Paul Marinaro • Mood Ellington

An excellent jazz singer based in Chicago ever since he moved there from his native Buffalo in 2003, Paul Marinaro has excellent elocution (one can always understand the words he sings), an appealing tone in his voice, and always swings. Mood Ellington is at least his fifth album as a leader. While he prefers to sing standards, he did have a brief departure when he spent time a few years ago successfully turning some of David Bowie’s songs into jazz.

On the double-CD Mood Ellington, Marinaro sings 25 songs, all composed by Duke Ellington except for Juan Tizol’s “Caravan” and four from Billy Strayhorn. For this ambitious project, he utilizes a five-horn nonet plus occasionally a dozen violins. The singer used the opportunity to have no less than 13 different arrangers write the charts for one or two songs apiece. Best known among the writers are Alan Broadbent, John Clayton, Bill Cunliffe, and Chuck Israels although all 13 are world-class.

Unlike most Duke Ellington tribute albums, the instrumentalists never sound as if they are trying to sound like one of Duke’s groups. The writing often makes the nonet sound a bit like a small 1950s big band although some of the charts are much more modern such as the rhythmically adventurous melody statement of “Just Squeeze Me,” “Solitude,” and “All Too Soon.”

There are plenty of concise solos heard throughout the program from trumpeter Eric Jacobson, trombonist Raphael Crawford, altoist and clarinetist Rich Moore, John Wojciechowski on tenor and soprano, baritonist Ted Hogarth, pianist Tom Vaitsas, and guitarist Mike Allemana with excellent support from bassist John Tate and drummer Neil Hemphill.

The music is loosely programmed into three sections (a celebration of love, a slightly dark and somber section, and a set filled with realism) due to the lyrics although these are not deep divisions and each song and performance stands on its own. Ellington rarely wrote lyrics (only three of the songs on this set have his words) with many of the songs performed here having the lyrics of Don George, Mack David, Paul Frances Webster, Bob Russell, or Irving Mills. Paul Marinaro largely sticks to the words and Ellington’s melodies, making the music personal through his phrasing and expression of honest emotions.

Whether it is the timeless ballad “I Got It Bad” or the swinging closer “Do Nothing Till You Hear From You,” this is a consistently enjoyable set that puts the spotlight on the musical genius of Duke Ellington, the talents of his lyricists, and the enjoyable singing of Paul Marinaro.

Paul Marinaro Mood Ellington
Origin 82937
www.originarts.com

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings. Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.