Judy Wexler: “No Wonder” (2025) CD Review

On Back To The Garden, Judy Wexler’s 2021 release, the talented jazz vocalist offered her own takes on some popular songs from the 1960s and 1970s, songs with strong relevance to current times. Now on her new release, No Wonder, she covers a larger time period, both reaching farther back for some excellent choices of standards and delivering a couple of more recent numbers. These are songs you likely know, or at least most of them are. And, as she did on Back To The Garden, Judy Wexler puts her own great touches on the material here. Sometimes it is just the way a key line or phrase is delivered that makes the song feel new. She is adept at choosing those moments, of picking just the right phrases to highlight in order to make the songs hers, and in the process giving us the opportunity to hear these songs with fresh ears. Joining her on this release are Jeff Colella on piano and melodica (Colella also co-produced the album with Judy Wexler and did most of the arrangements), Danny Janklow on saxophone and flute, Bob Sheppard on saxophone and clarinet, Jay Jennings on trumpet and flugelhorn, Larry Koonse on electric guitar and acoustic guitar, Gabe Davis on bass, and Steve Hass on drums.

Judy Wexler opens this album with a fairly recent song, “No Wonder,” which was written by Luciana Souza, and included on her 2003 album North And South. I like the rhythm of the vocal line. And the way she delivers the line, “Have you got a heart,” it feels that she is truly asking. This track features some really nice work by Danny Janklow on tenor saxophone. I also love Steve Hass’ work on drums, which gives a good sense of movement to this piece, gives the track an energy. “Your vacant looks don’t prove a thing/I wish I knew the bottom of your heart.” Judy Wexler had previously covered Luciana Souza’s “Circus Life” on her 2019 album Crowded Heart. “No Wonder” is followed by “The Summer Knows.” “The Summer Knows” is a song that most people are familiar with, even those who have never seen Summer of ’42 (or who haven’t even heard of it). The song was composed by Michel Legrand as the theme for the movie (Legrand won the Oscar for best original dramatic score); Marilyn and Alan Bergman wrote the lyrics. It’s a beautiful piece of music, and Judy Wexler delivers a wonderful rendition. As it begins, there is nice work from the brass section, helping to set the tone. Judy Wexler delivers a dramatic and moving vocal performance, where she is part storyteller, part character within the story. This track also features a good bass line, as well as an excellent lead on saxophone in the second half. This is one of my personal favorites. “Lets you see the wonder of it all/And if you’ve learned your lesson well/There’s little more for her to tell/One last caress/It’s time to dress/For fall.”

Then she really takes us back to the 1940s, with a rendition of “You Stepped Out Of A Dream,” a song written by Nacio Herb Bruce and Gus Kahn, and featured in the movie Ziegfeld Girl. Judy Wexler’s version features a great rhythm that provides an earthy element, while her vocal performance contains more of that dreamlike quality, or a reaction to a dreamlike vibe.  I love the combination of feelings, of tones. And ultimately, there is a great joy. Plus, there is some damn fine drumming here. I also like the way the saxophone and trumpet interact. Judy Wexler released this song as a single a couple of weeks ago. That’s followed by “Never Will I Marry,” a song written by Frank Loesser for the musical Greenwillow, which opened in early 1960. Judy Wexler doesn’t bother with that little intro from the musical (Judy Garland, Nancy Wilson and others have also cut it). This is an interesting song, for most songs about wandering make the action seem appealing. Not so with this one, which is about someone who is born to wander but wishes to settle down. There is a sense of fate acting against the person, and Judy does a great job of expressing that. The piano lead also expresses that sense of fate, of doom.

“Wish You Were Here” is a song written by Harold Rome, and one that was a hit for Eddie Fisher in 1952. There is a wonderful warmth as well as a yearning to Judy’s vocal performance. “Someone’s painting the leaves all wrong this year/Wish you were here/And why did the birds change their song this year/Wish you were here/They’re not shining the stars as bright/They’ve stolen the joy from the night.” This track also contains some really nice stuff on bass, as well as a cool lead on guitar. There is also a great section near the end where Judy allows herself to drift into a dream of the person being there, repeating the line “Wish you were here,” while the guitar offers some wonderful support. She then offers a strong rendition of “Firm Roots (Are What You Need To Win).” This song began as instrumental in the mid-1970s, then titled simply “Firm Roots,” written and recorded by Cedar Walton. Then a couple of decades later, Kitty Margolis wrote lyrics for the song, and recorded her version for the album Evolution, where she called it “Firm Roots (Are What You Need To Win).” “Every one of us has some kind of blessing/Truth is what you need to win.” Those are good words to keep in mind in what are certain to be trying times ahead, as are these: “And it’s never much too late to start over/‘Cause the net result will show/So when you wake up and start every morning/Take a minute just to breathe/Because you never know where this day will take you.” And then there is a drum solo, coming as a delightful surprise. Have I mentioned how good the drumming is on this album?

“Slow Hot Wind” began as an instrumental piece titled “Lujon,” which was included on Henry Mancini’s 1961 record Mr. Lucky Goes Latin. Then Norman Gimbel added lyrics to it, and it was recorded by folks like Sarah Vaughan and Johnny Hartman. This rendition by Judy Wexler has a cool, intriguing opening, sort of an air of mystery about it. And there is a dreamy, sultry delivery of that first line, “His gaze swept over me like a slow hot wind,” all of which establishes a compelling tone. You can feel the heat on your body as she sings. Adding to that great vibe is the work on saxophone. This is another of my personal favorites. It is followed by “I Wish You Love.” Many of the English renditions begin with the line “I wish you bluebirds in the spring,” but Judy Wexler includes that great opening (which was also included by Shirley Bassey and Esther Phillips): “Goodbye, no use leading with our chins/This is where the story ends/Never lovers, ever friends/Goodbye, let our hearts call it a day/But before you walk away/I sincerely want to say.” And then we get that cool rhythm, as Judy sings that famous “bluebirds” line. Judy offers some sweet scat in this rendition. That section is followed by a vibrant lead on saxophone, and then a bright lead on trumpet. We all need love, don’t we? And I suspect we’re going to be especially in need of it over the next four years.

My opinion is that Leonard Cohen was the best songwriter of all time (yes, better than Cole Porter, better than Gershwin, better than Lennon, better than Dylan), and on this album Judy Wexler chooses to cover “Dance Me To The End Of Love,” a song from Various Positions, which is one of my two favorite albums (the other being Grateful Dead’s American Beauty). It’s the song Leonard Cohen chose to open all the concerts I was fortunate enough to attend in those years when he went back to touring. As Neil Tesser mentions in the liner notes to this album, this song was actually inspired by the Holocaust, in particular the fact that prisoners were forced to play string quartet music while their fellow prisoners went into the crematoriums. Judy Wexler then began thinking of this song again after the brutal attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. She puts her own spin on the song, giving it a different vibe, partly in the rhythm, and emphasizes the eastern European aspect of the sound, which works wonderfully, as well as the beautiful darkness in the song. This track features some excellent work on clarinet and guitar. This is really a spectacular rendition.

“That Sunday, That Summer” was written by Joe Sherman and George David Weiss, and was a hit for Nat King Cole in 1963. It’s a sweet number, a love song recollecting the meeting of that special someone. I love the excitement and joy in her delivery of the line, “I could almost hear them whisper, ‘Go on, kiss him, go on and kiss him.’” Sometimes when we reflect on those memories, we regain that youth, that joy, and we hear that in her delivery. I often think of that moment when I first met the love of my life, though it was a Saturday, not Sunday, and in winter, not summer. Jay Jennings plays flugelhorn on this track, delivering a really nice lead. Nat King Cole also recorded “A Weaver Of Dreams,” this one more than a decade before “That Sunday, That Summer.” This is also a love song. “I’m in your spell, and there’s no cure/I’m lost for sure/Because you’re a weaver of dreams/And I’m in love with you.” We hear in Judy Wexler’s voice the tremendous joy of falling under that spell, that wonderful feeling of giving in to so great a love, letting it take over. We also hear it in that delightful work on alto flute. She then wraps up the album with “The Night We Called It A Day,” a song written by Matt Dennis and Tom Adair. It was recorded by Frank Sinatra and Carmen McRae, and more recently by Bob Dylan. Judy Wexler’s rendition begins gently on piano, immersing us in memory. This is a beautiful and tender rendition. “I heard the song of the spheres/Like a minor lament in my ears/I hadn’t the heart left to pray/The night we called it a day.”

CD Track List

1. No Wonder
2. The Summer Knows
3. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
4. Never Will I Marry
5. Wish You Were Here
6. Firm Roots (Are What You Need To Win)
7. Slow Hot Wind
8. I Wish You Love
9. Dance Me To The End Of Love
10. That Sunday, That Summer
11. A Weaver Of Dreams
12. The Night We Called It A Day

No Wonder is scheduled to be released on January 24, 2025. And for those folks living in Los Angeles, her album release party is scheduled for February 13, 2025 at Catalina Jazz Club.