“Hmm, I know that guy from somewhere,” might be the first reaction of local jazz fans on seeing trumpeter Jonathan Bauer. It’s possible that they may have initially caught the Canadian-born musician in the trumpet section of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. Bauer arrived in the city in 2014 to pursue a Master’s degree at the University of New Orleans and naturally hooked up with musicians on the scene. Some of them are heard on his sophomore release, Sings & Plays, and on his 2019 debut album, Walk, Don’t Run. The musicians include tenor saxophonist Alexander Geddes, guitarist Mike Clement, pianist Ryan Hanseler, bassist Alex Dyring and drummer Gerald Watkins Jr.
It’s important to point out how different these two albums are despite having the same leader and musicians and being recorded only a year or so apart. The title of the new release stands as the first clue. Bauer sings here whereas the previous album was totally instrumental. Significant too is that the material on the earlier release all came from Bauer’s creative pen. Sings & Plays draws its selections from the American songbook.
Bauer’s trumpet opens the new release on the chestnut, “Days of Wine and Roses,” that gets swinging before he enters with the familiar lyrics. The saxophonist, guitarist and pianist each take fine solos before Bauer returns to center stage as a vocalist. There’s more of a bebop attitude given to “It Could Happen to You” on which Bauer successfully further explores on trumpet. One can hear a little New Orleans in Bauer’s light-hearted rendition of “Exactly Like You,” especially in the humor he adds to the vocals much as many singers in this city tend to do. The album continues with fairly straight-up versions of classics such as “Love Is Here to Stay,” “Just Friends” and “September in the Rain” and concludes instrumentally on Horace Silver’s famous “Doodlin’.”
Mixing in a couple of standards with the originals on Walk, Don’t Run from 2019 might have been wise as an introduction to Bauer on his debut album. Conversely, Sings & Plays could have benefited from a few Bauer self-penned tunes performed instrumentally to highlight his talents as a composer and skilled trumpeter. Show ’em what you got.
