The robust vocalist Billy Brandt sings about his adopted city, Seattle, on City Noir, his third CD. Using the film noir genre as a backdrop, he fashions an album of jazz, blues, and soul as he sings of love, loss, and possibility. Brandt is a smoother version of Tom Waits, but perhaps with similar sensibilities. Brandt is a mainstay in clubs all around Seattle, often with his band he calls The Thing and The Stuff, a rotating cast of 10 or so musicians, some of whom play here. He’s primarily a jazz artist but more versatile than many. His emphasis on this project is on a loosely-themed group of compositions, like noir films, built on doomed romanticism and a cynical world view. Many noir films open with narration that sets up the action. You’ll swear you’re hearing someone like the beatnik poet, the late Ken Nordine, as Brandt works his way through the title track. As the album unfolds, it’s a mix of jazz and blues with Brandt’s commanding, warm voice the major focal point. He’s equal parts contemporary and throw-back and this dichotomy is not only appealing but proves to be remarkably engaging.
Brandt’s inspiration for the project came to him while driving around the city – “For a moment it was if the color had washed away. It felt as if the city was the main character in a black and white movie. I could envision the detective, the criminal, the femme fatale, the patsy, and the loser all jockeying for space on the city streets.” He began wating noir films like The Naked City which was in theaters in 1948. Hence the lyrics to the title track- “There’s a blanket of grey in the Emerald City./The streets are wet with rain./The trees are evergreen and seen in Technicolor./but the city7 itself is like an old black and white Humphrey Bogart film noir thriller.” Somehow, that element of suspense imbues both Brandt’s voice and approach. As a listener, you’re ever curious as to what’s next.
The CD was produced by Brandt and Brain Monroney who has performed and/or recorded with Tom Jones, Natalie Cole, and Gloria Estafan, amongst many. He plays guitar on seven of the eight tunes. Accompaniment comes from principal soloist Alexy Nikolaev on sax, (sounding at times like Grover Washington Jr., he studied with Dave Liebman and is major player in Seattle), Chris Symer (acoustic bass), Tim Kennedy (piano), Jeff Bush (percussion), Brad Boal (drums), Joe Doria (B3), John Hansen (piano), Jamael Nance (drums), Emmanuel Del Casal (acoustic bass), and Bradley Hawkins (cello). He also has four backup vocalists.
The second cut, “Ooh Sha Dooby” is a phrase repeated in a Rolling Stones tune. Brandt uses it here to mean “and so it goes.” It’s a bluesy paean to the decay at the heart of the city. The tune was inspired by reading a pulp fiction detective novel, The Steel Noose by Arnold Drake, published in 1954. It’s a theme song of sorts for the album, as he closes with a Latin version of it. “Frances Doesn’t Care for the Blues” is the most standard sounding tune, rendered with simply a piano trio, it evokes a soulful Frank Sinatra holding court in s smoky piano bar where the female lead is trying to drown her despair with a few cocktails. Hansen’s piano is bluesy and right on the mark.
”Gonna Be Those” features a full ensemble of musicians and vocalists singing about a rather mysterious crime in a swinging romp. The tune starts and ends with the actual sound of the Seattle court house door slamming shut. The requisite card game scene from film noirs is rendered in “One of a Kind,” with Brandt fronting a quintet where Monroney agilely solos on guitar and Nikolaev’s sax supports Brandt’s vocal lines. “Beau & Cello” is a metaphor literally about love with strings attached as Monroney handles guitar, bass and electric piano while Hawkins is spotlighted on cello. A clear standout track, “Tango Happiness,” epitomizes the sexually charged scene often found in noir films. Brandt’s is a dream sequence about a seduction that takes place on the dance floor. An accordion and Nikolaev’s soprano sax, together with the tango rhythm give this one the appropriate sensual feel..
Brandt delivers a well-conceived, at times riveting album, proving to be a strong songwriter and a crooner that can stand with the best.
