Jennifer Porter – Yes, I Do!
Cougar Moon Music
8 songs – 31 minutes
Singer/songwriter/pianist Jennifer Porter has a long list of accomplishments, from being a stage actor with more than 90 professional stage credits, to holding a second-degree black belt in Tai Jujitsu and advanced training in Kali and Jeet Kun Do. She has also released nine albums before Yes, I Do!. Her new album is a delightful selection of blues and Americana songs, driven by Porter’s top drawer keyboard skills, finely-honed writing talents and a superb, airy, deeply emotional voice.
The album kicks off with the swinging jump blues of “Before We Call It A Day”, which leads nicely into the mellow title track on which Porter plays Wurlitzer and Hammond B3. There is a charming pop-soul feel to the song, with a total ear-worm of a chorus. The aching love song, “Over You” gives way to the dancing New Orleans groove of “All I Needed Was You”, which benefits from C.J. Chenier’s glorious accordion. Chenier is one of two guests on the album, with the always-awesome Cindy Cashdollar contributing pedal steel to “Don’t Worry No More”, one of album’s highlights, where the haunting horns dance around Dana Packard’s subtle drums. Cashdollar’s solo on this track is mesmerizing.
Porter’s band is first rate, featuring at different times Packard and Jonathan Truman on drums and percussion, Damon Banks on bass, George Naha and Vinne Raniolo on guitars, Steve Jankowski on trumpets and flugelhorn, Doug DeHays on saxophones and clarinet, and Randy Andos on trombone and tuba.
Yes, I Do! was produced by Jonathan Wyman and Porter, with mixing by Wyman at This Sounds Good, Portland, Maine and mastering by Adam Ayan at Gateway Studios, Portland, Maine. Different parts of the album were recorded at a variety of studios in Maine, New Jersey, New York and Texas, but the album has a consistently excellent sound and has the feel of musicians playing together live.
Porter wrote six of the tracks on Yes, I Do!, adding choice covers of Leroy Carr’s 1928 classic “How Long Blues” (with a great solo from Jankowski on flugelhorn) and Bessie Smith’s wry acknowledgement of the ageing process, “Good Ol’ Wagon”. This latter song, featuring just Porter’s voice and piano and Andos’ tuba, is a lovely way to finish a highly enjoyable album. Indeed, Carr and Smith are good starting points in thinking about this album. There is a lightness and joy to Porter’s music, aligned to a deep emotional connection, that echoes the music of these two giants, albeit in a modern musical setting.
Yes, I Do! is one of those albums where you want to play it again as the last note of the last song fades. Very impressive stuff.
