Marilyn Scott
Every Time We Say Goodbye

Review By Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck
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  How many times can an artist release a recording with just standards? When it comes to jazz standards, I do not believe the true music lover and jazz devotee feels there are ever too many of these types of albums. Timeless classics from the likes of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington... well it is obvious that you cannot go wrong when you travel down this road lined with literal music gold. This is the holy grail of jazz and near perfection is required for your audience to except your performance.

Every Time We Say Goodbye immediately struck me from the outset with the title track that Marilyn Scott has created a classic recording and quite possibly this could be the pinnacle of her career thus far. Marilyn's tone, confidence, and vocal timbre are superb and her accompaniment is at a very high level. Cyrus Chestnut (piano), Paul Bollenback (guitar), Gerald Cannon (bass), Willie Jones III (drums), and Ken Peplowski (tenor sax/clarinet) provide the stellar musicianship to match the singer's once in a lifetime performance and rendering of the timeless classics.

"I Got Lost in His Arms" had me recalling the magical meetings of Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass. The guitar lines of Bollenback are smooth and succinct; matching Marilyn's vocalizations beautifully while keeping in time with the rest of the band to make this the gem of the lot and one track that I think will be earmarked for a single release at any time. Kissing cousin the blues is touched upon with "Detour Ahead," and metaphorically, it is Ms.Scott that takes a slight detour to fit her vocals for the more emotive blues-jazz number. "Do You Know the Way to San Jose" is one of the best out of the ten selections and the most recognizable crossover pop hit with a jazz flavoring.

I had to take notice of the obvious and some of the subtleties because once again it was Marilyn's innate sensibility for carrying a tune regardless from whence it came that won me over. She knows how to make each track a significant effort and all her own while offering up a real jazz workout that burns in your soul long after it has played through.

What we have here is an indie artist performing at a level that is just as good if not better than most of her contemporaries. Every Time We Say Goodbye is definitely a body of work that should get some attention this year.

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