Famous as a sideman for Al Jarreau, saxophonist Michael Paulo is undermined by clichéd, uninteresting background tracks on the disappointing solo effort My Heart and Soul (Noteworthy NWR9506; 55:05). The Hawaiian-born sax man plays with a graceful, warm touch (particularly on the soprano), but his best is lost in canned background tracks on synthy pieces like “Forevermore” and a lethargic cover of Stevie Wonder’s “For Your Love.” Though Paulo’s emotive fills and the rich vocal tones of Carl Anderson populate a cover of “Nature Boy,” the arrangement is all tinny synthesizer-which is most annoying. Also annoying is the “toasting” rap LOON/E contributes to the sappy Earth Wind & Fire tune “That’s the Way of the World,” but at least it’s interesting. The news isn’t all bad, as Paulo is well served by a graceful acoustic arrangement of the album’s title track, which swells cinematically under his pretty melody line. Paulo is a solid player clearly in need of a worthy setting.
Originally PublishedRelated Posts
Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Backwater Blues
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Jonathan Butler: The Simple Life
Jonathan Butler’s optimistic music belies a dirt-poor childhood growing up in a South Africa segregated by apartheid. Live in South Africa, a new CD and DVD package, presents a sense of the resulting inner turmoil, mixed with dogged resolve, that paved the way to his status as an icon in his country and successful musician outside of it. Looking back, the 46-year-old Butler says today, the driving forces that led to his overcoming apartheid-the formal policy of racial separation and economic discrimination finally dismantled in 1993-were family, faith and abundant talent.
“When we were kids, our parents never talked about the ANC [African National Congress] or Nelson Mandela,” he says. Butler was raised as the youngest child in a large family. They lived in a house patched together by corrugated tin and cardboard, in the “coloreds only” township of Athlone near Cape Town. “They never talked about struggles so we never knew what was happening.”
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Harry Connick, Jr.: Direct Hits
Two decades after his commercial breakthrough, Harry Connick Jr. taps legendary producer Clive Davis for an album of crooner roots and beloved tunes
Scott LaFaro
Previously unavailable recordings and a new bio illuminate the legend of bassist Scott LaFaro