Jazz is a funny creature. It has so many different flavors that
\nit’s almost a guarantee you’ll like certain forms and hate others.
\nThink of jazz as a musical ice cream parlor.<\/p>\n
Kudu, a four-piece outfit fronted by vocalist\/bassist Sylvia
\nGordon, kind of makes me think that this is what Manhattan Transfer
\nwould have sounded like had they gotten their noses dirty – and if
\nthey had gone for a more roots-based sound. The end result, the
\nband’s self-titled album, is not the easiest thing to listen to at
\ntimes.<\/p>\n
In fact, don’t be surprised if you find it difficult to get
\nthrough the first three songs without having to push the “stop”
\nbutton on the CD player. What makes Kudu a little harder to adjust
\nto is the fact the group has no guitarist, but two keyboardists
\n(Nick Kasper and Peter Stoltzman… drummer Deantoni Parks rounds
\nout the group). Gordon’s multi-tracked vocals occasionally go into
\nnon-resolving progressions, which only serve to further confuse the
\nlistener.<\/p>\n
Tracks like “Temptation” and “Surprise” might have worked a
\nlittle better had Gordon tried to deliver them in a scat vocal, and
\nnot merely layered harmonies which tried to be more earthy. At the
\none-third mark of the CD, things honestly don’t look bright.<\/p>\n
But Kudu seems to know their genre well, and the level of energy
\nand intensity picks up quickly. Tracks like “Cannibal,” “Tell Me A
\nBedtime Story” and “Relax” all seem to have a better groove about
\nthem, and everything musically falls into place for Kudu. If only
\nit hadn’t taken as long for everything to click.<\/p>\n
Maybe the reason I cast a suspicious eye towards
\nKudu<\/i> is that it
\nisn’t<\/i> cookie-cutter music – but then again, would we really
\nwant it that way? Gordon and crew might not be the easiest group to
\nappreciate straight out of the box, but their individuality should
\nbe applauded and appreciated. Besides, everything does seem to work
\nout in the end, so it can’t be all that bad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7656],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-39558","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kudu","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39558"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}