Buddy Johnson's classic "Save Your Love for Me" opens with a languid shuffle. Brönner's flügelhorn offers the melody with elegance and warm trills as James adorns the changes gracefully with his grand piano. Drummer Harvey Mason carries the shuffle with double bassist Christian Von Kaphengst accenting the downbeat. Brönner's "Lemonade" is a tender, jaunty samba with James on electric piano. The composer contributes trumpet, keyboards, and airy vocals -- with phrasing derived directly from Michael Franks. James' "Late Night" is a wonderfully expressionist engagement with harmony, fluid rhythms, and subtly articulated melodic hooks. Brönner's "Lavender Fields" is the most speculative number here, employing a nocturnal swing, pillowy keyboard strings, hovering electric piano, and warm, liquidy reverbed flügelhorn. Only James' acoustic piano solo keeps it from floating away. The inclusion of Gilbert Becaud's and Neil Diamond's "September Morn" feels out of place here (though it is the single). Its tortoise-like pace is slower than the original's, and the saccharine sweetness in Brönner's playing is almost wince-inducing. The slippery smooth funk groove in James' "Elysium" could easily have come off one of the pianist's mid-'80s chart-toppers. Its inviting resonance is underscored by a finely wrought muted trumpet solo from Brönner. The cover of "I Get It from You" (by forgotten 20th century L.A. yacht poppers Pages), is an unexpected delight. Its fingerpopping chart includes Brönner swinging the lyrics and James adding sparkling fills and canny melodic articulations, topped by a grooving bassline and a swooping trumpet break. The pianist follows with the spectral, emotionally hefty waltz "Miranda," using Brönner's muted horn in sparse melodic phrases above syncopated harmonic changes. The trumpeter's slow groover "Scent of Childhood" is likely to be sampled often for Brönner's bluesy playing entwined with James' meaty chords. While Brönner sounds like he's having a ball singing on the title track, it's James' sprightly, weave of organ and electric piano filling out the groove that carries his lyrics, and thus the tune, home. The set bookend is another standard: A restrained read of Spencer Johnson's nugget "Basin Street Blues." The interplay between primaries is tender, even sweet (absent are any traces of Louis Armstrong or Jack Teagarden), yet its accents, fills, and interjections are colorful and in impeccable taste. On the surface, On Vacation, might seem slight upon first listen. Further investigation reveals an abundance of sophisticated melodic invention and classy, intuitive arrangements that expand on and underscore the album's intended, good-time feel.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1. Save Your Love For Me 5:26
Arranged By – Bob James, Rachel Kwag
Composed By – Buddy Johnson
Double Bass – Christian Von Kaphengst
Drums – Harvey Mason
Flugelhorn – Till Brönner
Piano, Keyboards – Bob James
2. Lemonade 4:50
Composed By – Till Brönner
Drums – David Haynes
Electric Bass – Christian Von Kaphengst
Flugelhorn, Vocals – Till Brönner
Keyboards – Bob James, Till Brönner
Lyrics By – Robin Meloy Goldsby
3. Late Night 5>24
Composed By – Bob James
Double Bass – Christian Von Kaphengst
Drums – Wolfgang Haffner
Piano – Bob James
Trumpet – Till Brönner
4. Lavender Fields 5:12
Composed By, Arranged By – Till Brönner
Double Bass – Christian Von Kaphengst
Drums – Wolfgang Haffner
Piano, Keyboards – Bob James
Trumpet – Till Brönner
5. September Morn 4:11
Arranged By – Till Brönner
Composed By – Gilbert Bécaud, Neil Diamond
Double Bass – Yuri Goloubev
Drums – Harvey Mason
Flugelhorn – Till Brönner
Piano – Bob James
6. Elysium 5:16
Composed By, Arranged By – Bob James, Rachel Kwag
Double Bass – Christian Von Kaphengst
Drums – Harvey Mason
Piano, Keyboards – Bob James
Trumpet – Till Brönner
7. I Get It From You 4:46
Arranged By – Bob James
Arranged By [Horns] – Till Brönner
Composed By – John Lang, Richard Page, Steve George
Double Bass – Christian Von Kaphengst
Drums – Wolfgang Haffner
Flugelhorn, Vocals – Till Brönner
Piano, Keyboards – Bob James
8. Miranda 4:36
Arranged By – Bob James, Rachel Kwag
Composed By – Bob James
Double Bass – Yuri Goloubev
Drums – Harvey Mason
Piano – Bob James
Trumpet – Till Brönner
9. Scent Of Childhood 4:35
Composed By, Arranged By – Till Brönner
Double Bass – Christian Von Kaphengst
Drums – Harvey Mason
Piano – Bob James
Trumpet, Keyboards – Till Brönner
10. On Vacation 3:45
Composed By, Arranged By – Till Brönner
Double Bass – Christian Von Kaphengst
Drums – David Haynes
Flugelhorn, Keyboards, Vocals – Till Brönner
Lyrics By – Robin Meloy Goldsby
Piano, Keyboards – Bob James
11. Sunset Vale 5:43
Composed By, Arranged By – Harvey Mason, Scott Tibbs
Double Bass – Yuri Goloubev
Drums – Harvey Mason
Flugelhorn – Till Brönner
Piano – Bob James
12. Basin Street Blues 5:15
Arranged By – Bob James, Till Brönner
Composed By – Spencer Williams
Double Bass – Yuri Goloubev
Drums – Harvey Mason
Flugelhorn – Till Brönner
Piano, Keyboards – Bob James
– BONUS TRACKS –
13. If Someone Had Told Me 4:05
Arranged By – Bob James
Composed By – Peter de Rose
Flugelhorn, Vocals – Till Brönner
Lyrics By – Charles Tobias
Piano – Bob James
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