The blurb that accompanied this release does not mention the essence of this album, it should say: ‘achingly beautiful’. Two protagonists are involved, Tokyo-native violinist Meg Okura and American jazz pianist Kevin Hays.Hearing the first notes you might assume that they are celebrating modern classical music, but you’d be very, very wrong..
Lingering contains nods to Aaron Copland and Franz Schubert for sure, but it also pays homage to pop music, blues and jazz. Bits of it could have been sung by Duran Duran, others are like traditional Appalachian folk, a homage to the Italian Tarantella dance, there’s even some Jewish Hasidic influence on one melody. Most of the tunes come from the melting pot that is the tapestry of American music. Others conjure melodies that could have been accompanied by the lyrics of Cole Porter, or equally, sung by Bessie Smith or Ella Fitzgerald.
It is a delicious mix of short songs that are masterfully played by Okura and Hays in perfect synergy. The two never show-off, instead they entice and charm one’s ears with a light-footed combination of melodies stretching to just over an hour. There is a curios use of Hebrew words in the names of some of the titles, L’lo Milim (Devoid of Words), Kachol (Blue), Miyam Korim (Calling from the Sea) and Shamaim (Skies).
The performance is superb. The recording while very good is not able to contain the piano’s range and in places it sounds distorted, but as a compensation the 24/96 download delivers solid violin that is eerily three dimensional while the piano sits about two meters behind, making the speakers disappear while establishing a piano in the room.
Reuben Klein