REVIEW: Mark Lewandowski

France’s Jazz a Babord gives a rave review.

For his first recording, in 2017, Mark Lewandowski pays a tasty tribute to Fats Waller, accompanied by Liam Noble on piano and Paul Clarvis on drums. After a bubbling album, with his own compositions – Under One Sky, released in 2021, with Addison Frei on piano and Kush Abadey on drums – the double bassist offers a new tribute: A Bouquet (for Lady Day), obviously dedicated to Billie Holiday . The disc will be released on July 14 on Ubuntu Music, with Noble on piano and singer Heidi Vogel, guest on two of the eleven tracks.
Following a crackling short introduction – “Day Breaks” – the duo perform “More Than You Know”, a ballad composed in 1929 by Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu for the musical Great Day. Holiday recorded it in 1939, accompanied by Teddy Wilson's orchestra. Noble and Lewandowski play the card of intimacy, alternating unisons and elegant counterpoints, with a rhythmic swing full of energy. "This Year's Kisses", signed Irving Berlin, is taken from the film On The Avenue, released in 1937. It was again with Teddy Wilson that Lady Day released it on disc for the first time, in 1937. Lewandowski and Noble dialogue with vivacity, supported by a dynamic walking. Written in 1934 by Gordon Jenkins and Johhny Mercer, "P.S. I Love You" was not recorded until 1954 by Holiday and her sextet. Lewandowski exposes and develops the theme with a lot of verve, while Noble traces counter-melody more subtle than the other. In 1935, Holiday sang "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", which Harry M. Wood had composed a year before, as the soundtrack to Road House, performed by Violet Loraine. The duo takes up this song in a modern way, between tense sentences, abrupt questions and answers and a bumpy rhythm. It was in 1936 that “Billie’s Blues” appeared, written by the lady with the gardenias. After a rock'n roll start, Noble takes off in contemporary flights by playing on hand shifts, carried by a muffled bass, between walking and shuffle patterns. The piece ends in a resolutely bluesy atmosphere. Over a continuous bass line and swinging chords, Vogel's raspy voice and bluesy inflections happily serve "Lady Sings The Blues", a song co-written by Holiday and Herbie Nichols, and title of the 1956 self-titled album. The ballad “Some Other Spring,” composed in 1939 by Arthur Herzog Jr. and Irene Kitchings, is taken at face value by the duo and unfolds peacefully. Second interlude, "The Still of The Night", is like a melancholy improvisation with Lewandowski on the bow. A driving unison launches "Who Want Love?" », air of 1937, signed Franz Waxman and Gus Kahn. The exchanges are placed under the sign of swing, with leaping walking lines and powerful piano playing. To conclude the disc, a composition co-written by Holiday and Mal Waldron – her regular pianist from 1957 to 1959 – “Left Alone”, which has never been recorded by Lady Day. Vogel, Nobel and Lewandowski offer a sober version tinged with melancholy.

With A Bouquet (for Lady Day) Lewandowski continues to trace his path around neat, lively and personal music.