Ellynne Plotnick  - I Walk Alone (CD)

 

Sound: B-     Music: B

 

 

Ellynne Plotnick is yet another of a growing number of Jazz vocalists releasing their material on their own on CD without the help of the majors.  I wondered if this was a sign that the major labels are too busy with other things to allow Jazz to thrive where it should.  The number of fine indie releases we have covered since the site went up makes us all here wonder if that at least has some validity.  I Was Alone joins that list.

 

As I noted in my review for the CD Bruce Jackson – Don’t Sleep In Your Dreams, it is cheaper to record a high quality album than ever before, but there are limits.  The songs covered here are:

 

1)     Small Day Tomorrow

2)     If I Should Lose You

3)     The Absence Of Light

4)     I Walk Alone

5)     Chair Song

6)     My Foolish Heart

7)     Don’t Misunderstand Me

8)     Illusions

9)     Uncertainty

10)  Don’t Blame Me

11)  Get Out Of Town (aka “Free-Jazz Afro-Cuban Freakout”)

12)  While We’re Young

 

 

Again, the choice of material is interesting and Miss Plotnick’s vocals are good, but while her original material is interesting, the covers are trying to be a bit unique.  The Cole Porter track (#11) is particularly interesting by trying to be and not be like a Porter cover.  You have to hear it to understand what I mean, but trying to forge an individual identity here in Jazz is not easy, so I understand she is trying something different and it is a set of risks that pay off more often than not.

 

The PCM 2.0 16bit/44.1kHz Stereo not bad, but seems to have some slight compression and a few audio tricks holding the sound back more than I would have liked it.  Like some of the recent solo albums of Aimee Mann, I can see why and how a certain kind of character is trying to be added, even if it sacrifices some fidelity.  Now, you’ll have to hear it for yourself.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo