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Indianapolismusic.net

Blue Notes from Naptown

With Mina Keohane, April 15th - 21st 2004

In our quest to cover the entirety of the Indianapolis music community, Indianapolismusic.net presents "Blue Notes from Naptown," a weekly look at the Indy jazz scene written by Mina Keohane.

Two sides of "Club Bordeaux"
combine for a great record
CD Review by Mina Keohane

Artist: Jeff DeHerdt
Album: "Club Bordeaux"

According to Jeff DeHerdt's website, he has developed a form of Jazz-Pop (calling it either "Pazz" or "Jop"). It grew out of him growing up loving music by The Police and Billy Joel while also finding the greatness that is Monk and Bill Evans while studying at the Berklee College of Music.

Describing this type of music (I'll go with the formal "Jazzular") is always difficult so that you really give them the right idea. You could say Kenny G and Mindi Abair fall into the genre. You could say Harry Connick Jr. is in there too, as well as Pat Metheny (with things like "Imaginary Day"), Medeski, Martin and Wood, and some albums by Herbie Hancock. See what I mean, it's tough, but I'll try my best.

Jeff DeHerdt's latest album "Club Bordeaux" has two sides to it, literally. On the back cover it says "Side 1" and "Side 2," separating the vocal tunes from the instrumental tunes. He says it's a throw back to the days of vinyl (but you kids at home shouldn't flip the CD over). To me it's a little more Janus than that.

Side 1 contains six vocal pop songs that sound like what you would get if you ever crossed Steely Dan with Randy Newman. The songs all tell stories, a lot sprinkled with humor, and have jazz elements, but are unmistakably pop. DeHerdt's vocals are on point and sound good. I'd go back to the Randy Newman reference, but I had a friend over while listening to this and he mentioned thinking DeHerdt having a little of a Kurt Elling sound. My favorites off this side are the title track "Club Bordeaux", an up shuffle with a really cool chorus, and the lovely "waltz" ballad "Few and Far Between." "Shining Your Light" has a gospel influence to it, which also shows up later on Side 2 with the instrumental tune called "Maybe it Is."

On the virtual flip side, Side 2 sounds almost like a different person's writing at first. The further into the record you go, however, the more of DeHerdt's signature sound begins to shine through. Still, Side 2 is more straight jazz than "jazzular." I really liked these tunes. They're nicely written and really well played.

Very much like Steely Dan, Jeff DeHerdt recruited some cream-of-the-crop players for his album. To name a few: he's got Jack Helsley and John Huber sharing bass duties, Mike Stricklin lending his blazing chops on the saxes/flute and Peter Kienle on guitar. DeHerdt's playing is also very pleasant, never obtrusive and always in taste with the style of the tune.

The highlight of this CD for me, however, was the production/engineering. Dave Weber handled recording duties down in Bloomington and, let me tell you, it sounds perfect. The horn levels are right where they should be and they don't sound tinny. I really love to hear a recording with impeccable precision on the mix without having it sound washed out like most of today's pop music.

Jeff DeHerdt's "Club Bordeaux" has all the elements of a good album, which makes the album, well…quite good. Whether you'd dig the vocal side or the instrumental side more is entirely up to you and your tastes. There's a good chance you'll like both sides equally. If you need help deciding which side is your favorite, you can hear the record performed live Friday at Jeff's CD Release party at the Jazz Kitchen. For more info visit www.jeffdeherdt.com.