Itty-Bitty Review: Home - Jazzy Ash

Kindie as a genre is moving away from the folk and rock that were its bread and butter, but oh-so-slowly.  Some hip-hop, sure, some classical and other genres represent, but it's still rock (and folk-rock) that kindie is known for.  I have to guard against my own tendencies in that regard, otherwise it'd be nothing but power-pop and indie rock here ALL THE TIME, and what would be the usefulness of that?

Of course, it's possible to make a perfectly dull album for kids that just happens to mine a less-traveled musical seam.  Luckily, that's not the case with the latest album from Los Angeles-based musician Ashli Christoval, AKA Jazzy Ash.  Her new album Home explores the sound of New Orleans, and while it's not the first to tackle the Big Easy's big musical history, it's definitely one of the most vibrant.  She moves from the unmistakeable sound of the city's famous second-line bands on the Mardi Gras-themed duet with Mista Cookie Jar on "Throw Me Something Mista" to her zydeco reworking of "Shortenin' Bread" on "Baby Loves Beignets."  There's a hint of the overtly educational here (see "Every Family's Different"), but there are more hits than misses, like "Jitterbug," which swings (and dances), and the graceful "Tuba Lullaby."  Musically, Ash has put together a solid backing band, and her own voice is one of the most appealing in kindie.  She's not at the level of the Okee Dokee Brothers in terms of her songwriting -- to be fair, they're on their fifth album at this point -- but as I listened to the album, there was something about this album that reminded me of the bluegrass duo in their playfulness and exploration of American musical traditions.

The 32-minute album will most appeal to kids ages 3 through 7.  Home is a big step forward for Ash, and as she continues her career as a kids musician, I'm eager to see where she lands next.  Recommended.

Video: "Throw Me Something Mista" - Jazzy Ash (feat. Mista Cookie Jar)

Mardi Gras 2014 doesn't start for nearly a month, but Jazzy Ash is making sure you have plenty time to get your beads ready.  Her leadoff single from her brand new album Home (out this week) is "Throw Me Something Mista," a second-line inspired tribute to the New Orleans tradition of Mardi Gras parades and trinkets flung from floats.  The song and video feature fellow Southern California kindie musician Mista Cookie Jar.  Playing the role of the second-line band in the video: a bunch of kids strutting and hamming it up.  Fun.

Jazzy Ash featuring Mista Cookie Jar - "Throw Me Something Mista" [YouTube]

Review: The World Is A Curious Place To Live - Lori Henriques

Who are the inheritors of the edutational mantle passed on from Schoolhouse Rock ?  While the crunchy pop purveyors of, say, the Bazillions have distilled a handful of lessons into 3-minute songs whose chord structures and arrangements would fit on any AAA radio station, who took the less-poppy and more obscure route that some of those songs from 40 years ago took?

Lori Henriques, that's who. 

Her 2011 kids music debut, Outside My Door , was one of those "unlike any other CD" CDs for which the phrase actually fit.  A mixture of 1970s piano jazz, Broadway exposition, Sesame Street , and, yes, Schoolhouse Rock , the album eschewed pop-rock for jazzy explorations of birthdays, twins, and more subjects of kid-concern.  It was smart without being snooty (yes, she rhymed "goat turd" with "awkward").

On her new disk, The World Is A Curious Place To Live, the Portland, Oregon-based Henriques even more fully embraces her inner Schoolhouse Rock  nerd.  From the album title, which isn't so much descriptive as it is sage advice, to the songs within, which deal with topics scientific, mathematic, and linguistic.  In fact, the 35-minute album can even be thought of as 3 separate and sequential EPs on each of Henriques' obsessions.

The first EP, featuring the most scientific songs, includes the album's strongest songs.  With its celebration of curious people both famous and close to Henriques' orbit, the opener "Curiosity" features a bouncing chord accompaniment and her evident delight in the wordplay. (For good measure, Henriques throws in a scat line or two.)  On songs like "Crunchy Privilege," you can hear why she cites Cole Porter as an influence.  And while Henriques having fun moving her fingers quickly to match the lyrics, the two strongest tracks on the album are "When I Look Into the Night Sky" and "Dinosaur," two  ballads.  The former, an ode to wonder and amazement, is based on "Saint James Infirmary" and has a lovely video to match.  The latter is wholly original, simultaneously an honest-to-goodness love song for a dinosaur and a wry recounting of millions of years of evolution ("We've still got the ants / And they're still crawling round on our floor").  I can't see this playing on too many radio stations, but it so totally nails that combination of earnestness and nerdiness that's one of kindie's most appealing strains.

The other two EPs-of-a-sort are fun, but don't quite reach the heights of the preceding songs.  The counting songs are brief and for the most part meld familiar classical melodies with skip-counting lyrics for numbers 2 through 6 ("Counting by Six is Sublime" to me works best).  The language songs include a Norwegian travelogue ("When in Norway") and, appropriately for Henriques, a wordsmith at heart, a celebratory ode to words themselves ("Vocabulary").

As on her debut, the only accompaniment is Henriques' piano, which she nimbly plays.  The age range may differ by section -- older kids probably won't find the number songs as interesting as the language and science ones -- but there's a sweet spot between the ages of 5 through 9.  Henriques has joined Justin Roberts and decided not to have her latest album streamed on Spotify, but you can stream samples on iTunes.  And, as with her debut, the album packaging from her brother Joel Henriques is lovely.

I think the thing I love most about The World Is A Curious Place To Live  is that Lori Henriques clearly practices what she sings, offering up celebrations of the world outside of ourselves.  Her jazzy-pop-by-way-of-Broadway-and-Carnegie-Hall is still unique in the world of kids music and worth being curious about.  Definitely recommended.

Note: I received a copy of the album for possible review. 

Weekly Summary (8/12/13 - 8/18/13)

Video: "Miss Elephant's Gerald" - The Pop Ups

I am not a huge Halloween fan, and so I'll be upfront and say that I'm not gonna feature too many Halloween-related tracks here.  (At least, I'm sayin' that now.)  So when I say that the new "Halloween" track from puppet/kindie (kindie/puppet?) band The Pop Ups, "Miss Elephant's Gerald," isn't very Halloween-y, that's actually a good thing from my perspective.

It does swing, however.

(Below the video is a Bandcamp widget from which you can purchase the track -- also available on iTunes.)

The Pop Ups - "Miss Elephant's Gerald" [YouTube]

Review: WeBop: A Family Jazz Party! - Jazz at Lincoln Center (feat. Matt Wilson)

There was a point 4 or 5 years ago when I thought jazz would be the area of the next great kids music explosion. This most American of musical art forms had not been sufficiently explored by musicians focusing on families, and it seemed ripe for artists to fill the space.  And, yes, there were a number of good, even great, jazz albums for families.

And then, silence.

OK, that's an exaggeration.  Coal Train Railroad and Oran Etkin have both released albums that families with any jazz tendencies (and even those who don't) should check out.  But I expected more musicians to try their hand at this.  After all, jazz is -- or can be -- the most playful of musical forms, and what audience is -- or can be -- more playful than a bunch of under-10s?

Well, with the addition of the folks from WeBop, Jazz at Lincoln Center's (JALC's) early-childhood jazz education program, I'm hopeful that perhaps we're on the cusp of another kinder-jazz renaissance.  Their first album for families, WeBop: A Family Jazz Party!, is my favorite jazz-for-kids album since at least Putumayo's Jazz Playground disk from a couple years ago, and definitely my favorite non-compilation since the great Medeski, Martin & Wood album Let's Go Everywhere.

Some of my enthusiasm for this particular disk is rooted in my own personal jazz tastes, which are heavily weighted toward the classic jazz of pre-Bitches Brew Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Dizzy Gillespie.  (This isn't particularly surprising, I suppose, given the interests of JALC's Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis.)  And one of this album's greatest strengths is its celebration of that heritage.  Unlike a lot of the "introducing jazz to the kids" disks, which take traditional kids' standards (e.g., "Old MacDonald" or "Itsy Bitsy Spider") and put them in a jazz arrangement, many songs on this album take jazz standards and add (or tweak) a few kid-friendly lyrics.  Not every standard is modified -- the Duke Ellington classic "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" speaks just fine to kids as-is -- but some of the adaptations are inspired (I particularly loved the re-purposing of Coltrane's "Syeeda's Song Flute" into "Syeeda's ABC," an alphabet song, natch).  And kudos for figuring out how to work free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman into a kids' track ("Free Jazz Adventure").

Besides the traditionals and standards, there are also a handful of originals.  These songs tend to be a little more pedagogical in nature.  "Shakey Shake Shake," for example, encourages shaking of rhythm instruments and jumping around.  "Playin' Together," a song about, well, playing jazz (playing together, then taking solos) is buoyed by Adam Platt's nimble toy piano playing -- it's probably the first song featuring that instrument that I truly dig.  I don't think they're the equal of the standards, but that's kind of an unfair comparison.  As you'd expect considering the Lincoln Center parentage, the playing is top-notch, from drummer Matt Wilson, the album's music director, on down.  And the participation of kids on some of the tracks, such as on "What Kind of Food Do You Like To Eat?," their take on Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts," just adds the right amount of childishness.

The 50-minute album is nominally targeted at kids ages 2 through 7, but its playfulness will appeal to jazz fans of all ages.  Listen to samples from the album and download a copy of their take on "When the Saints Go Marching In" at the album's page (you can also download an activity booklet).

I like WeBop: A Family Jazz Party a whole bunch.  It's joyful, playful, and full of life.  Even if you're not particularly into jazz -- maybe especially if you're not particularly into jazz -- it's an album your family should check out.  Let's hope this encourages some other jazz musicians to follow suit.  Highly recommended.