Two For The Road is a new studio album by Australia-born, London-based harpist, Tara Minton, and British double bass player, Ed Babar. It is more of a straight-ahead jazz album than Minton’s previous album, Please Do Not Ignore The Mermaid, which featured her own compositions. Here the duo focuses primarily on the Great American Songbook, although they throw plenty of home-grown tunes into the mix, too.
The album opens, and indeed closes, with a delightful composition by producer Geoff Gascoyne entitled Life In A Bubble. It features a wordless vocal from Minton, and some delightful interplay between the two musicians, who have played together extensively.
One of the things that makes this album so special, I think, is that the two musicians are not afraid to take chances with some of the songs they have chosen. On The Sunny Side Of The Street is taken slowly, for example, with a quirky but fun take on the vocal from Minton, who seems to have grown in confidence as a singer. Caravan sounds more stripped back than normal, but works well. Minton’s vocal is superb, bringing the exotic feel the tune requires, while the harp adds a fresh dimension again. Her solo on this track is also amazing. Babar’s playing – new to me – is magnificent, here and throughout.
Take a listen to Caravan here:
It’s hard to bring something new and fresh to a well-worn standard like You Go To My Head, but Minton and Babar manage just that. The arrangement is cool and stylish, there’s some added percussion courtesy of Lilia Iontcheva, which adds a little swing to the proceedings, and some lovely scat singing from Minton, too. Likewise, the duo’s stripped back version of ‘Round Midnight which highlights the chemistry between these two musicians, whilst paring Monk’s tune back to its very essence.
The Brits get a look in, too. What We Have To Be is based on a Dave Holland tune, and features lyrics added by Norma Winstone. Regular readers may have noted that I don’t always like lyrics that have been retroactively added to a jazz tune, but if anyone is going to make that work, it’s Winstone, of course. It’s one of the album’s many highlights, and features special guest Stan Sulzmann on tenor saxophone. There is also a version of Whirlpool, composed by pianist John Taylor, and a wonderful version of McCartney’s Blackbird, which features a melodic solo by Babar.
The album also features a nod to the inspirational Dorothy Ashby, with one of her compositions, Games, which again features Lilia Iontcheva on percussion.
The sound on this album deserves a special mention. It was recorded at London’s Lightship 95 studio, and the production by Geoff Gascoyne is amazing, capturing every nuance of the duo’s playing and singing.
I loved this album. Minton demonstrates both the versatility of her playing, and the instrument itself, whilst Babar is also superb, delivering well-crafted solos and support. The arrangements are also new and interesting, and manage to shed fresh light on dusty old standards. Highly recommended.