CD Review
Tom Andersen - Who Knows?
1.
Who Knows 2. Once I Was 3. Ghost In This House 4. When I Reach The Place I'm Goin'5. A Lovely Night 6. Another Tuesday 7. Then Again 8. Breezin' Along With The Breeze
9. I Fall To Pieces 10. Before We Say Goodbye
Produced by Tom Andersen and Kevin Jasper
OG03
Andersen opens with his own ‘Who Knows?’, delivering a bright, well-paced performance and immediately demonstrating his virtuosity in working long and complex phrases around a strict rhythmic accompaniment. Andersen has a deceptive ease of manner which lends itself particularly well to enabling the listener to grasp densely-packed lyrics without undue effort on their part; the words are perfectly clear and the meaning requires no additional emphasis to make an impact. Moving on to Hugh Prestwood’s catchy ‘Once I Was’, the country-feel allows Andersen to revert to a more traditional approach to his phrasing, but there is no sacrifice in quality or clarity. Having established a jaunty and optimistic opening, Andersen changes the mood with a second Prestwood song, ‘Ghost in This House’. No artist could be better suited to this material, for Andersen can summon a delicacy and sense of wistful despair with the deftness of a true craftsman. As the song unfolds, the very wisps of smoke evoked in the lyric are made manifest in the extraordinary vocal quality with which Andersen has been blessed. A master of the less-is-more school of performance, Andersen’s stamp on this song sets a new standard. Similar skill and mastery of fine sensibility is demonstrated in the simple but touching ‘Another Tuesday’, where Andersen again produces great depth of feeling from what in other hands would be the most mundane imagery.
Between these two highly evocative performances, Andersen lightens the mood with his lively take on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s ‘A Lovely Night’. Elsewhere, a charming rendition of ‘Breezing Along with the Breeze’ also serves to add variety and pace to the overall project. The latter song presages a simply stunning treatment of ‘I Fall to Pieces’ in which Andersen exhibits a masterful vocal control, building to the summit of the title phrase each time and avoiding the temptation to over-emphasise the sentiment, rendering it all the more poignant for that approach. Needless to say, without a sympathetic arranger and producer, much of this fine work could be trampled on in the studio; in Tim DiPasqua and Ian Herman, Tom Andersen has chosen very well indeed, for together they have produced an unmistakably modern album that has all the best old-fashioned qualities too.
Amidst all this quality, two tracks merit particular attention. Andersen’s own ‘Before We Say Goodbye’ is a beautifully-simple tribute to his songwriter antecedents and with it he has surely penned a cabaret standard that will provide many a performer with an entrancing song for their encore. Finally, in ‘When I Reach the Place I’m Goin’’, Andersen has fused much of the craftsmanship and insight already highlighted, using his plaintive voice to illuminate a lyric and take the listener to a new place for just a few minutes. Wherever it is that Tom Andersen is going, the listener can be grateful that we get to hitch a ride and travel in the company of this gifted performer.