HE & ME – Ada Bird Wolfe & Jamieson Trotter – CD Review
Plastic – CD
Surface noise: N/A
Dynamic Range: 4+
Stereo Imaging: 4+
Image depth/perspective: 4
Overall frequency response: 4+
Please see here for my comments on reviewing albums.
Track List:
- Mind To Mind (ESP)
- Night In Tunisia
- Sweet Nardis
- You’re Everything
- Logo EU
- Too Much Stuff
- Any Woman’s Blues
- Blue In Green/All Blues
- Blackbird
- But Beautiful
- Get It Straight (Straight, No Chaser)
- Done With That
Line Up:
- Ada Bird Wolfe – Vocals
- Jamieson Trotter – Piano
This album was recorded at The Hideaway, Chatsworth, CA and Tritone Studios, Glendale, CA. It was mixed by Eric Caster at The Hideaway and mastered by Evren Göknar at Speakeasy Sound, Burbank, CA.
HE & ME provides a glimpse into the creative process of these two musicians, building tunes ‘organically’ by listening closely to each other and extemporizing their art into new and unexpected aural images.
Wolfe has been studying music since she was five years old, and now her home base is at The Gardenia in Hollywood. Trotter is a first-call accompanist whose has played for Van Kilmer and the Temptations and whose artistry can be heard in a number of films including Brazil 66.
After the release of her debut album Birdie, Wolfe is back in the recording studio accompanied by Jamieson Trotter to create her second album. It comprises 12 jazz tracks and was available on October 10th 2020.
Clearly these two performers were well ‘in sync’ with the degree of extemporizing and tight musical performance that they provided. Musicianship and vocals were very good providing a tight, entertaining performance. Stereo imaging was solid with just a touch a reverb being added to both the piano and Wolfe’s voice that you occasionally heard tail out, filling out the sound and creating a warm enveloping atmosphere. There was little depth to the image but Ada’s vocals clearly stood front and center stage.
The piano was well spread across the entire stereo image, creating little mechanical action except on a couple of occasions where you hear the damper in use. Its dynamics were very good and it provided a full and well defined tone. Having a baby grand in the house that is played often it was an easy comparison to the real thing. So setting the listening level to what I usually hear gave me a great comparison. With my eyes closed it came close to the real thing but just lacked a little presence to ‘appear’ in my room.
The recording provides a very intimate performance by Ada. There seemed to be few restrictions to the dynamics of her vocal range. Her voice was absolutely natural, having good annunciation with little emphasis to any part of the vocal range. However, on several occasions there was a slight edginess or hardness to the upper registers. Her close miking rarely accentuating any sibilance. Turning my lights off, and with no visual distractions, Ada’s presence was excellent on several of the tracks, with her standing just in front of my center speaker, the piano set just behind her.
If you enjoy jazz music that is a little off the beaten track, takes a few deviations with plenty of extemporization, then the vocals and piano playing of Ada and Jamieson will certainly fill your glass.
Playback note: Reviewed using my Denon DBP A100 over Denon Link 3. Speakers; a stereo pair of Genelec 1038’s and four SVS subs.
Disclosure: This CD was provided by Mouthpiece Music for my review. No financial compensation was provided.
Purchase this CD and others directly from the adabirdwolfe web site.
See my other Mouthpiece Music reviews here.
