Don’t be misled by its silly title! Jazz vocalist-lyricist Stevie Holland’s new album, Talk to Your Tomatoes, is not a comic affair, but rather a touching collection of 10, exquisitely arranged pop, jazz, and theatre tunes. Only one track is clearly aimed at your funny bone—the entertaining title song, with lyrics by Holland and music by her husband, Gary William Friedman, who also devised the album’s appealing arrangements. And while every track spotlights Holland’s skillful singing, the instrumental “voices”—a jazz trio, supplemented by guitar, and small ensembles of strings and horns—play as prominent a role as the vocals in the affecting storytelling put forth by each song.
The heavily orchestrated arrangement of the album’s opener, “On a Clear Day” (Burton Lane/Alan Jay Lerner), is a prime example. Singers often like to luxuriate in drawing the wide intervals of this song’s long, flowing melodic lines. Holland, however, takes a more conversational approach to her vocals, allowing jaunty piano soloing (by Matthew Sheens) and punchy rhythmic patterns from the horns (led by Chet Doxas) to set the song’s upbeat tone. And though “Help Me” (Joni Mitchell) starts as a simple dialogue between voice and piano, the horns soon get into the game with lengthy solo passages that really drive the musical excitement.
Though I’m not a fan of their lightweight “Talk to Your Tomatoes”—even with its amusing lyrics and showy trumpet parts, its overall impact is less than the sum of its likable parts—the other two Friedman and Holland originals are, for me, the highpoints of the album. Both songs explore difficult emotional territory via comforting musical qualities. “When These Two Hearts Collide” features delicate vocals, lively pitter-patter guitar work (by Ben Monder), and gentle supportive percussion (from Jeff Davis) in telling the story of a romantic attraction felt between two people, one of whom is “taken.” And in “You Pull Through,” Holland delivers an optimistic message about navigating life’s low points, assisted by inspiring punctuation from the horns.
Other album highlights include an attractive rendition of “Blossom” (James Taylor), a thrillingly jazzy arrangement of “Pure Imagination” (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley), and a truly haunting voice and guitar performance of “Round Midnight” (Cootie Williams, Thelonious Monk, Bernie Hanighen). In their intimate interpretation of the jazz standard, Holland and Monder evoke an amazing sense of closeness—mimicking one another’s rhythms, emitting close harmonies, and synchronizing their dynamics as they seem to derive strength from nestling together within very quiet realms that grow only ever-so-slightly louder. It’s yet another fine example of the album’s moving displays of shared storytelling through well-attuned vocal and instrumental partnerships.
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Talk to Your Tomatoes, produced by Stevie Holland and Gary William Friedman for 150 Music.
Lisa Jo Sagolla is the author of “The Girl Who Fell Down: A Biography of Joan McCracken” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll Dances of the 1950s.” A choreographer, critic, and historian, she has written for Back Stage, American Theatre, Film Journal International, and numerous other popular publications, encyclopedias, and scholarly journals. An adjunct professor at Columbia University and Rutgers, she is currently researching a book on the influence of Pennsylvania’s Bucks County on America’s musical theatre.
