Jeremy Shrader, Ed Finney - The Moon Is in Love (2013)

Tracklist

01. The Moon Is in Love
02. Embraceable You
03. East of the Sun
04. Daytime, Nighttime
05. Lovers in Love
06. A Kiss to Build a Dream On
07. Life Is What You Make It
08. How Deep Is the Ocean?
09. True
10. Blue Moon



"It may be time to work the martini shaker and stare at the moon. If that's the case, Jeremy Shrader and Ed Finney have got you covered. The Moon Is in Love is a collection of originals and jazz standards from the 1930s. Shrader sings and plays trumpet over Finney's jazz guitar. The pairing is spare, but it gives them room to play. And do they ever.

The duo's compositions stand up to some heavy comparisons too. They cover the Gershwins, Berlin, and Rodgers and Hart. The standards give the instruments an opportunity to interplay in a way that's engaging. The original songs carry the load based on a couple of virtues:

Shrader's voice bounces along fine on the standards and also keeps up with Finney's compositional workout in "Lovers in Love." "Daytime, Nighttime" is a Shrader original that divines the mood and harmonic textures of the age into a masterfully written song. It's a case study of a golden age in American songcraft.

Shrader's tune "True" veers off the program a bit with a nod to the 1960s. The song incorporates the virtues of '30s songwriting but puts an R&B energy behind it. What Finney does on this great set of chord changes is phenomenal. His guitar tone is so full and powerful and his phrasing so precise and lyrical that it's like watching a rodeo bull dance ballet. You almost can't believe it."

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