live performance without having to collapse on the dance floor in public....