04.29.2019
“IMITATION OF A KISS”
“The Beastly E.C.” and Deborah Harry are touring together this summer but some of you may not know that we have sometimes appeared together as vocal contributors to the work of Roy Nathanson and The Jazz Passengers from the mid-90s onwards.
Deborah sang alongside Jimmy Scott, Mavis Staples, Jeff Buckley and Bob Dorough on the wonderful album, “The Jazz Passengers In Love” and she and I performed some of those songs along with Roy Nathanson’s arrangements of “God’s Comic” and “Man Out Of Time” and a version of “The Tide Is High” at the opening night gala concert of the Meltdown Festival of 1995.
As curator, I got to run riot with my invitations over the nine-day event which saw performances by Bill Frisell, Anuna, The Sabri Brothers, Moondog, John Harle, the Brodsky Quartet, Fretwork, the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gunther Schuller, The Composer’s Ensemble, Steve Nieve, original Passengers’ guitarist, Marc Ribot, the U.K. debut of The Fairfield Four and the final appearance in London by Jeff Buckley.
In subsequent years, such curators as Nick Cave, Robert Wyatt, Patti Smith, David Bowie, Laurie Anderson and Scott Walker got to make those invitations and I hope experience some of the joy and surprises that I got from those frantic days.
In the year 2000, Deborah Harry, the jazz singer, Nancy King, Richard Butler of the Psychedelic Furs and myself were all vocalists for Roy Nathanson’s narrative work, “Fire At Keaton’s Bar and Grill”, which was performed by members of The Jazz Passengers with guest instrumentalists including the pianist, Cyrus Chestnut and the great B-3 player, Charles Earland.
“Keaton’s” was performed in full at St. Ann’s in Brooklyn and later returned to the Royal Festival Hall before performances at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and at the North Sea Jazz Festival.
Deborah was the main vocalist on the Passengers’ “Individually Twisted” album, which included her exquisite rendition of “Imitation Of A Kiss” and for which I wrote lyrics and sang, the Brad Jones’ composition which became, “Aubergine”. Deborah and I are heard together on a playful version of the Illinois Jacquet and Jimmy Mundy composition to which Al Stillman added lyrics, a song which we later performed on “Late Night With David Letterman”.
Deborah was by now effectively a member of The Jazz Passengers, while I continued to perform with them occasionally with trombonists, Curtis Fowlkes, vibraphonist, Bill Ware and the double bass player, Brad Jones contributing to the albums, “When I Was Cruel” and the song, “Impatience” recorded at the sessions for “North”, while Roy Nathanson played alto saxophone in the horn section on “15 Petals” and “Dust” and a Japanese television commission to record Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile”.
In 2010, I was the vocalist on, “Wind Walked By”, the opening track of “The Jazz Passengers Reunited”, which also included a re-imagining of the Blondie hit, “One Way Or Another”.
Roy Nathanson is one of the great unsung poets, teachers and composers working in the United States. You should check out his “Subway Moon” and “Sotto Voce” projects. They have been performed both in Europe and America, often involving the previously unheard voices of students and young talents. He continues to perform with The Jazz Passengers and you should go to see them if you can and failing this check out the Passengers wonderful recorded catalogue.
Elvis Costello & The Imposters and Blondie will co-headline a coast-to-coast tour this summer kicking off July 20th in Bethel, NY and making stops in Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and more, before wrapping August 10th in Seattle, WA. Tickets on sale now – https://tour.elviscostello.com/