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Valve Bone Woe

Valve Bone Woe was touted as Chrissie Hynde's jazz album when it was released in 2019, but jazz is only one of its ingredients. There are are some jazz classics (Mingus's 'Meditation on a Pair of Wirecutters' and Coltrane's 'Naima') on which Hynde takes a back-seat, letting the big band behind her take it away; and there are selections from the Great American Songbook like 'I Get Along Without You Very Well' and 'Hello Young Lovers'; but there are also '60s songs such as Brian Wilson's 'Caroline, No' and Nick Drake's 'River Man'. It's located then, somewhere near the junction of jazz, mid-century pop and easy listening.

Hynde's voice isn't as strong as most of the old-school jazz-singers', and some of the songs show up its limitations (her take on 'Wild is the Wind', for example), but it's fluid and characterful and generally it sounds great. The excellent arrangements and production are courtesy of Marius de Vries (also responsible for Rufus Wainwright's Want records, among others). There are some restrained 21st century flourishes too with the addition of dubby echo & other electronic effects here & there, such as on the long outro of 'Absent-Minded Me'.

I'd read about the album when it was released, but had half-forgotten about it again until a friend mentioned it, whereupon I checked out some tracks on YouTube. I suggested it as a possible Xmas gift and unwrapped it that December 25th. I have it on vinyl. The album's design is a delightful throwback to some of the classic late '50s Columbia jazz LP sleeves. The painting is apparently one of Hynde's own. It's a record that I greatly enjoy and have played often.
 

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