“While much of the disc rides a fluid jazzy vibe…the lyrics often hit pretty hard.”
Blue Moon Marquee is the duo of A.W. Cardinal on vocals and guitars and Jasmine Colette on upright bass and vocals. They are supplemented here by keys, horns, drums and guitars, all of which add well-balanced seasoning to the tasty stew of blues, folk, gypsy jazz and swing found on the thirteen cuts included on this, the duo’s 5th disc. Think Tom Waits and Maria Muldaur fronting Leon Redbone guesting with a New Orleans street band and you’ll be in the right neighborhood for the sound and vibe of this disc.
While much of the disc rides a fluid jazzy vibe, often compliments of co-producer Duke Robillard’s impeccable guitar, the lyrics often hit pretty hard. The Gypsy jazz-fueled ‘Come on Down’ takes on organized religion where the Lord is a Lady and God is her pimp while the believers spend a wasted fearful life waiting for a palace in the sky. Likewise on the John Lee Hooker style blues rocker, ‘Hound Dog on A Chain’, one can’t but help but to guess who is the subject of the lines: “He’s A Cad and a Bounder/And Truth Is on the Line/We Got a Cad/ and a Bounder here/and Truth is hard to find.” The pandemic seems to make an appearance on ‘Thick as Thieves’ with its lines about the world being in trouble, smoke (disinformation?) thick as thieves and being “locked up in a tomb/and we can’t lift that lid/all we want to do, Lord/Is all we ever did.” Meanwhile on ‘Old Alberta’ Colette announces that dancing to the truck radio at the crossroad is at least a partial antidote to the many souls who had trouble last year. The Lonnie Johnson penned ‘Long Black Train’ is the oft-told tale of being left behind but doesn’t seem as dark with its saucy B3 grooves by Darcy Philips and the answering baritone sax solo by Jerry Cook.
Elsewhere the mood is considerably lighter as on the duo of tunes worshiping a certain lady, ‘Thunderbird’ and ‘My Wild Rose’. Lighter still is the title track where a party is on the horizon and ‘Red Dust Rising’ where Cardinal proclaims his intention to kick up his heels and raise a ruckus.
Even though the music has enough earworms to let the lyrics pass by without much attention, a careful listen rewards you with some well-thought-out observations. Top-notch stuff!
- Mark Smith, Jazz & Blues Report