Guitarist Ed Johnson has been playing and recording music for many years, combining his love of jazz, pop, and worldly sounds, and has turned many heads for his work. The Other Road (Cumulus) has him and his group, Novo Tempo, playing music that is suitable for the jazz clubs, coffeehouses, and even smooth jazz radio.
Bossa nova is a string that runs throughout this album, playing it traditionally while also combining it with jazzy elements to bring out the best out of each musician and of course each song. The saxophone work of Kristen Strom in "Clean Up" compliments Johnson's guitar and vocal work, and while an album like this could work by the group playing songs at four minutes or less, Johnson allows himself and Novo Tempo to explore these pieces, with tracks going well over the four minute mark, two of which clock in over seven. The playing is very strong throughout, and while "mellow" tends to turn a few people away when it comes to jazz, in this case it is said with compliments to the album, and anyone who ever said a smoother style of jazz needs to be boring and predictable needs to pick this up and play it many times over. Its contemporary jazz without the contempt, prepare to be surprised.
Other Voices:
All About Jazz.com
By Michael P. Gladstone
It has been three years since Movimento (Cumulus, 2004), the last album from singer/guitarist Ed Johnson & Novo Tempo, and the wait has been worth it. The Other Road , from this San Francisco Bay Area ensemble, evokes vivid memories of Brazilian samba and bossa nova music before the Tropicalia Movement introduced rock music into the menu of the first wave of bossa singer/songwriters in the early 1970s. At the same time, despite numerous re-awakenings of acoustic samba music, where does one have to go to hear some examples of this genre?
Johnson & Novo Tempo's music may seem retro to some, but to those who still actively admire the music of artists including Jobim, de Moraes and Powell, that music serves as a springboard for the original compositions of this group. On Movimento, Johnson wrote seven of the ten tunes, but goes the full route with The Other Road, writing all twelve. Johnson's music is what Sergio Mendes began in the mid-1960s with Wanda de Sah and Marcos Valle, and then plateaued into a world of pop covers.
The album begins up-tempo with a frevo-style samba. On both “Samba 2 Tom” and “Clean Up,” Johnson and pianist Jennifer Scott provide harmonized vocalese to keep the infectious melody going, with occasional statements from trumpeter/flugelhornist John Worley and soprano saxophonist Kristen Strom. There are seven English language songs and two that are delivered bilingually in Portuguese and English, as well as some with a repeated Portuguese refrain.
Johnson's high range on Movimento was reminiscent of Milton Nascimento, and is even more evident on much of The Other Road . On several of the English songs it is easy to hear the comparison with Nascimento's soaring style, while Johnson’s vocal register on songs including the balladic “Song for my Daughter,” accompanied initially by acoustic nylon-string guitar, recalls the range of Jobim and Joao Gilberto. Still, on the title tune, Johnson and Scott again leap into vocalese with Strom's simpatico flute solo.
“Chorar,” with additional Portuguese lyrics from Lucy Carter, offers Johnson on a ballad that could be performed successfully in a non-bossa setting. Worley's showcase flugelhorn solo fits perfectly, with Johnson's Portuguese conclusion providing the icing on the cake..
Hurricane Katrina and what came afterwards has provided the inspiration for a lot of music, but recently composed lyrics expressing the frustration of the event and it's aftermath are less common. Johnson's “Katrina” could easily serve as a substitute to Randy Newman’s already overplayed “Louisiana 1927.” Taken at a misleading mid-tempo bounce, the words belie the rhythm with such thoughts as “...No shirts, no shoes, no service/No place for the weak and the poor/No more saints, no more sinners, just losers, some winners/And you wonder why we sing the blues...”
“...pick this up and play it many times over. It's contemporary jazz without the contempt, prepare to be surprised”
— John Book- Music For America
“I am strongly impressed with all the original tracks on this album, and excited to discover a player with such musical fire! "The Other Road" is a grand sonic adventure that gets our MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating!”
— Dick Metcalf, aka Rotcod Zzaj, Hawaii
“ …warm vocals and velvety backing along with piano, trumpet, soprano sax and percussion…sophisticated and harmonious jazz pop in an extension of the work of Burt Bacharach with some very clear references to Antonio Carlos Jobim, Hermeto Pascoal and Milton Nascimento.”
— Marc Nolis, MazzMuzikas Free-zine, Belgium
