Joe Jackson’s love of Jazz is no secret; with his new album being a tribute to the Jazz king Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington simply titled The Duke. Joe has been on the scene now for over thirty years putting out hits like his early pop work “Is She Really Going Out With Him” and “Sunday Papers” from the album Look Sharp. From his scores for movies such as Tucker and Three Of Hearts, to his collaborations with such diverse talent such as William Shatner, Henry Rollins, and Aimee Mann to name a few Joe always seems to be an ever changing chameleon with exception he has been a campaigner against smoking bans in both the UK and US as he is always seen with a smoke, I guess some things can't be changed.
The album is an eclectic mix of material from the amazing Duke Ellington catalog, opening with the instrumental “Isfahan” updated here with the addition of Steve Vai on guitar. Jackson didn’t set out to duplicate the Ellington sound as this album is really meant to bring the music of The Duke to a new audience. The absence of horns throughout was something he did purposely as he didn’t want to compete with the original versions of the songs this one still maintains the middle eastern mystique that propelled Ellington and his band to record it originally after their '63 tour of the middle east.
The song “Caravan” with the Iranian born Sussan Deyhim singing in her native Farsi is another beautiful reworking with lush piano and a staccato beat. Other songs on the album are more standard and a casual Ellington listener would be familiar with such as the mix “I’m Beginning to See the Light – Take the ‘A’ Train – Cotton Tail” which are familiar Ellington standards with a slight Jackson twist. The song “Mood Indigo” is a great one with Joe sounding better than ever vocally, while many fans love Joe’s vocal styling’s he isn’t one of them saying "I'm a limited singer - there's only so much I can do". One of the songs that fails to put the Ellington sound front and center is “Rockin’ in Rhythm”, while Joe’s piano work is spot on the original feel of the song gets lost in the production.
“I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But the Blues – Do Nothin’ til You Hear from Me” featuring the vocals of Sharon Jones showcase the big band blues sound from the early days, Sharon kills on this tune. It is apparent that Joe isn’t afraid of going against tradition and freely incorporates synthesizers, percussion and Steve Vai guitars into the mix without apologies.
Joe takes on “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)” and in my opinion is the one that brings out the best of his vocal style and by the end of the song you start to empathize with him. “Perdido – Satin Doll” is a great tune with a Latin flavor featuring the amazing vocals of Lillian Viera from the Dutch band Zuco 103 sung in Portuguese. “The Mooch – Black and Tan Fantasy” another instrumental originally recorded by Ellington in the late ‘20s showcases the talented violinist Regina Carter.
The song that really left me scratching my head is the Ellington standard “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), this one pairing Joe with none other than Iggy Pop. Initially the tune is all Ellington with the piano and vibes playing off the drums, the vocals on the song are spare with Iggy’s addition of some spoken word and harmonies with Joe kind of make it work. Overall a good album from Joe and it is kind of what you expect from him these days, I would love to hear him take another crack at a pop album in the future but this will do for now.
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