John Allee: “Bardfly” (2019) CD Review

Apart from the people I love, the two biggest passions in my life are music and Shakespeare. And those two are combined more often than you might imagine. Music plays an important part in many of Shakespeare’s plays, particularly Twelfth Night and The Tempest. In fact, the very first line of Twelfth Night is “If music be the food of love, play on” (a line which lent itself to the title of an early Fleetwood Mac album). Several artists over the years have covered the music from Shakespeare’s plays, including Paul Kelly and Deborah Shulman. Vocalist John Allee does something rather special on Bardfly, his album of Shakespeare music. He creates a sort of Elizabethan/1950s jazz club, which is hosted by Feste, so you know there is going to be some humor in these tracks. And the music that follows is all played at this club. Joining John Allee on this album are Mahesh Balasooriya on piano, Aaron McLendon on drums, Dominic Thiroux on bass, Javier Vergara on tenor saxophone, and Matt Von Roderick on trumpet.

On the album’s first track, “Bardfly Blues/Samingo,” we are taken to the jazz club and introduced to the place, its host, the other employees and musicians. There is some vivid description, which contains plenty of humor and plenty of references to Shakespeare’s work, such as “Over on Eastcheap Blvd.” and “the back of a Dear Romeo letter” and “remnants of a forgotten Folio” (and the way he delivers the word “Folio” is delightful). This piece also contains a reference to my favorite speech from Macbeth, “Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player/That struts and frets his hour upon the stage/And then is heard no more,” with John Allee saying “The players hit the stage, ready to strut and fret for an hour’s set.” That is great, especially as this CD is approximately an hour long. Plus, there is a Tempest reference here: “Will melt into air, into thin air.” The track then segues seamlessly into the band’s first number, “Samingo” (from The Second Part Of King Henry The Fourth, which is the play I happen to be re-reading at the moment, so everything is feeling just exactly right). This track features some nice work on piano. Then John Allee delivers a gentle, cool rendition of “Until The Break Of Day,” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the play, it is sung by Oberon in Act V Scene i. Here it includes some gorgeous work on saxophone. That is followed by “Tomorrow Is St. Valentine’s Day,” a song from Hamlet. It is sung from the third person, rather than from Ophelia’s perspective, so “And I a maid at your window,/To be your Valentine” becomes “And there a maid at the window/To be his Valentine.” Once this track gets going, Ophelia cuts loose and gets funky. Oh, if only the poor girl could have been swinging like this, she might have enjoyed a different fate. There is more nice work on keys, and I love that horn, particularly at the end. We return to A Midsummer Night’s Dream with a delightful, cool and loose rendition of “Philomel,” the song the Fairies sing at Titania’s request. This one contains a bit of playful scat, and is combined with “Hold Thy Peace,” from Twelfth Night. Yup, it’s a groovy medley, and it ends with John Allee saying “Hush up,” which works for both songs. After all, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania is going to sleep.

One of the most famous songs in Shakespeare’s canon is “O Mistress Mine,” here titled “Mistress Mine.” This is also from Twelfth Night, and is sung by Feste, who asks if the others would like a love song or a song of good life. Sir Toby Belch calls for a love song, with Andrew Aguecheek seconding it, saying “I care not for good life.” This rendition by John Allee has something of a beautiful late-night vibe, that horn calling out in the darkness, as the gentle work on piano eases us into a dream world. So sad, the line “Youth’s a stuff will not endure.” Indeed. Then from Much Ado About Nothing, John Allee gives us a sweet, thoughtful rendition of “Sigh No More.” Has the phrase “Hey nonny nonny” ever sounded so solemn? Here his vocals are supported by piano. Then approximately halfway through, the rest of the band comes in, the horn leading the way into a wonderful instrumental section.

One of my favorite tracks is the totally delicious and ridiculously cool rendition of “The Hungry Lion,” setting Puck’s speech from Act V of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to music, the lyrics delivered almost like spoken word, the bass setting the tone, and the horns adding some absolutely wonderful stuff to this hip and stylish take. Oh yes, you can just see Puck moving slyly along the stage, delivering his speech in such a fashion. That’s followed by a beautiful rendition of Desdemona’s song from Act IV of Othello, “Green Willow” (also known as “The Willow Song”), certainly one of the saddest and most moving of the songs from Shakespeare’s works. A sad and lonely horn sounds at the end, a perfect touch. The bass then leads us into a rather touching rendition of “Full Fathom Five” (also known as “Ariel’s Song”), from The Tempest. That’s followed by a lively version of “Heigh Ho The Holly” from As You Like It. “This life is most jolly,” indeed! This track features more wonderful stuff from the horn section, and then an excellent lead on piano.

John Allee presents another of Feste’s songs from Twelfth Night, “Come Away Death,” which is sung at Orsino’s request in Act II Scene iv. This is a pretty rendering, with a tender vocal performance. I also love the lead on bass. That’s followed by another sad song of death, “Never Come Again,” which is sung by poor Ophelia in Act IV Scene v of Hamlet. This song was recorded by Marianne Faithfull as “How Should I Your True Love Know,” and by Caroline MacPhie as “Ophelia’s Song.” In this version by John Allee, the drums at the beginning signal a death, a funeral. John’s vocals are supported mainly by gentle work on piano. The album concludes, most appropriately, with Feste’s final song from Twelfth Night, “The Wind And The Rain.” After all, he has been our host, right? Here we get a cool, stylish take on the song, with a fantastic instrumental section in the middle. This is certainly one of the disc’s best tracks. The song’s last lines get a slight change, from “But that’s all one, our play is done/And we’ll strive to please you every day” to “That’s all one, our record’s done/And we’ll strive to please you ever day.” Indeed! This album is pleasing from beginning to end.

CD Track List

1. Bardfly Blues/Samingo
2. Until The Break Of Day
3. Tomorrow Is St. Valentine’s Day
4. Philomel/Hold Thy Peace
5. Mistress Mine
6. Sigh No More
7. The Hungry Lion
8. Green Willow
9. Full Fathom Five
10. Heigh Ho The Holly
11. Come Away Death
12. Never Come Again
13. The Wind And The Rain 

Bardfly was released on October 11, 2019 on Portuguese Knees Music.