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Written
by Mike Yoder, posted by blog admin
Nick
Black’s 2017 album Summer & Spring shows Nick Black continuing to add to
his reputation as one of the best performers and musicians working in the
R&B, soul, and blues genre today. His cross-sectional fluency covering
multiple styles is topped off by first class vocal chops seemingly incapable of
striking a wrong note; it’s an astonishing state of affairs when a twenty eight
year old player and singer exhibits the sort of confidence and skill set we
normally associate with a much older performer and, frankly, one from earlier
generations. Black, despite his clear mastery of the idiom, is far from a retro
performer and each of the thirteen songs on Summer & Spring is adorned with
crystal clear recording virtues and a focus on serving the song first rather
than providing a spotlight for any would-be virtuosos. The production and
mastering talents of James Bennett and Brad Blackwood, respectively, are partly
responsible for help Black shape this musical vision.
Black
puts his best foot forward with the first song “Joy to the Girl”. This obvious
single has a deliciously funky vibe without ever being so firmly ensconced in
the genre that it’s rendered inaccessible to casual fans. Black makes liberal
use of brass throughout the album and its presence on “Joy to the Girl”
mitigates those funk influences in such a way that it makes the song even more palatable
to a wider audience. The title song is another obvious choice for a single,
particularly thanks to the stylish guitar work that gives it extra punch, and
the wonderfully melodic vocal that Black unfurls for the audience is an equally
involving listening experience. He shifts gears with the rambunctious jump
blues stylings of “Nick at Night” and the album’s most overt attempt at humor
works well because it has a superb musical attack and a confidence level that
makes the performance intensely likable.
He
dabbles a little with the blues on “Runaway Heart” and the impassioned vocal
that he fills the song with never pushes the limits of believability. There’s
none of the Sturm and Drang with his blues dalliance that too many young
performers rely on when they tackle the style and, instead, he gives the song
an elegant twist along with imbuing it with the required gravitas. “Neighbor”
features the same horn section that’s added so much to earlier songs, but there’s
less of an overarching R&B feel here and, instead, more of a play for AOR
radio play and light rock tendencies. It’s cut much more from a Van Morrison
kind of cloth then, for instance, Motown or Memphis. The hardest funk edge on
Summer & Spring comes with the bubbling rhythms and tempo of “When the
Morning Comes” and it plays, as well, like Black and his collaborators’ most
challenging piece on the album. The one track on the release that you can peg
as a retro inspired cut is the song “Dance in the Light”, but its flirtations
with a funky edge give it sharp teeth and the production values are completely
current in every way. “The River” ends the album on a muted note with some
acoustic blues and foregoes the musical pyrotechnics defining so much of what
has come before. This is an unified and coherent effort from an artist
approaching the peak of his powers and you get the feeling that Nick Black is
just getting started really. There’s nothing this guy can’t do.
