Karen Mack: “Catch & Keep” (2024) CD Review

Karen Mack is a vocalist and songwriter based in New York. She has sung pop, rock and folk, and these days she focuses on jazz, which her voice is perfectly suited for. She seems completely at home in this realm. Her new album, Catch & Keep, contains a mix of jazz standards, contemporary numbers and a couple of original compositions. The band backing her includes Peter Eldridge on piano and organ, Jesse Lewis on guitar, Matt Aronoff on upright bass, Jared Schonig on drums and percussion, and Ben Wittman on percussion. There are also a few guests joining her on various tracks. This album was produced by Peter Eldridge and Karen Mack.

Karen Mack opens the album with a delightfully cheerful and bright rendition of “Nothing Like You,” a song written by Bob Dorough and Fran Landesman, and recorded by Miles Davis and Irene Kral, among others. This track features Nadje Noordhuis on trumpet, delivering an excellent lead, that being one of my favorite sections. This track also features some wonderful drumming, something that always holds great appeal for me. But it is Karen Mack’s vocal performance that sets the song’s delightful tone. “You’re like a dream come true/Something completely new,” she sings, and her delivery and energy make this song feel new. She follows that with the standard “Imagination,” composed by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. This track has a dreamy and warm vibe, that tone again set by Karen Mack’s vocal approach. She draws us in, sounding like a friend, so that it does not seem at all strange when she sings, “Starts you asking a daisy what to do, what to do,” for we are with her, we understand. The track’s warmth is also created by Peter Eldridge’s work on piano. I also love the little playful vocal additions at the end.

It feels fitting to go from a song about imagination to a song that begins with the phrase “Once upon a time,” Karen Mack following “Imagination” with “From Now On,” which was written by Basia Trzetrzelewska and Danny White. This song has a delicious Brazilian rhythm, and features a great bass line. Karen Mack delivers a pretty vocal performance, and Darmon Meader provides some wonderful work on saxophone. That’s followed by “Come To Baby Do,” a standard that has been recorded by Doris Day, Lena Horne and Nat King Cole. Karen Mack does a phenomenal job with this song. There is something timeless about her voice, as well as something alluring and adorable. Plus, Darmon Meader adds some more great stuff on saxophone. And, hey, the song swings. Everything about this is working perfectly. This track is a total delight, one of my personal favorites. Karen Mack then changes gears, delivering a beautiful, intimate vocal performance on “This Is Always.” “This isn’t sometimes, this is always/This isn’t maybe, it’s always/This is love.” Oh yes, we can hear it in her voice. No question but that this is love. “This isn’t just midsummer madness,” she sings. No, but that can feel pretty good too, can’t it? I love the guitar work on this track, even before that wonderful lead in the second half. This is another of the disc’s highlights.

Karen Mack then turns to a song from fellow New Yorker David Cantor, “I’m So Repentant,” a song that was included on the Dave’s True Story album Sex Without Bodies. There is a wonderfully playful edge to her delivery on this one. “But I would rather lie with you than lie to you.” This track features a fun rhythm, and a 1950s feel to that great guitar lead. Also, Darmon Meader adds some nice touches on saxophone. Yes, this track is yet another of the disc’s highlights. And how is it she is even more alluring at the very end as she repeats “I’m so repentant”? Then “November Day” begins with some pretty work on piano. This is one of the album’s original compositions, written by Karen Mack, Elliot Roth and Peter Eldridge. Here she creates a cold and dark day, one of many to come. “Don’t want to venture out at all/But if you should answer when I call/You know I’ll grab the boots and go.” These lines also stand out: “But it’s fall now, and we’re frozen like the crystals on the pane/And I can’t remember ever feeling warm.” I also like that moment where she describes how her experience of the cold is not in line with what the official report is by the weatherman. And she looks forward to spring. This is a beautiful song.

“Hurry Up And Wait,” is another original number, this one written by Peter Eldridge and Karen Mack. This one moves at a good pace, and you might find yourself snapping your fingers while listening. It features a cool bass line, as well as some great stuff by Darmon Meader on saxophone. It also includes a Shakespeare reference, which I appreciate: “And all’s well that ends well,” a line that Karen repeats several times throughout the track. This track also provides the album with its title in the lines “Catch and clutch and keep/Miles to go before we sleep.” And check out that work on drums. That’s followed by “Here Is Everything,” which was written by Chiara Civello and combines elements of folk and jazz. “Here is the dream no one else would see/Here is everything we wanted/Here is everything we never had.” Peter Eldridge joins her on vocals on this track. I especially like that vocal section at the end. This track also features some really nice guitar work.

Nadje Noordhuis plays flugelhorn on “Our Love Rolls On,” delivering some great stuff. This song, written by Dave Frishberg, is a love song for those with some experience, with lines like “The clouds hang low, and the rains do fall/And everybody sings a little blues after all/But our love rolls on.” and “And counting on tomorrow is at best touch and go/But our love rolls on.” This track also features some good drumming. That’s followed by “I Wanna Get Married,” a playful number written by Nellie McKay and included on her first album, 2004’s Get Away From Me. We can hear the humor in Karen Mack’s voice as she sings “Yes, I need a spouse” and “I need to cook meals.” This track features a delightful lead on bass in the middle. The album concludes with a song written by the great Betty Bryant, “It’s Hard To Say Goodbye,” which was included on Bryant’s 2019 album Project 88, where it also was the final track. Karen Mack does a wonderful job with it. As you might guess, it features some good stuff on piano. Elliot Roth plays piano and joins Karen Mack on vocals on this one. This version kicks in much earlier than Betty Bryant’s original recording, before even the first lines. “You’re the most/You’re cinnamon toast.”

CD Track List

1. Nothing Like You
2. Imagination
3. From Now On
4. Come To Baby Do
5. This Is Always
6. I’m So Repentant
7. November Day
8. Hurry Up And Wait
9. Here Is Everything
10. Our Love Rolls On
11. I Wanna Get Married
12. It’s Hard To Say Goodbye

Catch & Keep was released on June 28, 2024.