Rating: NN
I almost feel sorry for Denzal Sinclaire as he unhappily celebrates seeing clearly now that the rain is gone: ‘Look straight ahead, nothing but blue skies…’ he sings in his plain, subdued Nat King Cole-ish croon, meandering into minor notes over the barren soundscape of a bare piano. The Toronto-born, McGill-trained jazz troubadour/pianist’s whole album is characterized by laid-so-far-back-it’s-horizontal-and-snoring covers of old standards like Stevie Wonder’s Happier Than The Morning Sun and even Genesis’s Follow You, Follow Me. This latest Verve release is beautifully recorded, meticulously arranged and as boring as Scrabble with Grandma.
Sinclaire slides into Montreal Bistro tonight (Thursday, January 26).