Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Kate McGarry: The Subject Tonight Is Love

Kate McGarry: The Subject Tonight Is Love

By Jerome Wilson
February 26, 2018
View read count

Kate McGarry: The Subject Tonight Is Love

This is far from an ordinary collection of jazz-styled love songs. Vocalist

Kate McGarry

vocals

" data-original-title="" title="">Kate McGarry, guitarist

Keith Ganz

guitar
b.1972

" data-original-title="" title="">Keith Ganz and pianist

" data-original-title="" title="">Gary Versace have put together a program that covers such varied aspects of love as romantic love, love for family, love for self, and love for mankind. They do this through mixing a lot of rock, folk and blues motifs with jazz in intimate arrangements that really put across the powerful emotions concerned in their songs.

They sprinkle a few venerable standards throughout the program but they are all done in imaginative ways. "Gone With The Wind" and "Indian Summer" are performed in a loose and playful improvisational style, with McGarry singing wispily over Versace's prickly piano chords and Ganz's electric bass. On "Secret Love" and "My Funny Valentine" her soft, wide-eyed, vocalizing make the songs sound like hushed confessions which are further enhanced by their accompaniment. "Secret" spotlights guitar sound that moves from folk chording to a bossa nova groove, while on"My Funny Valentine" Versace's electric piano glows and Ganz's guitar has the thick. molten sound of

Joni Mitchell

vocals
b.1943

" data-original-title="" title="">Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro. These include "Losing Strategy #4," a carefully sung piece about the emptiness of revenge, with piano and accordion simmering under the vocal; and "Climb Down," an ominous swampy blues where McGarry alternately purrs and wails about reconnecting with her ancestors over thick slide guitar and chilling organ. Another highlight is "Fair Weather," a lovely ballad about brotherhood co-written by Benny Golson and Kenny Dorham, with spare piano and bass guitar solos alongside featherlight singing. Perhaps the most beautiful single moment is "She Always Will"/The River," where McGarry sings with high, breathy determination over a pulsing piano accompaniment before all three musicians converge on an undulating rhythm, McGarry singing wordlessly as Ganz and Versace intertwine for a gorgeous, flowing sound.

Kate McGarry's voice conveys an innocence and intimacy that is a perfect match for the rich music and profound words present in this project. Ganz and Versace, for their part, contribute a delicacy and fluidity that make this music linger in your head. This is a deceptively powerful meditation on all meanings of love and an early pick for one of the best albums of 2018.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Prologue: The Subject Tonight Is Love; Secret Love; Climb Down/Whiskey You're the Devil; Gone with the Wind; Fair Weather; Playing Palha?o; Losing Strategy #4; My Funny Valentine; Mr. Sparkle/What a Difference a Day Makes; She Always Will/The River; Indian Summer; Epilogue: All You Need Is Love.

Personnel

Kate McGarry

vocals

Kate McGarry: vocals, piano (7); Keith Ganz: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, acoustic bass guitar; Gary Versace: piano, keyboard, organ, accordion; Obed Calvaire: drums (3); Ron Miles: trumpet (12).

Album information

Title: The Subject Tonight Is Love | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Binxtown Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

New Road: Iowa Memoirs
< Previous

Old Soul
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.