The Baylor Project, married couple Marcus and Jean Baylor are the jazz/R&B counterparts to the engaging Americana couple War & Treaty. Generations follows up their two-time Grammy-nominated 2017 The Journey and their third Grammy nod for the 2020 single “Sit On Down.” This new album features nine originals and two covers as the couple delivers stories of family and faith, love, and legacy – all rooted in the Black experience. Jean is a vocalist with clear articulation, nuanced phrasing, and when called for, R&B powerhouse belting that, dare we say, evokes Aretha. Marcus holds it together with his drumming as they invite a veritable who’s who A-list group of players as their backing band augmented by guests.
The core band features pianists Shedrick Mitchell and Terry Brewer, bassists Dezron Douglas, Ben Williams, D.J. Ginyard, Richie Goods guitarists Rayfield “Ray” Holloman and Marvin Sewell, saxophonists Keith Loftis and Korey Riker, trumpeters Freddie Hendrix and Christopher Michael Stevens, trombonists Mark Williams and Aaron “Goody” Goode, percussionists Pablo Batista and Aaron Draper and harpist Brandee Younger. Guests include Kenny Garrett, Dianne Reeves, Jazzmeia Horn, Jamison Ross, and Sullivan Fortner. A pristine string section graces three o tracks, delivering lush string arrangements by Geoffrey Keezer and Darin Atwater.
Jubilant handclaps introduces the horn-driven “Strivin’” with guest altoist Kenny Garrett taking the lead role. It’s boogaloo R&B get-up-and-shout at is best, invoking the spirits of Ray Charles and Aretha. This blissful groove migrates to the Baylor’s living with a slew of voices conversing on love and life for an interlude leading to “Happy To Be With You,” an exultant gospel roof-raiser, delivered by the full band full swinging mode. For a welcome breather, the reflective reimagining of “Love Makes Me Sing” follows, covering R&B singer-songwriter Michael Wycoff’s 1980 hint. Here we hear the nuanced side of Jean Baylor’s vocals bathed in one of three Geoffrey Keezer’s string arrangements. Next is the other cover, Wayne Shorter’s soothing “Infant Eyes,” featuring original lyrics from Jean.
”2020” and “We Swing,” placed in the middle of the album are arguably its centerpieces. The former is a prayer sung in the form of the blues, based on the form of a traditional Negro spiritual with 14 musicians and singers in total This has truly serious and impassioned moments as Jean sings “Lord, hear my cry.” The beat keeps building as we first get a solo from Keith Loftis on soprano sax before Marcus brings it to an explosive drum climax. “We Swing” has a trio of elite female vocalists with Jean being the bridge between the older generation represented by Dianne Reeves and the younger by scat master Jazzmeia Horn as the tone returns to one of resilience and triumph.
“Becoming” shifts the tone yet again as this another string-backed ballad, delivered gorgeously by Jean who was vocally inspired by Shirley Horn and lyrically by Michelle Obama’s biography of the same name. The flugelhorn from Freddie Hendrix adds a colorful touch. The lone dark track, the album’s lengthiest at almost nine minutes, “Black Boy” begins with haunting, somber strings in an arrangement from Darin Atwater that has Jean’s strongest vocal in terms of her shifting dynamics and emotive phrasing on this disc. Punctuated by crisp horn spots from Keith Loftis and especially Hendrix on trumpet, as well as powerful, deeply felt piano chords from Shedrick Mitchell, this is also clearly a standout track. R&B returns with “Walk On By,” an original, not the Dianne Warwick/ Isaac Hayes associated tune penned by Burt Bacharach. This bright, effervescent tune filled with background vocalists is the balm for the preceding. Sullivan Fortner’s angular, syncopated Monk-like piano introduction morphs into a piano-scat vocal interplay before Loftis delivers a swing tenor solo that from there pushes the tune into hard-swinging mode.
The sweet gospel of “Only Believe” has Jamison Ross joining Jean as they sing about faith being the way of the dark times of the pandemic. Ross, the grandson of a pastor, like the Baylors, has deep gospel roots. To put the exclamation point on this gospel message, their brother, Apostle Larry J. Baylor, imparts the closing spoken works on “Benediction.”
It will be stunning if Generations does not result in a fourth Grammy nod. A win would certainly not be stunning either.
