Next Year’s Song Review

by Travis Rogers, Jr.
The Jazz Owl

CeCe Gable has released four well-received CDs that has gotten great attention and acclaim from Jazz audiences and critics alike. Her fifth album is Next Year’s Song, an album that brings her vocal talents to bear on Jazz classics that are beloved and sought-after.
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With CeCe are Alan Broadbent on piano, Harvie S on bass, Roni Ben-Hur on guitar and Matt Wilson on drums. This is a great line-up that brings the punch to CeCe’s purr. Broadbent not only provides irreplaceable piano artistry but adds original compositions, as well. He is remarkable. The cool bass of Harvie S is evident from the opening track, the title track. Drummer Matt Wilson never disappoints.

Maybe the most engaging of all the tunes is the melancholy Two for the Road by Henry Mancini. In an album full of memorable and meaningful songs, this one is a standout. A longtime favorite, it is given new life by CeCe and band.

Roni Ben-Hur gets a beautiful solo on No Moon At All and Broadbent adds his spectacular piano musings. Both worthy of the price of admission. But it is CeCe’s staccatoesque vocals that transform the Julie London classic into a real swinger.

But then there’s The Long Goodbye by Alan Broadbent. It is a wonderful piece that Charlie Haden took to glory but CeCe (with Broadbent himself on piano) takes that song to the heights set by its own composition.

My Romance gets a cool drum solo from Matt Wilson that makes you go back through the album a gain just to concentrate on his drum parts. It’s worth the review.
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Come Rain or Come Shine (Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer) and From Me to You close out the album beautifully. The cool samba guitar on Broadbent’s From Me to You helps make this an ideal finale to a wonderful album.