Nearness

This album marks a decisive stage in Marie Carrié’s career, as it embodies a fruitful collaboration of a good ten years with the guitarist Yann Pénichou. It reveals a vocalist who authentically extends the tradition of jazz singing by using a repertoire where compositions by Clifford Brown and Randy Weston harmoniously meet standards by Hoagy Carmichael, Irving Berlin and Jimmy McHugh.

Bennie Wallace has long been known for his sudden interval leaps and somewhat angular approach, and this studio date is no exception, though it focuses exclusively on standards written between the 1930s and 1950s. The tenor saxophonist chose two top-caliber musical partners, pianist Kenny Barron and bassist Eddie Gomez, to join him on his excursions, all of which are delightful. Barron's blues-drenched piano sets the table for Wallace's mournful sax in "Willow Weep for Me," while Gomez provides a series of intriguing responses to the leader in an anything but hackneyed treatment of "Cocktails for Two." Hoagy Carmichael's warm ballad "The Nearness of You" is clearly in the hands of three masters as it is recast with a distinctively modern touch. This is easily a high point in Bennie Wallace's long career.