Album Review: Singer John Minnock Has A Real Bent For Smooth Jazz That's Just A Little Bit Queer On His New Album SIMPLICITY

Heigh Ho, dear lovely rainbow tribe, Bobby Patrick, your rainbow reviewer reporting again from CD-Land to give you another broken-down breakdown of a new music release. So, strap in and get ready, as Bobby goes on the record ABOUT the record.

The latest CD by smooth jazz vocalist John Minnock titled SIMPLICITY simply overflows with the soft, seductive air of a musician who knows EXACTLY what he is doing and how to do it. Like a sexy male version of a sexy Peggy Lee, John's voice soothes with its smooths and brings tension to his tones by using near-discordant combinations that beguile the ears. Through most of his 8 cuts totaling 43 minutes and 12 seconds, it is impossible to gauge where this singer will go. Always surprising us by washing back and forth between diminished chords and minor keys, this dissonance alternately conveys longing, loneliness, desire, and love. The opening title track, SIMPLICITY, is a slow and languid piece that, in John's creamy voice, conveys the jazz heart and soulful yearning for a release from complexity - a musical drifting on a raft in still, warm waters. This first cut is, as the title suggests, simpler in construction than cuts 2-7 and serves to ease the ear into the more modern and challenging music ahead. Track 2, HE WAS BRAZILLIAN, has a dreamy Bosa Nova beat, with more diminished chords adding in just a touch more musical dissension, and, with his use of gender-specific pronouns, John makes it clear that his music of love and longing is a gay man's love and longing. Singing about the desire for a past random encounter with a gentleman passerby from South America-way, the soul is oh-so-queer and filled with need and regret - all silk and heat.

Opting to make the instruments of equal importance to his own voice, Minnock & Co complete the rest of the album by starting each song with long stretches (minutes even) of his band playing up and down jazz and blues improvised interludes until the voice is finally delivered because it is necessary. CAPE'S END opens with a saxophone wail and fall-off that feels sad at first, and then it rises and flutters into flight. This is the blues in a minor key, where the world feels out of balance but filled with music nonetheless - a song from a queer POV with the most amazing final note from Minnock's voice. Bobby's favorite song from this album has to be Maiden Voyage, which opens with an extremely whispery sax that is as soft and seductive as a noir mystery. This track features a long interlude of the band, with the sax improvising up high to down low, and, just when you think this one is all instrumental, a moaning vocalese from JM in the background arrives from afar like a cry in the wilderness, yet still allowing the sax to dominate with a chattering that sounds painful. John's voice is so refined, with a great vocal range, and you can hear all the desperate quietude with which he sings, infusing these rich tones with musical lava. With his final number, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT LOVE IS, Minnock perfectly conveys love lost and its heartbreak - but now we're back to the style of his title track, with smoother, more melodic chords (still in a minor key) with his silky, now mournful, voice and instruments reaching a melodious resolution together - the major chords the ear is longing for.

For lovers of smooth modern Jazz and John Minnock himself, this album, with its heartfelt journey of a gay man's experience with love and loss, Bobby calls a really fine listen, and we give SIMPLICITY our resounding...

4 Out Of 5 Rainbows - Put this one in your collection today.

You Can Read All About And Hear A Few Cuts From SIMPLICITY On John's Webbysite: HERE

Listen To The Album On Your Spotifies: HERE

John's SUPERB musician support on this recording was provided by:

Piano, tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 - Mathis Picard

Piano, tracks 3, 8 - Sean Mason

Bass, tracks 2 through 8 - Mark Lewandowski

Bass, track 1 - Carlos Mena

Drums - Pablo Eluchans

Saxophone - Dave Liebman

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