“Between the Music and the Moon”
Maggie Herron
(no label, no serial number)
Maggie Herron’s previous album, “Good Thing,” won her a Na Hoku Hanohano Award (Jazz Album of the Year) in 2015. This soon-to-be-released sequel builds on that solid foundation.
Herron, a singer/pianist in her club gigs in Waikiki, is featured here as a vocalist and songwriter; producer/arranger Bill Cunliffe takes over the keyboards on five numbers. All 12 tunes are originals, and Herron wrote or co-wrote 11 of them. Several sound like standards-to-be.
Herron’s voice, reminiscent of Anita Baker, is the most immediate link to her previous album. Also noteworthy here is the great range of genres she embraces. Latin rhythms propel some songs, while others are romantic cocktail lounge ballads. Diversity is also found in the lyrics: Herron sings in Spanish and French as well as English.
Guitarist Grant Geissman joins Dean Taba (bass) and Abe Lagrimas (drums) in making “In a Heartbeat” magical. It is as romantic instrumentally as the title suggests. “Wolf” stands out as an imaginative, big-band take on the story of Little Red Riding Hood in which the wolf’s intentions might be romantic.
“I Lie Just a Little,” performed as a duet with Herron singing and Taba playing bass, is a great example of how a minimal arrangement can be all that’s needed. Herron’s delivery of the dryly humorous lyrics is well served by having Taba’s acoustic bass as the only accompaniment. Their work together closes the album in memorable style.
Visit maggieherron.com.
“Kimie Miner”
Kimie Miner
(Kimie Miner, KM-1001)
Three years after she debuted as a recording artist, Hawaii-born singer-songwriter Kimie Miner has added “Hoku Award winner” to her resume. Miner’s self-titled album triumphed over albums by Amy Hanaiali‘i and first-time finalists Aidan James, Lily Meola and Blayne Asing in the Contemporary Album category at the 2016 Hoku Awards in May.
The album is a significant step forward. A majority of the songs on her EP were written in the faux-Jamaican reggae-pop style popular with self-styled “kanakafarians” in Hawaii. There’s much less of that here. The musical horizons are broader. Miner and her production team have the national urban/pop fusion sound down to a T.
Miner opens sweet and dreamy with “Bottom of a Rainbow,” a song that could be about living in Hawaii, although the geographical location isn’t mentioned. The songs that follow create a convincing tapestry of her talents and commercial appeal. “New Day,” much deeper in the album, is a sweet and witty account of desperation and redemption.
A single Hawaiian song — Hawaiian lyrics, urban/pop instrumentation — brings Miner back to her island roots. The lyrics and the English translation are included in the liner notes so people not fluent in olelo Hawai‘i can grasp its significance. Yes, Miner left Hawaii but eventually she returned.
Visit kimieminer.com.
