Jim Testa -
October 24, 2011
- Artist: Beeman, Bannon & Parrott
- Album Title: Plenty Of Time
- Review by: Jim Testa
-
- The jazz trio Beeman, Bannon & Parrott call Hudson County, New Jersey home, but you
- won’t often find them in the hipster enclaves of Hoboken. They prefer the cabarets and
- lounges that dot middle-class communities like Bayonne, where their adult take on the
- Great American Songbook can be savored and appreciated. Vocalist Barbara Beeman,
- guitarist Bill Bannon, and multi-instrumentalist (bass, piano, harmonica, vocals) John
- Parrott comprise the core trio, ably accompanied on this disc by Tim Ouimette on
- trumpet, Yuriry Zak on accordion, and a few others. The players are all superb, but it’s
- Beeman’s vocals and, most especially, the group’s brave song choices that shine here.
- Every interpreter of popular song seeks to bring their own personal style to the song;
- that’s why Sinatra and Elvis rank as two of the greatest entertainers of the 20th Century.
- But that task is made much harder when the singer chooses material that’s already
- indelibly linked to another performer. Barbara Beeman scoffs at that notion; while there
- are several originals by John Parrott and a few lesser-known standards here, the standout
- tracks on Plenty Of Time are songs we already know and love, and identify with the
- artists who popularized them.
- To which Beeman, Bannon & Parrott shrug and say - No problem. The trio makes them
- their own.
- Barbara Beeman’s voice is a delicious mix of the coy and the innocent; she can be sexy
- and yet retain an air of innocent girlishness and vulnerability. Her high-pitched tenor
- sounds like the voices embraced by early radio and talkies, when rudimentary
- microphones made everything tinny and trebly. Beeman’s voice alone evokes nostalgic
- memories (at least for those of us old enough to remember RKO musicals and Betty
- Boop cartoons) even before she’s reached the chorus.
- The trio starts off with Mae West’s “You Gotta See Momma Ev’ry Night,” with Beeman
- laying on the schmaltz to a simple guitar accompaniment. Beeman makes no attempt to
- hide the campy nature of the song; in fact, she embraces it, and that makes her delivery a
- cabaretlicious delight. The arrangement (which does run a bit long at nearly six and a
- half minutes) expands to include stand up bass and sassy Louis Armstrong-styled jazz
- trumpet. It’s a complete delight.
- Parrott’s “Bird On The Street” introduces us to BB&P’s folkie side; there’s a melancholy
- Leonard Cohen vibe here (not unlike his “Bird On A Wire,” actually) set to a beguiling
- bossa nova rhythm, accentuated by flamenco guitar and jazzy bass. Edith Piaf’s “La Vie En Rose”
- transports us to the bistros of Paris, complete with
- romantic accordion. Beeman fully embraces the idyllic lyric with a demure trill, to
- beautiful effect. Beeman’s take on the bluesy “Why Don’t You Do Right (Like Some
- Other Men Do)” recalls Jessica Rabbit’s slinky animated take on the song more than
- Peggy Lee’s original, especially with Parrott lecherously growling a suggestive call-and-
- response vocal. Again, this is tart, perky, grownup fun; when Beeman coos “get me
- some money too,” it’s infinitely sexier than the come-ons by today’s plastic pop divas.
- Beeman brings a palpable sadness to her moving rendition of Hank Williams’ “I’m So
- Lonesome I Could Cry,” with a lonesome harmonica accentuating the simple melody.
- The band evokes that old-timey speakeasy groove on the Parrott original “Plenty of
- Time,” a delightful duet in which his whiskey-soaked baritone shares lead duties with the
- coquettish Beeman. Gene Turonis’ whistling – now there’s a lost art – adds a
- wonderfully nostalgic note, like a forgotten Bing Crosby B-side.
- “Aragon Mills,” written by political activist and folksinger Si Kahn, proves an inspired
- and timely choice; it’s description of a destitute and abandoned mill town resonates with
- the populist uprising we’re seeing across the country, as the middle class and working
- poor struggle to have their voices heard.
- BB&P’s exquisite taste in popular standards leads to “I’m Confessin’ That I Love You,”
- a song that’s been identified with everyone from Louis Armstrong to Perry Como;
- Beeman’s gossamer touch on the song – set to Bill Bannon’s finger-picked guitar and
- Parrott’s simple bass line – accentuates the endearing melody and timeless lyrics.
- And finally, the album closes with Beeman’s breathy, wondrous take on “When You
- Wish Upon A Star,” forever identified with Ukulele Ike (the voice of Disney’s Jiminy
- Cricket.) Beeman brings a cabaret feel to much of this material, but this is far the most
- theatrical performance on the album; close your eyes and you could easily imagine this
- delivered on a Broadway stage. The simple, stripped down arrangement lets Beeman
- caress the song’s air of ageless longing; young or old, this is a song everyone can identify
- with, and Beeman does it proud. Gene Turonis returns to whistle home the melody,
- ending this eminently enjoyable and sweetly nostalgic journey on an air of wistful
- imagining.
-
- Review by: Jim Testa
- Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
-
