From his economical, lyrical approach to his lush, muted tone to his incorporation of classical, pop and Brazilian flavors, Chris Botti’s Impressions of Miles Davis is all over the record. While “En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor” gives an impression of Miles Davis and Gil Evans era, “You Are Not Alone” reflects Davis’s late career. No crime in that. The album featured standout collaborations including Caroline Campbell in “Oblivion,” Herbie Hancock in “Tango Suite” and David Foster in “Summertime.” In the Gershwin’s cover, Botti’s slow, clear phrasing on the trumpet is Miles-inspired. Very impressive nevertheless.

In two live sets recorded on October 23, 1968 at Art D’Lugoff’s Top of the Gate, Bill Evans Trio, which included bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell, laid down some outstanding jazz standards such as a swing version of “My Funny Valentines,” a melodious rendition of Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” and two brilliant takes on Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight.” Although Evans was the driving force behind the trio, both Gomez and Morell were also at the top of their game. In “Autumn Leaves,” Gomez played some of the finest basslines backing up by Morell’s crystal light brush strokes in addition to keeping up with Evans’s changing in tempos and shifting in moods. Great chemistry produced great feelings. Kudos to engineer George Klabin for the excellent sound setting of the sessions.

The first time I heard Ngọc Lan’s voice, I flipped the fuck out. Huỳnh Anh’s “Rừng Lá Thay Chưa” had been covered before, but never with such elegant, effervescent, emotional touch Ngọc Lan brought to it. It was love at first sound. I fell for her angelic alto immediately. I was in awed with the effortlessness she maneuvered her way around the rumba rhythm.

A couple of days ago, I came across a CD of Ngọc Lan’s recordings I made for myself ages ago so I could bring with me on roadtrips. Upon re-listening to the collection, I realized that my personal favorites were arranged in rumba. Ngọc Lan was a versatile vocalist who covered a wide range of styles, including Vietnamese lyrical songs, translated love melodies, ballroom-dance tunes, and French romantic ballads, but my personal preference has to be the rumba flavor simply because she had the flow.

I can listen to “Chuyện Phim Buồn,” “Yêu Đến Muôn Đời,” and “Dòng Sông Quê Tôi” again and again just to hear her soft, sweet, and sensual voice floating like crystal clear water over the hypnotic Latin rhythm arranged by Quang Nhật. With “Chuyện Phim Buồn,” in which Phạm Duy translated into Vietnamese from Sue Thompson’s “Sad Movies (Make Me Cry),” Ngọc Lan sang like she was the main character in the film. One could hear the sadness of betrayal from a lover as well as the clever cover up of emotion when her mother asked her why she was sad: “Dối má tối nay rằng / Đã lỡ trót xem phim buồn / Và xem đúng ngay một phim thật đỗi buồn / Làm lòng con xót xa.” (“And mama saw the tears and said ‘what’s wrong?’ / And so to keep from telling her a lie / I just said ‘sad movies make me cry’”). As for “Dòng Sông Quê Tôi” I didn’t realize the song was translated from “La Playa” until I searched it up. The Vietnamese lyrics, again masterfully translated by Phạm Duy, fit the harmony so well that I thought it was a true Vietnamese ballad. No less impressive was “Yêu Đến Muôn Đời,” which was also a foreign ballad translated by Trung Hành.

Another outstanding rumba recording was “Giáng Tiên Nữ,” which based on the theme of “Black Orpheus,” with Vietnamese lyrics written by Phạm Duy. Again the flow was just impeccable, as she brought some sensuality to the lyrics: “Vùi trong hơi ấm nồng nàn / Thịt da thơm ngát tình nồng / Cùng chăn gối ấm tình hồng / tình ôi ngất ngây.” (I am not even going to attempt to translate.)

Ngọc Lan’s rendition of Lam Phương’s “Xin Thời Gian Qua Mau” is still one of the best interpretations I’ve heard. The heart-rending saxophone, the crisp snare drum, and Ngọc Lan’s swag made the tune so damn intimate. I could almost feel her breath as if she were singing into my ears: “Ta đã quen, quen từng hơi thở / Quen tiếng cười và sóng mát đưa tin / Tám mùa đông cây rừng khô trụi lá / Chưa bao giờ một phút sống xa nhau.”

How did Ngọc Lan sing the rumba so damn good? She embraced the rumba, caressed the rumba, and made lucious love to the rumba.

Updated June 23, 2022

Yesterday I came across an old casette I have labeled, “Don Ho’s Collection.” To my surprise, I couldn’t even play the casette inside the house. The only tape deck I have is in my car. I played it on my way to work and the songs brought back some fond memories.

I started to become one of Don Ho’s biggest fans when I watched him performed “Say You Will” on Asia production’s first video. Later on I found out that a friend of my sister also really digged him. She let me borrowed a couple of Don Ho’s tapes and I was thrilled. One of the tapes was Don Ho and Ngoc Bich’s Yesterday. I was impressed with his part on the album; therefore, I only taped his songs to a blank tape, but not Ngoc Bich’s.

I couldn’t remember the exact date, but it had to be between 1993 and 1994. I came to the US around 1991 and at the time my English was pretty bad. I had no idea who the Beatles and Bee Gees were. Don Ho’s rendition of “Yesterday” was probably my first exposure to American pop music. To kill time, I transcribed “Yesterday,” “Something,” “Here Comes the Sun,” “To Love Somebody” and “You Can Do Magic.” I didn’t understand some of the American words so I wrote down the tone in Vietnamese and just sang along. I spent quite a bit of time listening and remembering the lyrics. I loved his Vietnamese part of the songs and wished that he only sang them in Vietnamese even though he did quite well in English.

Listening to the songs again takes me down to memory lane. Something about the effortless in his phrasing and the warmness in his slightly smoky timbre that got me every time. I can still remember clearly the opening lines of “Yesterday”:

Mới hôm qua
Buồn phiền trong anh như đã bay đi xa
Mãi đến hôm nay tim còn thấy hoan ca
Ôi lòng ngỡ như là ngày hôm qua.

Boy, the good old yesterdays.

With the support from Stephan Crump’s strong, anchored bass and Marcus Gilmore’s crisp, propulsive drums, renowned pianist Vijay Iyer explores with shifting polyrhythms on Accelerando. Whether reinterpreting Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature,” Heatwave’s “The Star of a Story” or Duke Ellington’s “The Village of the Virgins,” the trio makes each experimentation highly artful yet accessible. One way to approach Accelerando is just to sit back and feel the grooves.

Five years after introducing her impressive debut, Xin Cho Tôi, Thủy Tiên follows up with yet another Trịnh Công Sơn record titled Ra Đồng Giữa Ngọ. The second album has a few lighter moments like the folksy vibe on the title track and the Latin flavor on “Chiều Một Mình Qua Phố.”

Yet Thủy Tiên sounds best when she expresses Trịnh’s lyrics with her personal interpretation. On “Lời Thiên Thu Gọi,” She sings in slow tempo and phrases each word with ease while backing up by soulful violin and sensational piano. “Phúc Âm Buồn” gets a dramatic orchestration with a duet treatment. Đoàn Minh’s charming tenor is a perfect complement to Thủy Tiên’s sensual alto. “Xin Mặt Trời Ngủ Yên,” “Chiều Trên Quê Hương Tôi” and “Một Ngày Như Mọi Ngày” are well executed.

The album closes out with a new arrangement of “Xin Cho Tôi” to remind her fans where she has left off from the last album. Five-year span is a long time for a release, but the wait is definitely worthwhile. Thủy Tiên is a perfectionist and the Ra Đồng Giữa Ngọ proves it.

Melody Gardot flirted with Latin flavors in her stunning 2009 My One and Only Thrill. In the new release, The Absence, Ms. Gardot devoted the entire record to the bottomless swaying rhythm. With the support of Brazilian guitarist and composer Heitor Pereira, Ms. Gardot takes listeners to Brazil, Portugal and Argentina for a journey of musical exploration.

From the sweet morning dew in “Mira” to the open sea in “Amalia” to the street vibe (with church bell ringing) in “Lisboa,” Gardot offers a spellbinding travelogue with her effortless vocal delivery backing up by Mr. Pereira’s lush, elegant arrangements, in which string orchestration weaving in and out of acoustic picking guitar seamlessly. Also what makes Pareiar’s work so damn mesmerizing is the way he skillfully arranging his instrumentation around Gardot’s voice rather than the other way around. In “Goodbye,” the music ebbs and flows and even growls to accomodate Gardot’s bluesy phrasings.

The Absence marks another expansive musical direction for the multi-talented singer-songwriter. Can’t wait to see where she would take us next in her musical discovery.

So I have been listening to Norah Jones’s …Little Broken Hearts in the past couple of weeks and I was not planning on writing a review, but then the album started to grow on me. Now I can’t seem to get it out of my brain, particularly Jones’child-liking phrasing in “Say Goodbye” backing up by melodious keyboard licks and groovy beats courtesy of Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton. I even started singing in my head lines like, “She’s 22 and she’s loving you.”

While Jones has never been an energetic singer, what makes this collaborative project with Danger Mouse exciting is that the talented producer knows how to nudge Jones up a notch. In the title track, he provides the right tools, midtempo beats mixed in the 60’s psychedelic electric guitar, for her to take revenge: “Beautiful soldiers in their beds / Making love inside their hands / With no chance to defend / Tonight could be their end.” The drama escalates on “Miriam.” Once again, Danger Mouse sets up the cinematic backdrop for Jones to do the Quentin Tarantino’s style of killing: “You know you done me wrong / I’m gonna smile when I take your life.”

From the bouncy “Happy Pills” to the heavy “4 Broken Hearts,” Norah Jones and Danger Mouse offer some of the sweetest revenges ever heard on record even though it takes some times to sink in.

“American Idol” closed out its 11th season yesterday with yet another pretty white guy with guitar winning the contest. How unpredictable was that? Good thing is I didn’t follow this season like I did with the last. Haley Reinhart who came in third in season 10 was a winner in my book. She has a sultry timbre when she goes low and a big-ass pipe when she goes high. Her sexy appearance is a bonus to the eyes as well.

Reinhart showcased a variety of styles on “Idol,” noticeably jazz and blues, but her debut Listen Up! offers classic pop-soul flavors, which sandwiched her between Amy Winehouse and Adele. “Wasted Tears” has Winehouse’s contemporary pop combined with Motown spirit, but Reinhart puts her own spin to it. “Undone” is a big ballad with keyboard and strings that immediately draws some resemblances to Adele’s “Someone Like You.”

Listen Up! features easy, groovy hits including “Now That You’re Here,” “Hit the Ground Runnin'” and “Keep Coming Back” to satisfy the mainstream as well as 19 Entertainment/Interscope Records. For Reinhart, let’s hope that Listen Up! is just a commercial obligation.

At a quick glance, Lênh Đênh Nhớ Phố is yet another Trinh Cong Son’s record from an unknown singer (at least to this reviewer). Once listened, however, the album holds it own. Although Giang Trang’s sultry, raspy voice is the main attraction, the key success of the album is the tight integration between the vocalist, violinist Anh Tú and guitarist Anh Hoàng. In each track, the three come together as a unit.

“Ru Đời Đi Nhé” is a perfect example. The violin sings the opening bars backing up by the strumming guitar. Giang Trang enters the next two bars, but then the violin joins in again to create a marvelous word and wordless interaction. Because “Ru Đời Đi Nhé” is so well-known that the words could be left off without losing the listeners who try to follow the lyrics. While Giang Trang sings with ease like she’s narrating her personal story, the violin soars on the high register to create a deep emotional impact.

“Như Tiếng Thở Dài,” “Vườn Xưa” and “Lời Thiên Thu Gọi” are excellent interpretation. The relaxed tempo in the intimate setting makes the listeners feel the music with their heart rather than just their ears. While “Đời Cho Ta Thế” gets an intoxicating bluesy lick, “Góp Lá Mùa Xuân” kicks up a notch with a groovy ostinato and “Mưa Hồng” is treated with a savory bossa-nova flavor.

To put it simply: Lênh Đênh Nhớ Phố is not a Trinh’s record to ignore. Must-listen.