Alien Left Hand
Nominated for a Parliamentary Jazz Award in Best CD category 2010, Alien Left Hand is the dynamic follow up to that highly acclaimed debut solo. So, it is with little wonder that it packs a mighty punch and puts Mason up there with the best of them. Her solo projects give her free reign to do what she likes, with no holds barred - and this is no exception.
As expected from Mason, it’s an album of flair and genuine unpredictability. Tempo is key; crescendos, catchy hooks and driving swing are balanced with delicate ballads. On Alien Left Hand, Mason is joined by Dudley Phillips on bass, Josh Giunta on drums, Julian Siegel on sax, Tom Arthurs on trumpet, and Lea DeLaria on vocals.
> Buy the album now
As expected from Mason, it’s an album of flair and genuine unpredictability. Tempo is key; crescendos, catchy hooks and driving swing are balanced with delicate ballads. On Alien Left Hand, Mason is joined by Dudley Phillips on bass, Josh Giunta on drums, Julian Siegel on sax, Tom Arthurs on trumpet, and Lea DeLaria on vocals.
> Buy the album now
Review
The Guardian, Friday 23 January 2009
John Fordham
Janette Mason Alien Left Hand ****
Janette Mason is a session, studio and movie-score pianist, and one of the best. But she's also a jazz musician in every fibre, just like her close associate, the Anglophile American singer Lea Delaria. Mason came out of the session shadows in 2005 with her fine Din and Tonic album, and Alien Left Hand develops that set's cross-genre vision, infectious grooving, clever composing and audacious improvisation. Her powerful band includes saxophonist Julian Siegel and trumpeter Tom Arthurs, with Delaria on occasional vocals. On opener Four Wheel Drive, Mason's baroque piano line becomes increasingly funky against Josh Giunta's drumming, while The Blues Walked Out mixes assymmetrical rhythms, acoustic and organ sounds, and then driving, straightahead swing. A thrillingly arranged account of Eurhythmics' Sweet Dreams, two diaphanous ballads (Mae's Song, for Mason's late mother, and a Jarrettish approach to Leonard Bernstein's Some Other Time), some flying bebop (NY Cab Ride) and an equally breathless title track, over a racing left-hand ostinato, confirm the impression that the gifted Mason has done it again.
John Fordham
Janette Mason Alien Left Hand ****
Janette Mason is a session, studio and movie-score pianist, and one of the best. But she's also a jazz musician in every fibre, just like her close associate, the Anglophile American singer Lea Delaria. Mason came out of the session shadows in 2005 with her fine Din and Tonic album, and Alien Left Hand develops that set's cross-genre vision, infectious grooving, clever composing and audacious improvisation. Her powerful band includes saxophonist Julian Siegel and trumpeter Tom Arthurs, with Delaria on occasional vocals. On opener Four Wheel Drive, Mason's baroque piano line becomes increasingly funky against Josh Giunta's drumming, while The Blues Walked Out mixes assymmetrical rhythms, acoustic and organ sounds, and then driving, straightahead swing. A thrillingly arranged account of Eurhythmics' Sweet Dreams, two diaphanous ballads (Mae's Song, for Mason's late mother, and a Jarrettish approach to Leonard Bernstein's Some Other Time), some flying bebop (NY Cab Ride) and an equally breathless title track, over a racing left-hand ostinato, confirm the impression that the gifted Mason has done it again.
