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One
of the leading bossa-jazz artists to have cemented her reputation
over the last two decades is singer/guitarist Joyce. Her latest
release “Just A Little Bit Crazy” (Far Out Recording)
is probably her most expansive work yet, covering elements of
60’s era Blue Note jazz , reggae, soulful balladry, North
Eastern colours, choro, samba and bossa all linked together with
a boundary blurring Brazilian sensibility.
Collaborators are Banda Maluca, a sextet consisting of keyboards,
basses, flute, saxes, clarinet, drums and percussion. They may
lend their name to the first number, a breezy bossa-jazz funk
that comes gliding out of the speakers with cool, finger-snapping
pizzazz, but the song is almost like an appetiser. In fact, it’s
really hard to pigeon-hole Joyce’s music. There’s
an quirky cabaret like wit married to a jazz intelligence that
delights in pushing the boundaries. Just when you’ve got
her pegged, she’ll turn the tables on you, pushing the music
out there from unexpected angles, while the band responds to her
imaginative flights with a cool aplomb.
In addition Joyce is a very nifty acoustic guitarist and gifted
composer who wrote most of the material on the CD. Where the compositions
are not hers they might seem like strange choices, until after
you’ve heard them, that is, like the old Beatles warhorse
“A Hard Day’s Night” which is convincingly turned
into a slinky, insouciant blues.
