Jazz Quad Reviews "Dedicated"

Ron Kaplan Dedicated
Kapland Records

©2003 Kapland Records

Ron Kaplan: vocals, Martan Mann: piano & strings, Stan Poplin: bass,
Dan Brubeck: drums, Dmitri Matheny: flugelhorn, Dale Mills: alto & tenor sax,
Donny McCaslin, Jr.: soprano sax, Kenny Stahl: flute, Terrel Eaton: alto sax.

Three years ago, in our September 2000 issue, we became acquainted with the album Lounging Around from the California vocalist Ron Kaplan. We now have some new work from Ron and a fresh encounter. We should point out that Ron clearly found our previous review to be compatible enough with his own views to quote briefly from it in the album notes. Dedicated was recorded over a period of two days in January 2001, but has only just now made it onto the scene.

Listening to the album casually might give the impression that it is very similar to Kaplan’s previous effort. Quite understandably, Ron hasn’t changed his creative approach and has the same warm baritone voice as before, but it seems to me that the melancholy shadings are heard more distinctly. Indeed, the whole mood of the album seems more affective and autumnal, just like Ron’s presentation of "Autumn in New York." Perhaps this is due to its name, since Ron has dedicated it to the people who were dearest to him: his mother and his close friend and mentor. The program consists almost entirely of slow ballads and includes compositions by Cole Porter, Burt Bacharach, and Billy Strayhorn. At the very end of the album, like a musical signature, there is a brief, half-minute track composed by Kaplan and symbolically entitled “Nothing Like You Has Ever Been Here Before,” which is also about the people to whom the rest of the album is dedicated.

The album has yet another dedication. Kaplan sees his work as a contribution to the vocal traditions of classical jazz. And, in this regard, his contribution is substantial, as he sings in the best traditions of the great masters of the past. I should like to make one other observation: the instrumentals on this recording are appreciably more involved. Ron is always accompanied by a classical jazz piano trio which, on some tracks, is joined by two other musicians. The "tasteful" arrangements highlight the singer’s mastery, whose motto (which appears on Ron’s label) speaks for itself: In Jazz We Trust…

Leonid AUSKERN