MICHAEL MOODY

THE ECSTASY OF LOVE

Independent Label

Michael Moody, vocals; Paul Bollenback, guitar; Neal “Sugar Caine,” bass.

Michael Moody’s voice opens this CD a’ cappella, singing the opening verse to “Nearness of You” before his guitarist and bassist enter the picture.  This is an album of a dozen standard love songs, plucked from the Great American Songbook.

The vocalist takes liberty with melodic structure and sings lines the way a horn player might. This is evident on his vocal arrangement of “Embraceable You.”  During this song performance, Paul Bollenback is featured performing a creative, improvised guitar solo.

I notice that several song choices are tunes Billie Holiday recorded.  Michael Moody admits that one of his inspirations vocally was the great Lady Day.

On “Easy to Love” he and Bollenback battle unsuccessfully for tempo and key changes.  They somehow seem out of sync.

I enjoyed their rendition of “Body and Soul,” noticing some lyrics that I was unfamiliar with and wondering if Moody took liberties to write these or if they were original by Johnny Green.

Michael Moody was born and raised in New York.  He studied with NEA Jazz Master Barry Harris and also world renowned Australian tenor, Ron Lees.  These masters helped to improve his disciplined phrasing and inspired his harmonic awareness. Moody’s  recording debut was on an album called “I Wish You Love.”

He followed that album with another album of standards called, “It Never Entered My mind.”

I was disappointed with some melodic changes this artist made in the beautiful song “Ghost of a Chance,” singing only with the bass.  This song became a ‘standard’ because it was so well-written and beautifully melodic.  At least, sing the awesome and lovely original melody down one time before you start taking a bunch of melodic chances, and improvising on the theme. It shows respect for the composer and the tune.

On this latest recording, Moody dedicates song deliveries to Carmen McRae, who was also an influence and vocal mentor of his style and phrasing.  He has a velvet smooth tone and maybe perfect pitch, since he begins this album a’ cappella.  Michael Moody is all jazz!

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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