{"id":13106,"date":"2017-08-14T05:30:15","date_gmt":"2017-08-14T09:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=13106"},"modified":"2017-08-15T07:03:30","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T11:03:30","slug":"album-review-bj-leiderman-bj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/14\/album-review-bj-leiderman-bj\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: BJ Leiderman — BJ"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"You know that Morning Edition<\/em> theme on National Public Radio? BJ Leiderman wrote that, and a lot more for NPR besides. Understandably wanting to trade on those achievements, the 61-year old musician-composer planned to title his debut album Natural Public Leiderman<\/i> (get it?) but apparently cooler \u2013 or more litigation-focused \u2013 minds prevailed, and after a lengthy gestation, the album has finally appeared under the simple title of BJ<\/i>.<\/p>\n

A hallmark of Leiderman’s NPR work \u2013 and what makes it so effective \u2013 is its earworm quality. The ability to write a \u201chook\u201d \u2013 a signature melody \u2013 is almost a mystical thing. There are, after all, only twelve notes in the Western scale, and a finite number of sequences in which they can be arranged. From that latter number, remove all the ones that sound \u201cwrong\u201d (unless you’re an avant-garde composer or listener) and you’re left with not all that many. Now strip out all the ones that have been used (the \u201cSmoke on the Water\u201d riff, the opening strains of \u201cSunshine of Your Love,\u201d the annoying melody of Frank Mills’ \u201cMusic Box Dancer\u201d \u2026 all of ’em) and you get a sense of how difficult it is to create a new one.<\/p>\n

Heck, even the composer of the \u201cAll Things Considered\u201d theme couldn’t do it: that melody, based around an eight-note motif played in a succession of keys, is unnervingly similar to \u201cPattern No. 58\u201d in Jerry Coker’s seminal workbook published in 1970, Patterns for Jazz<\/i>. But Leiderman didn’t write (or \u201cwrite\u201d) the \u201cATC\u201d theme.<\/p>\n

Asheville-based Leiderman’s seemingly effortless ability to craft the aforementioned hooks is on brilliant display throughout the fifteen tunes on BJ<\/i>. With a style \u2013 both vocally and instrumentally \u2013 reminiscent of 70s hitmaker Andrew Gold (the guy whose \u201cThank You for Being a Friend\u201d would find an eventual home as the theme song for The Golden Girls<\/i>), Leiderman has a (mostly) winning sense of humor that pervades these songs.<\/p>\n

There’s nothing especially contemporary about the songs on BJ<\/i>; timeless might be a better word. These tunes could have been written and\/or recorded at most any time after the early ’70s invasion of the singer-songwriter (Carole King, Jackson Browne, James Taylor). But Leiderman has a pop sensibility \u2013 meant here in the best way \u2013 that among that crowd, only King would possess.<\/p>\n

Leiderman’s lyrics are often silly but smart; they’re the kind of lyrics that will appeal to fans of Garrison Keillor, former longtime host of A Prairie Home Companion<\/i>. Of course neither Keillor nor most of his guests would have ever contemplated a song like \u201cBitch,\u201d a superficially nasty but ultimately fun and upbeat tune on BJ<\/i>.<\/p>\n

BJ Leiderman’s acoustic piano and voice are at the center of most every track; his youthful vocals never for a moment suggest that Leiderman is into his seventh decade on this planet. And supple, flawless accompaniment is consistently provided by the musicians backing Leiderman.<\/p>\n

It would be a misstatement to suggest that BJ<\/i> is a rocking album, but there are moments of near-rocking on \u201cPray\u201d (Billy Joel style) and \u201cWaterside\u201d (shades of Elton John).<\/p>\n

Now and then, however, Leiderman seems in danger of losing his musical identity completely: \u201cMoney\u201d sounds uncannily like a previously-unheard track off of 52<\/i>nd<\/i><\/sup> Street<\/i>. The world does not need two Billy Joels, thank you. And occasionally the album veers toward lighter-than-air, Weather Channel \u201cLocal on the 8’s\u201d territory: the instrumental \u201cBela BJ 1\u201d does feature Bela Fleck, but the juxtaposition of Clavinet and banjo is perhaps a bit too slick. (And BJ<\/i>‘s three takes on the approach is at least two too many.) Finally, though its title is clever enough, the brief faux-outtake \u201cWeekend Perdition\u201d is a pointless note upon which to end an otherwise solid collection.<\/p>\n

But those are outliers; most of BJ<\/i> is memorably tuneful fare. Some of it’s quite funny, like \u201cMom’s Telephone Messages,\u201d a track reminiscent in its structure of Ben Folds Five’s \u201cYour Most Valuable Possession.\u201d And the occasional weighty lyrical themes \u2013 helpfully telegraphed by titles like \u201cHistory 911\u201d and the gospel-flavored \u201cPraise One Another\u201d are delivered in heartfelt style without a hint of maudlin sentiment.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, BJ Leiderman’s self-titled debut album is an uneven collection of songs, one that could have benefited from some judicious pruning. But its high points remain many, and BJ<\/i> is well worth a listen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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