A.D. Amorosi writing for JazzTimes
Vocalist Deborah Silver has never been shy to a challenge or slow to the punch. It’s clear from the manner in which she’s sung and swung elements of the Great American Songbook on previous recordings such as The Gold Standards and Glitter & Grits, the latter reflective of her Mississippi roots and her mom’s training as an opera singer. Yet on Silver’s new Basie Rocks! — produced by drum great Steve Jordan, co-starring the Count Basie Orchestra — the singer belts beyond her usually nuanced theatrical tones with a feel for the robust.“My mom’s bold opera voice definitely echoes in my bones,” says Silver, enthusiastically. “But funny enough, I didn’t change my singing for Basie Rocks! I just finally had the chance to sing like the big band singer I’ve always been at heart.”For Silver, the collaboration with the Count Basie Orchestra and her new album’s song selection — rock classics — wasn’t about “going broader” for its own sake; it was a chance to raise her vocal dynamic to meet that ensemble’s incredible sound. “It’s not unlike singing in a different-sized room,” says says. “The emotion, the phrasing, the story all stay the same — but suddenly you’ve got this massive, swinging engine behind you. My job was to ride it, not to out-sing it. Basie Rocks! didn’t pull me away from my roots, it amplified them. Singing with the Basie band felt like slipping into something I was born to wear.” Rhinestones & Mischief The “robusto” qualities of Silver’s voice have always been there. “If you really want to hear robusto, you should’ve caught me playing the role of Diana Morales in A Chorus Line,” says Silver of the Broadway stage classic. With a vocal range more about emotion than just hitting a high C (“I’m focused on moving hearts rather than breaking glass”), the trained soprano studied with Los Angeles vocal coach Seth Riggs in order to find her “mix” and its blend of belt voice and head voice.Glitter & Grits offers a slick example of that Silvery “blend,” allowing the singer to “lean into the sultry, fun side of my voice — a little smoky, a little twangy,” she says. “Think rhinestones with a wink. The album had a dusty Texas sunset quality: warm tones, playful phrasing, a little mischief in the delivery.” Recording a “rock”-based jazz project with a big band and a handful of mixed-genre musicians as guests (Bill Frisell, Arturo Sandoval, Peter Frampton) was something of a split decision and geared for the tasteful, not the tacky. I noted this to Silver: one foot set wrong, and a rock/jazz album could have been disastrously corny.
Silver knew she wanted to create a jazz album that felt different, something fresh to the table that rang true to her. “Why not take rock songs, many of which I grew up on, and reimagine them with the elegance of classic jazz standards? It was never about doing straight covers. It was about reinventing, reinterpreting and honoring both genres equally… And yes, it could’ve gone off the rails, but we weren’t about to let it turn into a Saturday Night Live skit.”
With songs of her choosing and Jordan’s idea of welcoming the iconic sound of the Count Basie Orchestra to the studio, Silver recounted the one thing that the drummer-producer had in mind: “It’s gotta be cool. If you have to think about whether it’s cool or not, it ain’t cool.” And Steve is definitely one of the coolest people I’ve ever met.”
How Cool is He?
Steve Jordan is a man of few words but a multitude of sounds and moods. Though he currently holds the drum seat in The Rolling Stones in honor of the late, great Charlie Watts, Jordan has massive soulful production chops on albums with Keith Richards, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, John Scofield and Herbie Hancock.
Along with tipping his hat to the influence of Hi! label producer Willie Mitchell, Jordan grew up playing jazz, worked in a Joe Newman-Frank Foster big band when he was 17 years old, and lists Count Basie stalwart Sonny Payne as “a hero of mine, the greatest big band drummer of all time.” About tackling Basie Rocks! he says: “One doesn’t just pick up and do a jazz record. You have to know the art form.”
Jordan recognized Silver as an aficionado as the vocalist donated “healthy” amounts of money and time to the Jazz Foundation of America, of which the drummer and his wife Megan are artistic directors. “She has this great instrument,” he says, “and when she came to me she was doing a song called ‘The Covid-19 Blues’ with a friend of hers. That was the first thing I helped her do as far as getting some additional voices.” Here Jordan is referring to Lisa Fischer and Bernard Fowler, who join Silver on the rendition from Basie Rocks!
When Silver told Jordan she wanted to do a jazz record based on rock songs she loved in her youth, the drummer recognized something special in her. “Deborah wanted to do a deep dive into jazz, which I really appreciated because even if you have a great voice, there’s more to it than that. And she put the work in.”
At first, Jordan had in mind differing, smaller ensembles along with the Basie Orchestra for the album. “But it became very clear to me that for this thing to work, it had to be a total collaboration with the Basie Orchestra.” He credits a handful of arrangers (under the selection of Scotty Barnhart, the Orchestra’s director), who guided this collection of vintage rock classics into something uniquely big band–enriched, driven by Silver’s buoyant vocals.
Jordan also got married to the strains of Basie with Frank Sinatra (“Sonny Payne is on that”) performing “Fly Me to the Moon,” so there’s mythic resonance to this music for him. Enter Arrangers, and Guests
It’s no surprise that Silver’s version of “Paint It Black” is close to Jordan due to his collaboration with Richards and the Stones.
“That particular Stones song has this huge volume of online demand,” Jordan says. “It’s a very popular song, and it’s the possibility of its great Latin flavor that makes it different. So our approach was that we go full-on. I got the greatest living Latin percussionist, Pedrito Martinez, to play tunga and timbales, and Arturo Sandoval on trumpet. Just absolutely brilliant. That’s what I mean by a total collaboration.”
With son Spencer Silver as her trusted rock-’n’-roll copilot (“incredible, considering I raised him on the Great American Songbook”), the vocalist chose songs and lyrics met her moods and standards. “There were a few lyrics that just didn’t fit me. You’ve gotta know your lane — and preferably one with good lighting and a rhythm section.”
From there, co-producer Barnhart selected arrangers with firsthand experience writing for the Basie band and its unique rhythm section, dynamic horn voicings and unmistakable Basie swing. Then the vocalist and Jordan talked through every moment’s emotional tone and tempo — “whether a tune needed to lean more bluesy, laid-back or high-energy and brassy,” she adds.
“Based on those conversations, Scotty knew exactly which arranger would be the best fit for each song. And we were meticulous. It had to feel natural, not forced. We weren’t trying to throw a swing beat behind a rock song and call it jazz — we wanted these songs to breathe differently, with the Basie groove lifting them up from the inside out.”
To that end, Spencer Silver suggested “Tainted Love” (by Ed Cobb, sung in ’65 by Gloria Jones with Glen Campbell on lead guitar, much more famously covered by Soft Cell) in the style of Peggy Lee’s “Fever,” with duet partner Kurt Elling aiding to create a conversation in swing. “It had all the makings of a one-act play. And of course, Kurt became the perfect scene partner.”
A collaborator such as Bill Frisell, suggested by Jordan, turned Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle” into something simmering, sinewy and wired. Equally exciting for Silver was having Peter Frampton record guitar solos for a version of his own “Baby, I Love Your Way.” Silver jokes that she was “bracing for a cease-and-desist letter after he got an early demo recording of our track. Instead, the result was mind-blowing.”
One classic moment from the sessions: When Silver recorded the vocal for The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” her voice didn’t hold the same tone quality it had on the other songs. “I was a little raspy, but I didn’t feel sick,” she recalls. “I sang the line ‘how my poor heart aches,’ and suddenly there was this little country twang that snuck in. Steve paused and said, “You’re sounding like Tammy Wynette.” I offered to go back in redo it, and he said, ‘Oh noooo — we lovvvvvve Tammy Wynette in this house!’ It turned out that my ‘special tone’ that day was courtesy of Covid.”
Considering the current success of Basie Rocks! (it hit number one on the Billboard Traditional Jazz chart), Silver is thrilled. But it has nothing to do with numbers or money. “I’ve made a career out of taking genres and flipping them, so I’m definitely not done playing in this sandbox. I can’t resist,” she adds, pointing to her Glitter & Grits album and its Texas swing kick.
“Will I keep doing it? I’d say yes,” Silver concludes. “But I’m not one to make the same record twice. The vibe will evolve. What will stay the same? The heart. The storytelling. And my absolute refusal to color inside the lines.”