Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Susie Meissner: I Wish I Knew

Susie Meissner: I Wish I Knew

By C. Michael Bailey
September 8, 2020
View read count

Over the past decade and three previous recordings, Philadelphia-based vocalist

Susie Meissner

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Susie Meissner has crafted an intelligently conceived and thoughtfully paced survey of the Great American Songbook. Meissner's considerations of the standard jazz repertoire, in concert with pianist

John Shaddy

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">John Shaddy's sturdy arrangements and educated performance manner, have emerged, evolving from chaste and reverent beginnings, into rich and supple layerings of stylistic and technical outreach with each subsequent recording.

Meissner's debut, I'll Remember April (Lydian Jazz, 2009), emerged as a fully realized collection of the most standard of standards. Whether a strolling "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" or a languidly humid "Never Let Me Go," Meissner delivered the goods with a clear-bell tone and brightly quaffed control. The addition of a tenor saxophone (

David Mann

woodwinds

" data-original-title="" title="">David Mann) and trumpet (

Greg Riley

woodwinds

" data-original-title="" title="">Greg Riley) to her solid rhythm section rounded out the routine mainstream jazz combo, who proved capable of close reading of The Songbook.

On I'm Confessin' (Lydian Jazz, 2011), Meissner adds her earlier horn front with

Wycliffe Gordon

trombone
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Wycliffe Gordon's solid trombone. Gordon brought his deep knowledge of 1920s through '40s popular music to the project providing that slight sepia tint to the music. Meissner remains in close orbit with better known standards, delivered with the same commanding confidence delivered on I'll Remember April. The singer embraces

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington and

Hoagy Carmichael

piano
1899 - 1981

" data-original-title="" title="">Hoagy Carmichael with equal fervor and authority.

Meissner's vision evolves and, at the same time, begins to quicken, on 2015's Tea for Two (Lydian Jazz), where the singer begins to mix things up beginning with a rare slow take on the title song, featuring the electronic valve instrument of

John Swanna

trombone

" data-original-title="" title="">John Swanna. The EVI updates the song in a surprising way, giving it just a nick of modernity within its shell of nostalgia. She also brings on the reeds of

Ken Peplowski

woodwinds
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Ken Peplowski and

Larry McKenna

saxophone, tenor
1937 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Larry McKenna who ground the recital firmly in the mainstream. This is a nocturnal recording anchored by "Moonlight Saving Time" and "Moonglow." Peplowski and McKenna strike the necessary conservative tone to counter Swanna's progressive stance.

Meissner's band from Tea for Two is kept mostly intact on I Wish I Knew with the exception of drummer

Byron Landham

drums
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Byron Landham replacing

Dan Monaghan

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Dan Monaghan at the trap set. This is not the only change. Meissner adjusts her repertoire outside of the tried and true to include the peripheral chestnuts like the opener "The Great City." The Curtis Lewis composition was first recorded by

Nancy Wilson

vocals
1937 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Nancy Wilson in 1960, showing up most recently on

Lauren Henderson

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Lauren Henderson's ?rmame (Brontosaurus Records, 2018). Meissner minds

Art Pepper

saxophone, alto
1925 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Peppers admonition to never start a set with a ballad. "The Great City" crackles with a steady and determined swing featuring her equally steady and determined delivery. John Swanna's clipped trumpet solo mimics the urban stop-and-go of city life.

But I Wish I Knew is equally a ballad recording featuring the title song, "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face," and "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye." All of these are performed with punctilious detail at blissful ballad tempos. "You Go to My Head" is the "Tea for Two" on I Wish I Knew. Meissner takes the song at a very slow pace. Not morphine-honey slow, buy reticent in a way that is carefully crafted like fine spirits. This is the song featuring Swana's EVI, which, like on "Tea for Two" he performs to great effect, approximating the tone of the flute and delivery of a Moog.

The disc highlight is a brisk and bright "In A Mellow Tone." Ken Peplowski provides the perfect swing foil to Meissner's down-the-middle delivery. Slippery and sly, Peplowski recalls the entire history of jazz clarinet in his solo, from

Johnny Dodds

clarinet
1892 - 1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Johnny Dodds to

Buddy DeFranco

clarinet
1923 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Buddy DeFranco. Meissner sounds perfectly comfortable in her foray into lesser considered standards. She is moving toward something significant, something of an enduring beauty, a testament to her vision.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

The Great City; I Wish I Knew; It Could Happen To You; I��ve Grown Accustomed to Your Face; Poinciana; Alfie; Hello Young Lovers; The Shadow of Your Smile Ev��ry Time We Say Goodbye; In a Mellow Tone; You Go To My Head; The Party��s Over.

Personnel

Susie Meissner

vocals

John Shaddy

piano

Lee Smith

bass

Byron Landham

drums

Ken Peplowski

woodwinds

Larry McKenna

saxophone, tenor

John Swanna

trombone

Paul Meyers

guitar

John Swana

electronics

Album information

Title: I Wish I Knew | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Lydian Jazz

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Petra Haden, Bill Frisell, Jimmy Hea...
< Previous

The Spell
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.