JACK SPANN – Time, Time, Time, Time, Time

Daystorm Music 2016

Not a temporary thing – he’s here to stay: solid, soulful rocking from the bowels of Big Apple.

JACK SPANN - Time, Time, Time, Time, Time

JACK SPANN –
Time, Time, Time, Time, Time

You can take an artist out of Missouri but you can’t take St. Louis out of him: if the move to NYC made Jack Spann’s performances more suave – and brought the singer-songwriter Tony Visconti’s approval – it didn’t smooth out the grit that gives him the edge. This sharpness may not seem obvious from the start of Spann’s debut album, “If I’m Ever In Love” being an example of a cautious gambit as solemn piano pulls back the playfulness of Jack’s supple voice which is ultimately revealed in “Games,” an upbeat duet with Molly Mastrangelo, and in the vaudeville smile behind “Such A Beautiful Day,” but there’s a joyous surge in the organ bedrock for the mood to roll on.

And while such pieces as the “Fear Or Loyalty” waltz or the voice-and-ivories exercise “Hey Songman” offer a level of introspection, and betray Billy Joel’s school of poetic detailing, they’re possessed of a barrelhouse grace, which double-tracked vocals supply ambience to. Yet where the handclaps-helped drama of “The Disappearing Girl” opens a purely theatrical perspective of a relationship, and a sly minuet of “My Dinosaur” has a whiff of comedy, it’s “Time” that fully fathoms the abyss of Spann’s emotions. Beginning as a spiritual, pain to the surface, the song is gaining momentum in a swirl of velvet delivery of traditional blues and Hassidic wail, but right after the woes of “Everybody Is Stained” add a deep dynamic groove to the already moving record, the tears in “Just A Breakdown” are ones of elation.

Time stops for Jack Spann spinning his tuneful yarns: here’s a riveting record – hopefully first of many,

*****

February 25, 2016

Category(s): Reviews
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