Eugenie Jones - Come Out Swingin' (2015)

Tracklist

01. Swing Me
02. All of Me
03. A Way About You
04. Sweet Summer Love
05. 24/7
06. I'm Alright / Samba Ending
07. I Could Get Lost in Your Eyes
08. Rain Rain Don't Go Away
09. Bye Bye Blackbird
10. Begin the Beguine
11. Run Devil Run
12. It's a Man's Man's Man's World
13. I'm Alright (Radio Edit)

With her lavishly praised 2013 debut album, Black Lace Blue Tears, behind her jazz vocalist and lyrist Eugenie Jones immediately faced questions about whether she was a one-hit wonder or a real contender. Sure, she displayed quick rhythmic reflexes, a silken tone, and real songwriting savvy, but did Jones have what it takes to go the distance, to sustain a career in jazz’s cruelly competitive ring. Her even more impressive second album, Come Out Swingin’, makes a persuasive case for Jones’s status as a heavyweight talent. Seasoned by several years of steady work following the release of Black Lace, the Seattle-area singer displays the rhythmic authority, emotional insight, and melodic invention of an artist who can hold her own in any company.

"Having the one project to my credit, I wondered if it was that a fluke, do I really have a gift, can I continue? Almost immediately I started writing again and put those questions to rest. This album was a deliberate attempt to continue to grow and progress. I set that desire for improvement as a bull’s-eye to shoot for and kept that focus throughout each step of this project.”

For starters, Jones possesses the wisdom to keep essentially the same battle-tested band in her corner, most importantly the incisive and consummately supportive pianist/arranger Bill Anschell. Veteran bassist Clipper Anderson and versatile guitarist Michael Powers also returned to action. Two new faces join the core band: veteran mulit-talented horn man, Jay Thomas and the new face of drummer D’Vonne Lewis, a rising force on the Seattle scene who plays with tremendous poise and spirit.

In this high-energy swing project, it doesn’t take long for the musicians’ combustible chemistry to ignite. Like her first album, Come Out Swingin’ focuses on Jones’s original songs. She announces her rhythmic agenda with the first track, “Swing Me,” a self-possessed celebration of unbridled desire. Her brief, exciting version of the standard “All of Me,” almost serves as a thematic preamble to her slinky “A Way About You,” a song that could easily be mistaken for a sophisticated piece of Bacharach/David.

Jones cast a wide net when it comes to finding inspiration as a composer. She takes the smoldering up a notch with “Sweet Summer Love,” a song that emerged after watching Marvin Ritt’s moody and sweat-streaked 1958 film The Long Hot Summer, a kind of mashup of Faulkner and Tennessee Williams. Her love of cinema returns on “Rain Rain Don’t Go Away,” a seductive song about self-comfort that never lapses into self-pity. She’s at her most sleek and self-assured on “I’m Alright,” a soulful declaration of independence propelled by some tasty D’Vonne Lewis trap work. With a tinge of sweetness and sass, Jones’s “24/7” brings contemporary issues of sexuality into the discussion while her, “I Could Get Lost In Your Eyes,” offers a beautifully crafted ballad for listeners to relish and pine over. The final original offering, “Run Devil Run” opens with an anachronistic needle-drop, spinning a tale of relationship reckoning while veteran guitarist Michal Powers sets a cool swinging tempo throughout. By closing the album with a searing version of James Brown’s 1966 chart-topping R&B hit “It's a Man’s World” Jones leaves listeners wondering just what else she’s got up her sleeves. Belting R&B with such authority after her sultry jazz vocals Jones seems to promise more revelations in the future.

“Black Lace was a look into my personality, and begins a story. Come Out Swingin’ continues that story. And of course the more you tell a story, the deeper you go. That’s what’s happening here in terms of lyrics and songs.”

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