Reviewing Peter Horsfall's delightful jazz EP How Can We Know? last summer, I
expressed my hope that it would be the prelude to a full LP soon. Well, just
over a year on, Horsfall has released his debut album, and the results more
than build on the promise of the EP. With a title borrowed from Edward Hopper,
a lovely cover design that tips its cap to Tom Waits, and beautiful booklet paintings by Cecile McLorin
Salvant, Nighthawks is darker-textured and more ambient than How Can We Know? It's a complete, cohesive package that conjures nocturnal ambience across its 10 carefully sequenced tracks, which
include three appealing instrumental interludes. Horsfall has described the
album as "a tribute to the ballad form," and old and original material blends seamlessly,
with Horsfall's vocals accompanied by sensitive backing from his Kansas Smitty's House Band bandmates: Giacomo Smith on sax, Joe Webb on piano, Ferg Ireland on
double bass and Pedro Segundo on drums.
The
absence of Horsfall's distinctive
trumpet-playing may be a disappointment, but it's compensated for by the strength of his vocal performances here. The opening bar-room
croon of the superb title track is instantly seductive, as Horsfall's light, airy
tenor finds deeper resonances. Indeed, the album succeeds in bringing out a
variety of fresh qualities in his voice while maintaining a consistency of
tone, from a superb take on "Sunset
& the Mockingbird," which
weds new lyrics to Duke Ellington's
melody, through the heartfelt declaration of "Couldn't Stop Lovin' You,”
with its subtly swoony backing vocals and guest appearance by David Archer on
guitar, to the elegant farewell of "This
is Goodbye." In a silly
season dominated by cobbled-together Christmas release cash-ins, the depth and authenticity
of Nighthawks is immediately
refreshing. It's a lovely
album that deserves wide exposure.
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