Jenifer Jackson - Birds

Artist: Jenifer Jackson Title: Birds Catalog#: Parasol-CD-068 Price: $12.00	Tracks on this CD:
	The Fade
	Mercury, The Sun And Moon
	Endless Green
	The First Day Of Winter
	After The Fall
	The War Is Done
	Survival
	Trouble Fire
	Naturally Blonde
	What You Said
	My Impossible Love
	Lullaby

Songs from Birds figure prominently in Daydream Believer, a new feature film by Debra Eisenstadt currently in competition at the Slamdance Festival.

Jenifer Jackson is the name of the girl who made a particularly beautiful record and called it Birds. Jenifer plays guitar, piano and sings. Her singing voice is clarity itself; pure and understated. Her songs are lovely and mysterious and daring, intimate and natural, sexual and sparse and true and also deceptively simple. This peerless New York City songwriter's talent for melody and subtle arrangement make for a record full of style and short on kitsch. Delicately wrought by producer Brad Jones with a handful of superb players, Jenifer Jackson's Birds is an elegant work of classic pop; effortlessly graceful and resonant.

From cool resignations to aging love in "The Fade," and "The War Is Done" to childlike reflections on the dead and memory in "Naturally Blonde," the songs on Birds enjoy an aerial view of their earthly subject matter. "Love is an ocean and love is a stone/ Love is a wish that you make on your own," Jackson sings in "After The Fall," a mature lament that defines much of the record's emotional space. Lest her deft portraiture of breaking hearts earn her a reputation as a cynical romantic, Jenifer also proves herself capable of embracing blissful fun pop, veering just short of psychedelia on "Mercury, The Sun and Moon" and donning her bright brown folk-rock boots on "What You Said."

Newly signed to Parasol on the strength of her acclaimed debut, Slowly Bright, Jenifer Jackson has been earning accolades since she moved to New York three years ago. The Village Voice has called her "a passionate, evolved, swinging modern." CMJ said: "There's a particularly soft, almost naive sense of beauty to JJ's songs that belies the sophistication of their craftsmanship and presentation."

Jenifer's recordings are liked by people who appreciate Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Burt Bacharach, and vocal jazz like Chet Baker and Julie London. Her contemporaries include Elliot Smith, Ron Sexsmith, Lucinda Williams and High Llamas. Jenifer wants everyone to know that the songs on her new record Birds "speak of human struggles, which are both internal and universal." Her performing, recording and songwriting credits include collaborations with Jules Shear, Medeski Martin and Wood, Oren Bloedow, Marshall Crenshaw, Swandive, and an album of duets recorded with her father, jazz radio DJ legend Julian Jackson.

Like a flower bursting through the sidewalk, the timeless songs of Jenifer Jackson softly compel those with eyes and ears left to stop and witness beauty. Her singularity is inspiring and her vision keen. It's a gift of this artist to the admirer that her sonic canvas calls up waves of buried or hidden feeling, without pushing buttons or even engaging the mind with words. Her lyrics are beautiful too, but it's the melodies and the changes that always slay me in Jenifer's music, it's the mood.

We reviewed JJ's radiant Slowly Bright in a previous issue and there are interesting comparisons between the records that one can make just by investigating the clips. Slowly Bright was made with her crew and friends in NYC and Boston. There is a variety of sterling players involved, produced and mixed mostly by Steve Rosenthal and David Poe. Birds was conceived with a Nashville pop crew at our favorite place, Alexander the Great Studio, with Brad Jones at the wheel. He said to me once about this record, "We basically let Jenifer's tunes dictate the treatment, and tried to leave them alone as much as possible." And although there are some exciting Phil Spector moments, the tunes are treated essentially, and with an offhanded looseness that lets them breathe freely. The fabulous steel guitar of Tommy Hannum in both country traditional and pop orchestral approaches is a major ingredient, and I was surprised to hear a few tunes that had a folk or country feel that was accentuated. It's a lovely counterpoint to JJ's pop side that has both jazzy and 60s elements, to name a couple.

But the players all need a mention, since on this record there are only a half dozen. Brad Jones always plays fabulous bass, and contributes an array of samples, plus harmonium and guitar. The cat is quietly building a legend, he's always working. Pat "The Wig" Sansome is so right on vibes, marimba and keyboards. Will Kimbrough plays some great and surprising guitar, and Josh Rouse lays really nice backup vocals. In a big way, I dig Mickey Grimm's drumming on the record, he's like a jazzy Keith Moon on the skins.

A message from Jenifer Jackson:

My name is Jenifer Jackson, and I am very excited that Parasol is releasing my new album, Birds. Birds is a group of 12 songs that reflect my impressions of life that are both personal and universal. I write about connections and distance, about desire and loss, about light and shadow, about time, memories, and hopefulness. My inspirations come from nature, melody, color, love, and the temporal element found in all of these. I also like a deep groove and a subtle, seductive atmosphere.

I was blessed with the opportunity to work with Brad Jones. He created a setting where we could record these songs simply, spontaneously, and musically. Brad played bass, Mickey Grimm played drums and percussion, and I played guitar. This, and my voice, is how we tracked. Then Pat Sansone added vibes, marimbas, moog, Hammond. Will Kimbrough played some slide guitar, and Tommy Hannum added pedal steel.

Some of my musical influences are: Elis Regina and Antonio Jobim, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Burt Bacharach, Chet Baker. I hope you like Birds.

"…Jackson's forthcoming CD Birds is one of the most accomplished and evocative pieces of songcraft we've heard recently-delicate but tough, just the sort of album that fails to get noticed these days. So, all you conoissiurs of smart, melodic folk pop out there, you fans of Nick Drake and Elliott Smith, knock yourselves out to get a ticket to this show." -The Boston Globe February 2001

"The world, if it were a truly good place, would belong to Jenifer Jackson. Jenifer's world-like the sound of her latest album Birds-is a wholly swank and a lovely world to visit. The record was, however, made by the New Yorker in a place called Nashville.
Birds opens with the going Tropo tune "The Fade" and evokes that "vacation in a warm place" feeling. "Mercury, The Sun and Moon," a number that is the very personification of swank, (in its latest version) proves to be kicky; think James Bond sound track. Some tunes (i.e. "Endless Green") are as lovely and as fragile as snow flakes, and seem to call for the comfort of a simple embrace while "Lullaby" goes out with that patented quiet sweet sound that JJ ends her records with. "Survival" provides the coolest guitar riff of the whole well-played outing. Swank comes in country flavor as well, replete with pedal steel twang on "What You Said" while "My Impossible Love" treads the same trail.
Time after time, Ms. Jackson delivers great songs, subtle musicianship and deceptively powerful, always pretty, vocals. Birds contains four songs from the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature (Daydream Believer) at Slamdance film fest. I could have told you, Jenifer, that this world was never meant for one as beautifully voiced." -Yeah Yeah Yeah Issue #19

I opened my ears to Jackson's second record as a lark; my friend was her drummer in a tiny Lower East Side club. I never once went to see her play, and I wanted to kick myself for not bothering. Jackson is gifted, with expert control over a soft and smooth, reedy voice; smooth that calls out and slices through this country-tinged collection, expertly produced by Brad Jones (Marshall Crenshaw, Amy Rigby, Cotton Mather), of poetic folk musings on the solitude we feel, despite the invisible threads tying us to our timeless loves. "The East River rolled on silver and blue/And everything that day in my heart was you," she coos on the "The First Day of Winter," over acoustic jangle, slippery pedal-steel slide, and fabulous bird bass. Her voice dances over the perfect half of the forever changing moon in the second verse of "What You Said." "My Impossible Love" perfectly captures the feeling of the hold that surrender keeps on those who dare to feel. A tip of the cap to the players for a standout offering from a premier talent. -The Big Take-Over Issue #48

"Well-crafted, deceptively simple tunes with a folksy slant, highlighted by Jackson's subtle, intimate vocals." -Alternative Press

"If you like…the hushed female singers of COWBOY JUNKIES and MAZZY STAR, swoop down on JENIFER JACKSON's graceful Birds." -Entertainment Weekly

The tunes on this record were featured in a lauded movie by Debra Eisenstadt, details in the other review. On top of being irrepressibly beautiful, this music is stress reducing. Listen to it twice and call me in the morning. -FG Pure Music