Forty-two musicians played on this, so sayeth the liner notes, which I can believe, counting strings, keyboards, saxophones, percussion and choirs. Lead artist Denise Mangiardi often curiously takes off in the middle of the record to let somebody else sing, or rap. This struck me as damn strange at first, but then I understood (I hope) that Denise doesn’t want us to treat this like a solo record in the normal sense. She’s composing a suite. A Denise opera, shall we say.
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And said opera’s sense? A slideshow of love. A segmented depiction of love in different places, love indeed for places—Camden Town is one, even if we can’t be quite sure which Camden that is. She’s had it with cowboys, but she can avoid cowboys by going everywhere else. This was cut in London and New Orleans, so she’s no stranger to globetrotting. New Orleans guests include Tim Green on tenor sax, Johnny Vidacovich on drums, Chris Severin on bass and Michael Pellera on piano.

I could have done with a little more swing, a little more grit and a little more cohesiveness to the narrative whole, but I sense potential here. Maybe a little less on-the-go might allow her to focus, get more serious, grab more soul and find the nitty-gritty somewhere on the map.