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CD Review – Renée Yoxon: Let’s Call it a Day
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Who’d have thought a physics degree would be the ideal foundation for a career as a torch singer? OK...Who’d have thought a physics degree would be the ideal foundation for a career as a torch singer? OK, so she was doing a little music on the side, but Renée Yoxon’s decision to ditch formulae for the jazz clubs of Ottawa is one of those left-field decisions that can occasionally lead to thrilling careers. And on the evidence of her first album, Let’s Call it a Day, this young Canadian could be the biggest female talent to emerge in her field since Diana Krall.
It’s an assured and auspicious debut. Accompanied only by veteran virtuoso René Gely on a selection of guitars – his steel string, in particular, rings with marvellously crisp authority – and occasional piano, Yoxon has reinvented a selection of standards with a refreshing boldness. Not in a revolutionary way, but mainly by re-establishing the lyric as the focus of attention, stripping it away from the overblown tendencies of so many younger interpreters at the moment.
Yoxon’s voice is something to treasure. Like one of the UK’s rising stars, Rumer, with her slightly husky accents and bang-on vocal authority, nothing seems to intimidate Yoxon. The opening track, “The Look of Love”, is a case in point. Bacharach’s off-beat melodies are notoriously tricky to do well, but Yoxon slides through it with lightly-oiled ease.
Undercurrents of melancholy and Billie Holiday-like phrasing seep through her interpretations of “Willow Weep for Me”, a shimmering “The Masquerade is Over” and of course – with an intimacy that’s almost audaciously spare – “Don’t Explain”. Two self-penned numbers, “Let’s Call it a Day” and “Lovers’ Lullaby” add to the album’s sense of freshness. There’s also a French-language version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “It Might as Well be Spring”.
If the final track, “One For My Baby”, betrays her youthfulness and lack of cynicism – catharsis seekers will probably miss the spirit of a wracked and bloodshot Sinatra – equally, it hints at what we can expect from Yoxon in the future. She’s set herself a high bar indeed.
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Let’s Call It A Day – Renée Yoxon
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I would think it would take what Mom calls “gumption” to release an album like this. Renée Yoxon fi...I would think it would take what Mom calls “gumption” to release an album like this. Renée Yoxon figuratively bares all, accompanied by a single guitar player – René Gely – who plays a number of different kinds of guitars, but mostly one at a time. There’s not much to hide behind. It’s a good thing that Ms. Yoxon has not only the audacity to pull this off, but also the chops.
This is an intimate collection that manages to keep the mood through nine covers and two originals. The collection approaches perfection on a couple of levels. Ms. Yoxon’s voice is fragile but not wispy, young but not naïve. The pairing with Mr. Gely is inspired. His approach to these tunes matches hers in its simplicity, his execution is flawless, and the result is magical.
A word about the two originals – “Lover’s Lullaby” (my favorite of the pair), and the title track, “Let’s Call It A Day.” Both feel hand crafted, and I’ll look forward to hearing more from Ms. Yoxon’s pen. Another favorite for me was “Willow Weep For Me,” with just a little overdubbing to make Mr. Gely into a duet…or is that a trio?
It’s not hard to figure how Renée Yoxon stays busy around Canada’s capital city. This is outstanding work. I will eagerly anticipate the next release.
Very highly recommended.
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REVIEW: Renée Yoxon & René Gely’s “Let’s Call It A Day”
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I’m not sure what it is about Canada, but even though one might say the country is removed from the ...I’m not sure what it is about Canada, but even though one might say the country is removed from the roots of jazz, some of the artists I’ve heard from there have been nothing short of amazing. I’m now able to add Renée Yoxon to the list, who along with musician René Gely create one of the best jazz vocal albums I’ve heard this year, and I say that as someone who isn’t too fond of vocal jazz.
Let’s Call It A Day (self-released) is a bare bone release where it’s just Yoxon and instrumental accompaniment,sometimes with just Gely on guitar or piano, or through multi-track recording a mixture of both. It may bring to mind visions of a smoky piano bar at 2am, but the cover of Yoxon sitting on a bed as if she had just awaken gives a slight hint as to what you may hear. It’s music to welcome the day, and thus you can call this album her Day.
The tone of her voice is calm and gentle, and for some reason Norah Jones came to mind first, then Diana Krall. But as I began to listen deeper, it had the kind of flow that reminds of of another great Canadian jazz vocalist, Karin Plato. They do not sound alike, but what I like is the emotion in the voice towards the lyrics. We’ve all heard “The Look Of Love” countless times in as many ways, and yet somehow it takes a good singer to renew the optimism and warmth of the song, as if each look is a first look. She continues this with “Willow Weep For Me”, “One For My Baby (and One More For The Road)”, and “(I’m Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over”. This does not sound like what I would define as a stereotypical vocal jazz album. It’s not that I hate vocal jazz, I just hate singers who stink at it. They go overboard, start bringing out the ad-libs and it makes me want to throw out the CD or press release. Her approach her is still jazzy in nature, but sounds more like traditional pop. With that approach comes an admiration for the love of song and structure, and it’s great to be able to hear a singer who puts themselves into the song to where it feels as if it was written by them. There are two Yoxon originals here, and I would be open to hearing more from her.
Gely’s guitar work is that of a pro, I am reminded of guitarists like Peter Moon who embrace their instruments with confidence, but still do it with fun in mind. I like the confidence of the term “pure musician”, and perhaps using it may be over confident and so I will not use that here. But Gely is a damn good guitarist, and he isn’t just fluid or flashy for the hell of it, he understands the songs as well and at times you’ll hear a little interaction between himself and Yoxon that is quite exciting.
Again, the album cover. Let’s Call It A Day deserves to be a Sunday morning album, one of those collections of music that may lead some to say “this is what makes life worth living”. Over confident? Mmmmaybe, but it is that good. Jazz and pop standards have life decades after the fact due to the quality of the songs, and the quality of the singers and musicians who allow them to live. It’s nice to hear a vocal jazz album with life. Living, live, life: that’s what a Day is all about.
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Jazz in the woods attracts a large and quiet audience
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Jazz went into the woods February 19, as La Grange de la Gatineau presented its first regular music ...Jazz went into the woods February 19, as La Grange de la Gatineau presented its first regular music night, featuring vocalist Renée Yoxon and guitarist René Gely.
The music series opener attracted a capacity crowd, with 80 tickets sold. A show of hands partway through the evening showed that fewer than a quarter of the listeners came from Ottawa, and a large number were from the local Cantley, Québec area, about 18 km north of downtown Ottawa. And what was also remarkable – compared to Ottawa crowds – was the almost-complete quiet while the musicians were performing.
All smiles at the end of the evening, music programmer Jean-Pierre Moisan said, "I came to see this place once, and I thought this duo would really create a magical atmosphere. I think I made a good decision!"
The audience gave Yoxon and Gely a standing ovation after the two one-hour sets, and demanded a repeat of the opening number, "The Look of Love", as an encore.
"We charged $15 here and people came out – in the woods!" Moisan said. "It was quite a victory."
The Grange, located outside Cantley, Quebec, is a large historic building, built primarily from logs, and decorated with many historical artifacts. It's normally used as a meeting and conference centre, but Moisan said the management wanted to try a regular monthly music series. The remainder of the shows he has booked until summer are folk, blues, or francophone, but he said he was open to more jazz acts.
"But, you know, jazz is difficult. I book also at Les Brasseurs du Temps and you've got to bring in jazz that's accessible to everyone. Having singers always helps. I have a lot of friends who would like to play at Les Brasseurs du Temps, but if you bring in instrumentalists: we don't have a jazz crowd there. It's not like [Café] Paradiso."
Moisan scheduled Anouk-Michelle Grégoire at Les Brasseurs du Temps for Valentine's Day, and is bringing in Florquestra Brasil and Kellylee Evans there in the next month. If Evans in particular does well, he said, he can bring in more jazz acts.
"I don't think there's enough of [a jazz] audience in Ottawa. There's the festival: it gathers a lot of people. I'm not sure it's always jazz aficionados, because the festival itself has gone a bit popular. There's an overload at one point, and then there's hardly any venues that are really jazz."
He said he didn't think that night's audience was necessarily a jazz crowd, "but they discovered something excellent."
Yoxon and Gely played primarily from their CD, Let's Call It a Day, but added other pieces including Miles Davis' "All Blues", "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime", and "The Wood So Wild", a Renaissance piece dating back to 1540.
supersonic
