Review: Kathleen Bertrand | It’s Time To Love

It’s Time To Love is a statement of purpose that is anything but simple. Knowing Kathleen as I do there is more than one layer to everything she does. I found this not only to be a personal message but a global appeal.  On this project she pulls from several different sources and vantage points, distinguished by the cadre of the elite hometown musicians she has invited to have fun with her.

Her approach is unmistakable – pure and filled with joy. There is a clarity in her voice that is immediately recognizable from the first note you hear. Toss into the mix some very creative arrangements and you understand why Ms. Bertrand wholeheartedly believes it is time to love.

Bringing an impressive compilation of nine standards, originals, classic soul and gospel, she kicks off this offering with the title track that she composed with her musical director Phil Davis. Maintaining the groove she seamlessly moves into Diamonds, written for Rihanna’s 8th album, proving that no song is far from jazz with the proper arrangement. Reaching back to the 1946 musical St. Louis Woman she brings into the new millennium the classic Arlen/Mercer tune Come Rain Or Come Shine in an easy rendition that expresses yesterday’s view of today’s ride or die.

Always one to illuminate the talents of young writers she augments Tony Hightower’s Baby I’m Yours with additional lyrics, giving a lyrical homage to that very special person. Heading back to Broadway she juxtaposes the question of love with a 1947 Lerner and Loewe composition Almost Like Being In Love from Brigadoon, that has one understanding the feeling of being alive. Teaming up once again with Davis, their reputation as composers and arrangers firmly established, they pen and deliver another original Walking Through The Door, be it expectation or surprise, the need is the same. Walking us back in time to the Sixties and the music of another renowned team of Bacharach/David with Anyone Who Had A Heart.

Never far from the church, Kathleen chooses to rearrange with the assistance of Tyrone Jackson, the traditional It’s Me (Standing In The Need Of Prayer). As I listen to her rendering me back to my childhood, I am  hearing so much of Mahalia Jackson in this passionate acknowledgement to the higher power. Closing out this recording she moves the message back to the joy of love with the Richard Clay, Carl Clay and Wayne Garfield composition Love From The Sun, made famous by Norman Connors. However, she turns once again to emerging artists, The Dangerfield Newbies, to arrange and produce this classic tune, clearly making this her own, as she inimitably does with every song she touches.

Earlier in this review I mentioned the elite cadre of Atlanta musicians and I would be remiss not to list them and allow you the opportunity to catch them in live performance when their names come across your radar. Order of appearance of the recording: Phil Davis, Rod Harris, Jr., Melvin Jones, Mike Burton, Katy Miner, Tyrone Allen, George Caldwell, Sean Jefferson, RiShon Odel, Russell Gunn, Robert Boone, Frankie Quinones, Joel Powell, Tyrone Jackson, Mace Hibbard, Sam Skelton, Kevin Smith, Chris Burroughs, Nelson Render and Marvin Pryor.

To say Kathleen Bertrand is an original does her a disservice for we are all one of a kind. What sets her apart is her innate ability to select and align songs in a manner that makes you anticipate hearing what comes next and a little saddened when the last song plays out. This album celebrates and laments the many facets of love. It is an enjoyable escape and journey through one’s heart, as we have all been where each songs takes us, that is, at one time or another. The one thing I know to be true, with Kathleen Bertrand, there will always be more and the best is yet to come.

carl anthony | notorious jazz | september 23, 2018

Give A Gift Of Jazz ~ Share NJ-TWITTER

#preserving genius

More Posts: ,,,,,,

© Notorious Jazz 2024