Jazz Passengers - In Love (1994)

Jazz Passengers are a group of highly talented and imaginative downtown musicians and composers whose collective mission is to meld elements of lounge music and torch song with their own witty, avant-garde style. The idea of In Love's mouth-watering roster of guest singers (including jazzers Jimmy Scott and Bob Dorough, rockers Jeff Buckley and Freedy Johnston, soul sisters Mavis Staples and DK Dyson) interpreting a set of original songs is reason enough for high expectations. Unfortunately, there is something off-puttingly dry, pedantic, and hipper-than-thou about the album. None of the vocalists find much chemistry with the band (the most notable exception is Deborah Harry, who would go on to helm their superior follow-up, Individually Twisted). Moreover, the tunes tend to the shrill and herky-jerky and the lyrics rely more on quirkiness and irony than on sincerity or insight (though Dorough's trademark wordplay does build to an intoxicating climax). Surprisingly, veteran producer Hal Willner comes up with an antiseptic mix that only exacerbates the flaws. The problem with Jazz Passengers in Love is the chronic problem of its genre: artists privileging the head at the expense of the heart and hips.