Search - Mary Stallings :: Remember Love

One of the best of 2005

B. Bankhead | brooklyn, ny | 12/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My #1 jazz vocalist CD of 2005. Geri Allen's arrangements add the perfect touches to this very balanced set. (The song choice includes a jazzy take on Shania Twain"s "Still the One" that cooks!) Anyone who loves Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington, and Nancy Wilson's jazz sides should enjoy this great recording."

"Remember Love" Is Not Ms Stallings' Best Effort

Gary L Connely | Hercules, CA | 11/18/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Pardon me for a moment, but before I review "Remember Love," I'd like to make an observation concerning Amazon music reviews in general. I'm sure that I'm not the first person to say this, but the problem with Amazon reviews is that the reader has no idea as to the reviewer's qualifications. Now, don't get upset fellow reviewers. By the term "qualifications" I don't mean to imply that I think that reviewers should have some sort of training or certification - I just mean that the reader has no idea as to the reviewer's taste, experience, etc. - whatever goes in to the reviewer's decision to recommend, or pan, an album. The review's of "Remember Love" are a case in point: Two reviewers think that it was one of the best albums of 2005; a third says it put him to sleep. What are you as a reader, particularly if you are unfamiliar with Mary Stalling's work, to make of this? Well, consider that question for a moment while I say....



Mary Stallings was once described by the New York Times as "... the best jazz singer alive today...." Whether you agree with that or not, I think you will agree that if she is not the best, she is certainly among the best. She has a brassy-edged contralto voice, with a four octave range and a wonderful easy swinging style. When it comes to main stream jazz, Ms Stallings is right at the top of the class.



"Remember Love" is a mix of standards and new compositions. It includes songs like "What a Difference a Day Makes," (two versions actually), "Moment to Moment," and "Lucky to be Me." It also includes "Dindi," (not even Ms Stallings could make me like this - if I never hear another version of this over-recorded piece of schmultz, I will die a happy man), as well as Shania Twain's "Still the One."



Ms Stallings is backed by pianist/organist Geri Allen, (who also arranged and produced the album), bassist Daryl Hall, Billy Hart on drums, Frank Wess on tenor and flute, Vincent Herring on alto and Wallace Roney on trumpet. As always, Ms Stallings lets her back-up musicians shine and Messrs Wess and Roney, in particular, do good work here.



And now, I've come full circle, back to my rating. Like one of the other reviewers, I think "Remember Love" is Ms Stallings' weakest album. It lacks the energy and emotional content that inform ALL of Ms Stallings' other albums - I have reviewed 'em all and never given any of them less than four stars - but I cannot do that here. "Remember Love," in my opinion, is no better than three stars. The album did not put me to sleep, but I confess that I bought it a week after it was released, played it once, put it away and never played it again until immediately before I wrote this review.



By the way, this lack of energy isn't a consequence of lack of chemistry between Ms Stallings and Ms Allen - I've seen them together live and they tore the house down after first setting it on fire. It just doesn't happen on this record.



If you have not heard Ms Stallings before, I suggest that you start with any of her three Concord Jazz albums, (in particular, "I Waited for You" with Gene Harris at the piano), or her live album at the Village Vanguard on MaxJazz. I recommend "Remember Love" only to those people, like myself, who think that Mary Stallings on a bad day is better than almost anybody else on a good day."