If Giant Steps is too fast for you to follow and A Love Supreme is too much for you to take, Lush Life maybe the right Coltrane’s album for you. Beside a virtuoso, Trane was also a balladeer. He could play standards exceptionally well. The melodic lines on “Like Someone In Love” are so damn gorgeous that Trane performed as if he was truly in love, and he could pull it off even without the support of the piano’s harmony since Red Garland didn’t show up for the recording. If I were allowed but one Coltrane to share with my lady, Lush Life would be it. “I Love You” could sound like a banal romantic ballad, but not in a Latin vibe.

Not too long ago, Ha Tran made the following audacious statement: “Nhạc jazz VN tới nay thường là ‘râu ông nọ cắm cằm bà kia’ hoặc đu đưa cho có vẻ jazz một tí.” Now she is contributing a hot-tub, smooth bossa nova number on Tran Viet Tan’s new record, Biet. Despite her contradictory, I find her singing on the Latin-flavored “Vet Chan” way better than the electric shit she has done. She knows how to work the sensual lithe in her flow against the faintly syncopated arrangement. Elsewhere, she gives “Me Ganh Nuoc” a heart-lifting performance with such effortless control. And she pulls it off with just a simple accompaniment of piano and violin.

Beside Ha Tran, Biet features two other vocalists, Thanh Lam and Tung Duong, yet they couldn’t hold up to Ha Tran. Yes, even Thanh Lam too. Unlike Ha Tran, her flow is stilted on the Latin groove of “Dong Song.” She does not have the playfulness to ride the mid-tempo beat. The worse part is that Thanh Lam uses her vibrato all over the place, to the point where I just couldn’t take it anymore. Doctor Tan should have subscribed her some chill pills before she stepped into the booth. Tung Dung also seems to be limiting his range and recycling the same delivery lately. The versatile Tung Dung is hidden in Chay Tron.

As for songwriter/doctor Tran Viet Tan, I don’t know if he is a good doctor or not since I’ve never paid his office a visit. I do know for sure, however, is his passion for music. He knows how to make songs for his patients. Biet is a perfect album to be played in his waiting room. The first track would calm them down. The second track would ease their pain. The third track would anesthetize them until the time their name is called. The doc is in.

Dalena sings Vietnamese pretty damn good for white girl. Her other talent is English translation, in which she tends to stay faithful to the original context as much as she could without losing the natural flow. Oh My Sweet Love, a fantastic collaboration with Don Ho, showcases some of her finest takes on Christophe’s and Art Sullivan’s ballads. The opening “Hand In Hand” (“Main Dans La Main”) and title track, “Oh! Mon Amour,” once again proved Don Ho’s ability to connect with his female counterpart. They merged together like one and one still one. But then again Dalena’s nostalgia rendition of “Day of Winter” (“Tombe La Neige”) shows that even sweet love turns cold, and the only thing that is still fresh is memory:

I watch the snowfalls
It brings memories of you.
Our days of winter
Were the happiest we knew
Days we spent together
I thought we have forever
Fireside kisses linger
Sparkling promise on my finger
Now I sit and watch the snow
I have nowhere else to go
While cold and lonely seeming
I found happiness in dreaming.

Way before Nguyen Khang came along and scooped up songbird Diem Lien, Don Ho was her ideal match. Actually, Don Ho has always been a fantastic complement to his female singers since he is always capable of bringing the best out of them. His sensational duet with Diem Lien on Ngo Thuy Mien’s “Ban Tinh Cuoi” demonstrated their mutual companionship. By supporting one another, they blew fresh air into the standard. Instead of letting the male voice takes on the bridge, they meet each other half way. She sets up, “Ngay nao nguoi cho ta biet…,” he picks up, “Tinh la dang… cay…,” and brings it up all the way until the beat takes over. Mad props go to Thanh Lam for the intoxicating arrangement. Too bad, their joined album, Vinh Biet Mua He, only featured one duet. The other highlight of the album is the melancholy “Tinh Khuc Buon,” which is also a Ngo Thuy Mien’s song and produced by Thanh Lam. Don Ho’s cottony, sultry and whispery delivery is simply irresistible. Someone ought to upload the MTV clip of “Tinh Khuc Buon” on YouTube. The video was really well captured.

I didn’t call this guy “a jazz freak from Seattle” for nothing. He got me hooked on Time Out and now he got me kicking back to Dave Digs Disney, a refreshing cover of children tunes that even adults could enjoy. What makes the album so damn additive is the contrast between Dave Brubeck’s arpeggios and Paul Desmond’s simultaneous flow, in which one leaves potholes for the other to fill in while drummer Joe Morello and bassist Eugene Wright drive the rhythm section. Their rendition of “Some Day My Prince Will Come” had attracted not only the listeners, but also the jazz musicians.

Fuck Global Warming. R. Kelly’s heavy-sexualized Double Up is hotter than hell and more polluting than any climate crisis on earth. The days of bump and grind are long gone. Fellows, he’s done with fucking your wife and being trapped in the closet. Ladies, he’s no longer interested in just sticking his key into your ignition, but your girlfriend’s as well. As declared on the title track, he’s about to double up with two chicks, one in each joint.

Kelly is one sick motherfucker, but he doesn’t give a fuck. With his sultry voice lyricizing graphical contents over rousing beats, the R&B singer never fails to touch the G-spot. Even after he was caught on camera boning and pissing on a minor, and although he could face serious jail time if proven guilty, he still makes mad freaky recordings. On “The Zoo,” he boasts, “Girl, I got you so wet like a rain forest.” He sure rained on her with his urination. Then on “Sex Planet” he claims to touch your soul once he entered your black hole. Would you trust this pedophile? Sure you would.

On one side, Kelly could make inspirational records if he wants to. His mega hit for the Space Jam soundtrack, “I Believe I Can Fly,” was selected as a theme song for my class in high school. On the new album, he wrote, “Rise Up,” a heartfelt tribute to the Virginia Tech tragedy as well as “Havin’ a Baby,” a joy of being a father. On the flip side, he could be a real misogynist dickhead too. It’s disheartening to a hear the same guy who encouraged you with “I believe I can fly / I believe I can touch the sky / I think about it every night and day / Spread my wings and fly away” then turned around and dropped in your face with “Fuck me? Girl, fuck you. / … / The next time your ass gets horny / Go fuck one of your funky-ass friends. / Hell, you’ve probably doing that shit anyway.” But hey, that’s the multi-talented R. Kelly.

In the liner notes of I’ll Be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey, a tribute to her mother, Regina Carter writes, “Sometimes when it rains, it pours, but the sun does eventually come out.” From the happy-feet opening of Edvard Grieg’s “Anitra’s Dance” to the melodious composition of Duke Ellington’s “Blue Rose,” Carter and her musicians confirmed that the sun has shined again. While the effervescent scat singing of Dee Dee Bridgewater brings a blissful vibe to Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart’s “This Can’t Be Love,” Carter makes her violin swing on “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” as if Lady Ella was bringing down the house. This recording has indeed provided me with a little sunshine. Thank Ms. Carter (and brother Trong as well for hooking me up with the album).

In Dong Thoi Gian (1960s), Ice Ice Lady brings a bit of flavors, including the cha cha-tempo “Hoa Xoan Ben Them Cu” (Tuan Khanh) and lyrical ballad (nhac tru tinh) “Nua Dem Ngoai Pho” (Truc Phuong) to her repertoire. Her truth forte, however, remains with those intimate, slow-burning standards such as Trinh Cong Son’s “Phoi Pha,” Le Uyen Phuong’s “Vung Lay Cua Chung Ta” and Vu Thanh An’s “Tinh Khuc Thu Nhat.” Loving both the orchestrations and her behind-the-beat singings on those numbers.

Word up, Boo!

The best part of Quynh Vi’s final performance on Paris By Night Talent Show is not her impressive rendition of Trinh Cong Son’s “Mua Hong,” but watching her and Ky Duyen’s facial expression after Huynh Thi pulled some shit out of his ass. Not only he stuttered the way through, but also tried to fluff his way out by criticizing how “Mua Hong” has such a wide range that she couldn’t cover. Don’t you just love it when people make Trinh’s music sounded like it’s the most sophisticated piece of composition they have ever heard? Yet “Mua Hong” is just one of his straightforward, lyrical ballads. He also pointed out that she has chosen the wrong tune. What would you suggest, Mr. Thuy Nga’s Producer? Some melodrama shit like “Nguoi Ay va Toi, Anh Chon Ai?” so she could start ripping off her garments? Or should she have done what Trinh Lam did with Hoang Thi Tho’s “Mot Lan Cuoi” by turning it into a fucked-up, shouting jazz? That was the worse fusion I had ever heard, like eating pancakes with fish sauce, but you loved it. Come on man, sit your ass back in your executive chair.

With a track list filled with happy titles including “Get Happy,” “Happy Talk,” “Make Someone Happy,” and “Smile,” you would think that you’ll get a joyful treat from Tierney Sutton’s newest album. But On the Other Side of happiness is what Sutton goes for. Remember, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. / You make me happy, when skies are gray?” It was one of the most tuneful songs for kids, but Sutton isn’t singing it for the kids. She brings such a sad and doleful tone to the tune that when she ends with, “please don’t take my sunshine away,” you would feel as if she’s begging you not to take away her only hope. It takes risks to cover a standard, but it takes ball to completely reinventing the mood and tone of a standard, and that is what she has. With a sensational voice, an ingenious approach to harmonies, and an extraordinary scat-singing skill, she could pull off not only slow tempo, but also upbeat numbers. The way she wraps her vocals around the groovy rhythm section on “Sometimes I’m Happy” proves that she is a versatile vocalist who could make an already fun tune even more invigorating.