Search - Halie Loren :: They Oughta Write a Song

Something Old, Something New, Something Amazing

Michael Fiegel | Seattle, WA USA | 02/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a fan of Halie Loren since 15 seconds into "Maybe I'll Fly," the first track off her debut album, Full Circle. I knew at that moment that this woman and her amazing voice had something special going on, and Halie's latest album is nothing but further confirmation of my initial impression.



"They Oughta Write a Song" sees the 24-year-old Loren getting back to her roots as a jazz singer, the album consisting of 13 tracks including not only jazz standards, but 3 original tracks and a half-handful of "jazzified" classic covers. One new to the genre would be hard-pressed to tell one from the other, so deftly do Loren and her backing band (Matt Treder on piano. Mark Schneider on bass, Brian West on percussion, and Tim McLaughlin on trumpet) dive in and make themselves home in a sea of lush, jazzy warmth.



The title track, and the CD's first song, sounds like a standard (and, if there is any sense of fairness in the world, will be someday), but is actually an original, co-written by Loren back at the tender age of 18 in (of all places) Nashville. The other two originals, "How Should I Know?" and "I Don't Miss It That Much" would be equally at home in any jazz library; indeed, I initially found myself searching for my Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil soundtrack, convinced I'd heard one or the other somewhere in there -- to no avail!



Loren's interpretation of non-jazz classics is equally competent, taking familiar songs from other genres and reinterpreting them in ways a listener could never have imagined. Procol Harem's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" dials back the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" vibe and replaces it with something smokier, sassier, and quite different. Pete Seeger's "My Rainbow Race" loses the folky focus and goes a bit more Latin, percussion and bass underlining Loren's thick, rich vocals. Lastly, Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" gets a somewhat less melancholy interpretation, retaining the song's soulful wistfulness while adding a bit more bounce and sway.



The bulk of the album, however, is composed of jazz standards, which necessarily draw comparisons with other such covers. "Autumn Leaves," covered by the likes of both Nat King Cole and Paula Cole, is by way of comparison minimalist; whereas other versions of the song contain layers of instrumentation (Cole's version, on the aforementioned "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" soundtrack, even adds percussion to mimic the sound of rustling leaves), here it's just Loren and Treder, voice and piano, boiling the song down to its basics. Osvaldo Farres' "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" appears as well, sung half in Spanish and half in English, and clocking in at about the same length as Cake's 1997 cover off Fashion Nugget; Loren's cover is distinctly more traditional and definitely sexier.



George Gershwin's "Summertime" is also worth a special mention here; Originally composed for 1935's Porgy and Bess, the jazz standard has been covered numerous times by the likes of everyone from Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald to Janis Joplin, always serving to frame the singer's particular vocal talents regardless of instrumentation: Joplin's mournful shrieks atop electric guitar; Ella's warmth contrasted with Armstrong's growl; and, here, Halie's clear-as-a-bell lilt and tease, half lullaby and half striptease, leaving you wondering whether you'll soon drift off to sleep, or stay up till sunrise.



They Oughta Write a Song - CD

They Oughta Write a Song - MP3



Full Circle - CD

Full Circle - MP3"