Soul Express CD Review

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In the early hours of New Year's Day 2004 I reflected upon what had been a most spectacular year for quality black music. I wondered whether 2004 would be anywhere near as good, but a large part of me doubted it. Well … proved wrong yet again. 2004 has proved another CLASSIC year for lovers of quality music, and the year is but half way through! Following Lamont Dozier's explosive and essential release comes another album that defies musical pigeonholing; knows no boundaries or lines of demarcation. Jon delighted us with three essential albums in 2003 and returns again with a vengeance with "A Time For Love" which is what I will call an interpretation album.

These are not simple cover songs. That is the domain for the less able artist, and plenty spring to mind. Jon Lucien is above the arch-mediocrity of proliferating acceptable middle-class orientated "jazz" artists that are seeping their way into the charts with their "cover sets". As far as I am concerned Jon equals his beautiful "Live In NYC" CD with this album of timeless American Songwriter classics. The album cannot be described as anything less of sheer luxury, exuberance and overflows with the man's tropical roots, his ever-expansive talent and his boundless energy and enthusiasm. The tempo is down, the mood firmly in the traditions of Bossa Nova, Afoxé, Swing, Eight-Six and Samba, Swunk (swing funk!) and one in the Bolero idiom. The multi-talented Bill O'Connell (pianist) and Kim Plainfield (drummer) join Jon, and we fondly remember them from his "Live" set. Lincoln Gaines, Dan Carillo and Myra Casales join in the fun, too. And yes, I do mean fun.

On this album one can hear that all personnel involved are masters of their craft, are in the studio making the music they want to make and are getting the biggest thrill doing it. The sheer elegance and smoothness of production is palpable and together they work as one to re-craft, remould, tear apart and gently reassemble some of the most well known song's in America's standards songbook. Only the Temptations have ever managed this feat with such material and got away with it, that is until Jon delivered this album.

The opening song will have you hooked; the gentle Bossa Nova and velvet-rich vocals turning this into a song that I may as well never heard before. Sheer quality. The piano and the guitar make this an essential summer song by anyone's standards. This pattern is repeated and each song is a considered, expertly performed track in its own right. The Afoxé flavour of Frank Loesser's "I Believe In You" is exquisite and tailor made to the tropical sensibility that seems to wrap itself around all of Jon's melodies.

Many conventional readings of such standards as Rogers & Hart's "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" have given me a lifetime of cold ambivalence to songs which actually contain beautiful, beautiful lyrics. Jon, as with the Temptations earlier, prove its not what you have, it's what you do with it. I think these great songwriters, those past masters that I had once grimaced at, would be very proud of these interpretations. The melodies are pure Jon Lucien, the lyrics often precise and cleverly juxtaposed with the bubbling, passionate nature of Jon's productions yet the perfect match is made and an essential album for 2004 we have!

"Lazy Afternoon" is perfect for that lazy afternoon (like the one I wish I was having!) and "Mi Bolero" another Lucien-penned gem. Jon and Delesa Lucien have crafted an essential album that will delight established fans, lovers of standard songs, those of a romantic nature and if any justice be done SHOULD be known to the wider, mass record buying public. I will leave the final word to Jon: "Come into my world and enjoy 'A Time For Love'.
- Barry Towler