{"id":99,"date":"2009-11-17T10:25:24","date_gmt":"2009-11-17T15:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=99"},"modified":"2009-11-17T10:25:24","modified_gmt":"2009-11-17T15:25:24","slug":"album-review-jason-yates-self-titled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2009\/11\/17\/album-review-jason-yates-self-titled\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Jason Yates (self titled)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JasonThe first three notes on Jason Yates<\/strong>‘ new self-titled album sound like the opening of Squeeze<\/strong>‘s “Black Coffee in Bed”. But that’s not at all the direction in which Yates goes. On this keyboard-led album Jason Yates covers territory that will be pleasantly familiar to fans of The Band<\/strong>, Randy Newman<\/strong>, Van Morrison<\/strong> and other iconic artists.<\/p>\n

Yates is note-perfect in his use of timeless keyboard instruments. Acoustic piano, tack piano, Wurlitzer, Rhodes, Hammond; he plays them all and exhibits a keen understanding of the nuances of each instrument; they’re more than punched-up samples; they’re different instruments, each designed to be played in its own manner. Though he’s clearly an excellent musician, he resists the temptation to overplay — no Lee Michaels<\/strong> is he — and his songs are all the better for it.<\/p>\n

“Nobody’so Far” puts Yates’ whisky-and-ciggies styled voice atop a familiar chord progression; sympathetic guitar figures and a gospel-tinged organ add interest to the repetitive-by-design tune.<\/p>\n

“Comin’ On Back” kicks off sounding a lot like Neil Young and Crazy Horse<\/strong>; stuttering distorted guitar and a plodding beat make the song sound like an outtake from Tonight’s the Night<\/em>. But where Crazy Horse would have kicked things into a long solo, Yates ends the tune and moves on.<\/p>\n

The countrified “Paper Tents” is an upbeat number in the style of The Band, with hints of Jackson Browne<\/strong>. “To Reason” puts a Wurlitzer electric piano out front of a shuffling tune; Yates’ nimble playing on the vintage keyboard makes the tune an album highlight; the understated solo is a delight.<\/p>\n

In fact, “To Reason” displays a neat trick that Yates manages throughout the album: he’s able to layer multiple keyboard instruments (in this instance, Wurlitzer, acoustic piano and organ) while somehow avoiding the feeling<\/em> of a keyboard-dominated record. He’s sure enough of his songwriting and arrangement skills that — apparently — he doesn’t feel the need to hit listeners over the head with keyboards.<\/p>\n

“To Chance” builds a track atop a gospel piano and organ arrangement that will please fans of, say, Billy Preston<\/strong>. The presence of a female vocal chorus only furthers the effect.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, Yates has quite a reputation as a player’s player. A member of Ben Harper<\/strong>‘s band, he’s played on sessions for Macy Gray, Taj Mahal, Toots & the Maytals<\/strong> and many others. On this, his second solo album, he stakes out musical territory and claims it as his own.<\/p>\n

If there’s any element of Yates’ album that’s unsatisfying, it’s the disc’s brevity. Nine songs — none of them long — and it’s over. But as a working example of the leave-’em-wanting-more philosophy, Jason Yates<\/em> is nothing short of a success.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION:
\n\"I<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first three notes on Jason Yates‘ new self-titled album sound like the opening of Squeeze‘s “Black Coffee in Bed”. But that’s not at all the direction in which Yates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}