Grapefruit Moon – The Songs Of Tom Waits
LEROY RECORDS (US) / EVANGELINE (UK) 2008
- Yesterday is Here
- Down, Down, Down
- Walk Away
- Please Call Me Baby
- Grapefruit Moon
- All the Time in the World
- Tango til They’re Sore
- Johnsburg, IL
- New Coat of Paint
- Shiver Me Timbers
- Dead and Lovely
- Temptation
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“One great meets another” – Southside Johnny – Tom Waits
Seems like enigmatic Tom Waits is the guy to check – out these days. Scarlett Johansson, Holly Cole and John Hammond have all been at it, rifling through ol´gravel necks´songbook. This exhilarating 12 tracker of covers makes fascinating listening, with guest vocals from the legendary Waits himself.
SJ originally intended a standards album covering Frank Sinatra and Billie Holliday, but he turned to a long standing idea of supercharging Waits´songs with a big brassy sound, a pet sound of big band music which he´d admired since hearing STAX/VOLT artists and Count Basie in particular. (…) The result is magnificent, with rip-roaring blasts like the punchy Down, Down, Down as the rhythm section has a ball. (…) A New Coat Of Paint is awesome, with, once again, the brass boys letting rip. Juxtaposing the big sound, there are some exquisite tender moments found on the chill-out Shiver Me Timbers, though for me anyway, the best of all are the slow Tango-fused Tango Til They´re… and cool closer Temptation (with SJ pussy-chatting his snarl wonderfully) rubber stamping a brillant concept, much like Springsteen´s SEEGER SESSIONS.”
(Elly Roberts, allgigs.com)
THE INDEPENDENT, UK:
Supported by a huge horn section playing the superb arrangements of Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg, Southside Johnny’s voice takes on a majestic quality which brings a new nobility to the Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan songs covered here.
Andy Gill
“Being a Jersey Shore musician and fan of Southside and Tom Waits, I find this as one of the best albums he has ever done and the arrangements by La Bamba really show his skills as a new generation big band leader, reminds me of the great big bands of the early seventies ie: Chicago, Electric Flag, Al Kooper’s Blood Sweat & Tears and I am not forgetting Buddy Rich and Maynard Furguson. All I have to say is what a shot in the arm for Southside, La Bamba, and lets not forget Tom Waits. This really brings his talent as a songwriter and poet to another level.”
(Pat Le Donne)
ALL MUSIC GUIDE:
Lyon’s voice shows a touch more grain than it did in his salad days with the Jukes, but his sense of phrasing and showman’s touch is superb, and he brings swagger, heart, and sincerity to every performance here, and when Waits shows up for a duet on “Walk Away,” the two trade lines as if they’ve been singing together for years. (…)
Is this rock & roll? Not quite, but it’s got a beat, it swings hard, and it boasts a great singer and a great band working their way through a first-class set of songs; Grapefruit Moon is an experiment that succeeds, and hopefully it won’t be too long before Lyon and Rosenberg try something like this again.
(Mark Deming, All Music Guide, US)
JAZZ.com:
Southside Johnny Lyon fans have waited years for this dream project. Southside has shown his love for Tom Waits songs such as “New Coat Of Paint” and “Gin Soaked Boy.” With some raucous horn charts drawn up by longtime Southside cohort Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg, Mr. Lyon sounds at home here. When Waits himself takes a turn in the second bluesy verse and (especially) when the two men slide into the swaggering chorus, you just know that this is a match made in heaven (or at least in a sleazy motel in Los Angeles). One key change and the guys start “walk way” fours to close things out. It’s just too much fun.
Rating: 94/100
Mark Saleski
THE ASBURY PARK PRESS – WAITS FAN SOUTHSIDE PAYS TRIBUTE
By Kelly-Jane Cotter • Music Writer • September 12, 2008
Southside Johnny Lyon has long been a fan of Tom Waits.With the Asbury Jukes, he covered Waits’ “A New Coat Of Paint” for the 1984 album “In The Heat.” It made for an easy fit, as Southside Johnny shares with Waits an affinity for character-driven narratives delivered in gravelly vocals.
But Southside’s latest tip of the hat — “Grapefruit Moon,” an entire album of Waits covers — is much more than an appreciation. It’s a transformation, for all parties involved.
Trombonist and band leader Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg’s 18-piece big band provides the backbone for the project. The mega-brass section is such a cohesive unit that it seems to create one sinuous line — until one of the musicians takes a solo and lifts the energy even higher.
Rosenberg’s arrangements are inspired. He sprinkles Latin spice onto “Temptation” and turns “Tango ‘Til They’re Sore” into a swampy piece fit for a New Orleans jazz funeral. The band swings.
Southside, meanwhile, reveals a sophisticated sense of phrasing. The caustic “Yesterday Is Here” takes on the breeziness of a “Que Sera, Sera,” amping up the irony of the lyrics. The songs bring out different facets of Southside’s voice — Not only can he rock, he can croon and whisper and howl.
Waits himself, who makes a welcome cameo by duetting with Southside on “Walk Away And Start Over Again,” also benefits from the new interpretation of his work.
Like Bob Dylan, Tom Waits can be an acquired taste. You have to pay attention to really get it, and both artists sometimes get shortchanged by their own vocals. Hearing someone else sing a Dylan song can be illuminating. Hearing Southside Johnny sing Tom Waits is like getting a jolt of caffeine on a gray morning.
There’s no “Jersey Girl” here. Bruce Springsteen perfected that song long ago, and Southside, a Jersey boy himself, is wise to stay away. Likewise, he steers clear of other Waits songs that have been claimed by other artists — “Downtown Train,” for example, which Rod Stewart recorded.
But if you’re looking for a beauty like “Jersey Girl,” there is ample material in the Waits catalog, and Southside found it in the title track. The song “Grapefruit Moon” has romance a-plenty, and this collaboration makes it shine. Southside’s tender vocals, La Bamba’s lush arrangement, and Waits’ graceful lyrics are a winning combination.
It’ll make you rethink the “Great American Songbook,” or at least, rewrite a few pages.
THE ASBURY PARK PRESS – SEPTEMBER 12 – 2008
LEROY RECORDS – PRESS RELEASE:
Grapefruit Moon: The Songs of Tom Waits is Southside’s tribute to one of his favorite songwriters, but also a pet sound: big band music. Partnering with longtime friend and Jukes and The Max Weinberg 7 (The Late Show with Conan O’Brien) trombonist Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg, Southside has achieved a reverent — and at times, true to his houserockin’ ways, irreverent — homage with a dozen handpicked Waits songs.
“I’ve always admired Richie’s love of big band music,” says Southside, “and of course, I like that too. That’s one of the reasons we have horns in the Jukes: I want the ability to do Stax/Volt and Count Basie-style stuff because I like the sound of horns. Much to my chagrin. It’s an expensive habit, you know?”
The idea to marry the brassy, ballsy sound of big band to Tom Waits’ cinematic, character-driven songs had been sitting in the back booth of Southside’s mind for some time. In 1984, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes covered “New Coat of Paint” on In the Heat. “We did it with five horns,” he recalls, but says it was “more of a Charlie Mingus-style blues thing than big band, but that was the nascent part of this idea.”
A full album of the stuff, however, wasn’t the immediate aim, but “it finally filtered through the crap in my brain.” Southside, in fact, had planned a standards album — Billie Holliday, Frank Sinatra. “I really wanted Richie to have a chance to shine ‘cause he’s a great arranger and he has these occasional gigs where he puts together a big band — like 15, 18 pieces — and it always sounds great. I thought if I could only figure a way to find enough songs for him to arrange, I could finance that, and be the singer.” Waits’ songs, which Southside already planned to record, were the perfect fodder. “I was casting around for an idea that would give Richie a lot of leeway, he says. “And then one day, I was listenin’ to Tom and it just clicked. “The songs can kinda get lost with Tom; he’s so eccentric and unique as a performer, but sometimes the lyrics and melody are subsumed to the performance. So I just combined the two projects.”
Southside and Rosenberg made lists of Waits favorites, then Southside called the enigmatic singer-songwriter for his blessing, which he gave them — along with three rare tunes, two of which hadn’t appeared on a Waits CD until the “Orphans” project, a collection of demos and unreleased tunes that Waits released last year. Rosenberg charted arrangements for the songs, which he and Southside recorded with a gaggle of Jukes and various other musicians in their circle. The project came together slowly, between tours and other engagements. “The process of writing charts for 16-18 musicians is so long,” says Southside. “You gotta write out every note for every instrument, so it took Richie forever to write the charts, so we’d record three or four songs at a time. It was a catch-as-catch-can situation.”
Grapefruit Moon’s vibe is as easy and cool as its genesis, rife with mellow passages and bright flares. “Yesterday is Here,” opens with a smoky piano-flute-vocal intro and builds to a smolder, ready for the swingin’ inferno of “Down, Down, Down.” The title track is lilting, moonlit romance in shades of blue; “Tango ‘Til They’re Sore” is a skronking slow blues rag. “Please Call Me Baby” conjures Jimmy Durante on a night stroll through the NYC streets; “All the Time in the World” oozes spy-flick cool.
Two other tracks are special: “Temptation” finds LaBamba stretching his arranger’s legs, commencing a slow Latin rhythm that unfolds into a flourish that would make Ricky Ricardo proud. “That was the big extravaganza Richie wanted to do,” says Southside. “When I said maybe we should try that, Richie said, ‘Ooooh. I can do something with this.’” They also revisit an old friend, once again souping up “New Coat of Paint.” At first, Southside demurred; he didn’t want to repeat himself — then he heard LaBamba’s ambitious, grand arrangement. “He won me over.”
And they both won over Waits, to whom they’d sent early demos. “He really liked it,” Southside beams. “He sent me this great email, which I saved, about “Bang! Pow! This is great!” And I thought, “Good. He likes it.” ‘Cause you worry about that stuff.”
Perhaps the biggest seal of approval is Waits’ vocal turn on “Walk Away,” a song in which he and Southside do what they do best: romanticize and mythologize the soul of ordinary average guys — without, of course, getting overly precious. “I just thought it would be funny,” he says. “We both have these voices that no one would consider beautiful.
These are not Irish tenors; this is not Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo singing in harmony. These are two gravel road voices meeting at the crossroads. That’s why all that material works for him and why it’s fun to sing for me, because we do have those voices that are, shall we say, “lived in.” Lied and died in, sometimes. It was really easy and fun – a very good experience for me.”
In the pop music idiom, the producer usually plays a strong role in shaping the sound of a record. In fact, the recording studio has become another musical instrument, where the producer can shape, and reshape a sound, sometimes to the extent that it bears little or no resemblance to the original performance. In my opinion, jazz should be approached differently. When you have great songs, great orchestrations by a talented arranger like LaBamba, a soulful and adventurous singer like Southside Johnny, and great musicians, the producer’s job should be to encourage the musicians to forget the studio technology that they’ve become accustomed to depending on, and, well . . . PLAY!
Dan Gralick, Producer of Grapefruit Moon
Saxes-Woodwinds
Frank Elmo – Alto & Soprano Sax – Flute Sessions 1,2,3,4
Baron Raymonde – Alto Sax – Flute Session 1,4
Erik Lawrence – Alto Sax – Flute Session 2
Jack Bashkow – Alto Sax – Flute – Bass Clarinet Session 3
Jerry Vivino – Tenor Sax – Flute – Alto Flute – Clarinet Sessions 2,3,4
Sam Bortka – Tenor Sax – Flute – Clarinet Session 1
Timmy Cappello – Tenor & Soprano Sax Sessions 1,2,3,4
Eddie Manion – Baritone Sax – Flute-Clarinet Sessions 1,2,3,4
Trombones
Brian Pastor Sessions 1,2,3
Nathan Mayland Sessions 1,2,3,4
Matt Bilyk Bass Trombone Session 2
Jeff Bush Session 4
Ben Williams Session 2
Clarence Banks Session 1
Art Baron Sessions 3,4
Jonathan Shubert Bass Trombone Sessions 3,4
Aaron Johnson Bass Trombone Session 1
Marcus Rojas Tuba Session 2
Trumpets-Flugelhorns
Mark Pender Sessions 1,2,3,4
Chris Anderson Sessions 1,2,3,4
Mike Spengler Sessions 1,2,3,4
John Barry Sessions 1,2
Stu Satalof Sessions 3,4
Rhythm Section
Scott Healy – Piano – Harpsichord Sessions 2,3,4
Michael Mancini – Piano Session 1
Glenn Alexander – Guitars – Mandolin – Dobro Sessions 1,2,3,4
Mike Merritt – Bass Sessions 1,2,3,4
Shawn Pelton – Drums and Percussion Sessions 2,3,4
Ray Marchica – Drums Sessions 1
Additional Musicians
Jeff Kazee – Hammond B3 Organ on Temptation
Howard Johnson – Tuba on Grapefruit Moon and Tango Till They’re Sore
John Ballesteros – Percussion on Temptation
Sue Hadjapoulos – Bongos on Dead and Lovely
Sean Grissom – Cajun Cello on Tango Till They’re Sore
Charlie Giordano – Accordion on Shiver Me Timbers
Produced by John Lyon and Dan Gralick
