Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Marjorie Barnes & Millennium Jazz Orchestra: Both Sides Now

Marjorie Barnes & Millennium Jazz Orchestra: Both Sides Now

By Jack Bowers
June 22, 2023
View read count

Marjorie Barnes

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Marjorie Barnes, a native New Yorker who has been living in Europe for almost fifty years including several decades in the Netherlands, summons her many years of experience to brighten and embroider Both Sides Now, her impressive debut recording with the world-class

Millennium Jazz Orchestra

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Millennium Jazz Orchestra (MJO). Barnes sang in the mid-1970s with the multiple Grammy Award-winning ensemble, The Fifth Dimension, and has worked with such luminaries as

Frank Sinatra

vocals
1915 - 1998

" data-original-title="" title="">Frank Sinatra,

Lena Horne

vocals
1917 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">Lena Horne,

Sammy Davis Jr.

vocals
1925 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Sammy Davis Jr.,

Billy Eckstine

vocals
1914 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Billy Eckstine and many others. She is relaxed and comfortable in a big-band setting, astutely enriching the splendid arrangements by MJO director

Joan Reinders

composer / conductor

" data-original-title="" title="">Joan Reinders.

The program that Barnes and Reinders have chosen is an attractive blend of standards and one original, closing with a trio of classics, Joni Mitchell's spellbinding "Both Sides Now" and

Michel Legrand

piano
1932 - 2019

" data-original-title="" title="">Michel Legrand's "I Will Wait for You" and "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" Barnes is a throwback to an era in which singers let a song tell its story, eschewing any flamboyance or pretension that would subvert the composer's purpose. She simply sings each song the way it was meant to be sung.

Reinders, meanwhile, lends ample support by deftly arranging every number and choosing a single soloist to complement Barnes on most of them. Tenor saxophonist

Joao Driessen

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Joao Driessen escorts her on the Gershwin brothers' "Soon," which opens the session, and

Henry Mancini

composer / conductor
1924 - 1994

" data-original-title="" title="">Henry Mancini's "Moon River," alto saxophonist Gerlo Hesselink on "Never Will I Marry" and the lone original composition, "I Haven't Got Anything Better to Do." Pianist

Dirk Balthaus

" data-original-title="" title="">Dirk Balthaus is front and center on "Detour Ahead," flautist Rob Sijben on "A Sleepin' Bee," baritone saxophonist Job Helmers on "That's All," trumpeter

Suzan Veneman

trumpet
b.1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Suzan Veneman on "Both Sides Now" and "I Will Wait for You." Needless to say, every solo is exemplary.

That is a word which suits Barnes too, as she skates easily through every number with nary a false note or misstep. Listening to Both Sides Now, it is easy to see how Barnes could have replaced the peerless Marilyn McCoo, as she did for two years in The Fifth Dimension. Even now, nearly half a century onward, Barnes seems to have lost none of the elegance and charm she brought to that gig. She and the MJO make a lovely couple.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Soon; I Haven��t Got Anything Better to Do; Moon River; Something to Live For; Detour Ahead; Never Will I Marry; A Sleepin�� Bee; Smile; That��s All; Both Sides Now; I Will Wait for You; How Do You Keep the Music Playing?

Personnel

Joan Reinders

composer / conductor

Marjorie Barnes

vocals

Additional Instrumentation

Bas Konings, Suzan Veneman, Florian Sperzel, Herman Nijkamp, Anne-Marie ten Heggeler: trumpet, flugelhorn; Gerlo Hesselink, Rob Sijben: alto sax, soprano sax, flute; Joao Driessen, Luuk de Vries: tenor sax, flute, clarinet; Job Helmers: baritone sax, bass clarinet; Gregor Sperzel, Simon Pugsley, Jan Peter van der Hoeve: trombone; Lars de Bie: bass trombone; Dirk Balthaus: piano; Bart Tarenskeen: bass; Imre Kruis: drums.

Album information

Title: Both Sides Now | Year Released: 2023 | Record Label: ZenneZ Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Don't Put the Hammar Down!
< Previous

Dream Box
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.