January 21, 2009

Jerome Lee - Life This Time
2003, Jerome Lee

Jerome Lee’s been making music for many years. His professional career goes back 31 years when he was stationed in Japan with the US military and playing club and concert dates with folks such as Oy Takahashi, Miyanoue Yoshiaki, Keiji Yoshida and The 9th Of June. After returning to the US, Lee became something of an in-demand player while continuing to write his own material. 2003 saw the release of Life This Time, a soul and funk-filled play at modern pop.

Life This Time opens with Prettiest Girl, a funky jam with a classic soul sound. Lee sounds like he's singing through a time machine; a young James Ingram reborn. Monkey Slide brings on the funk with some nifty dance beats. Lee's musical dogma is understated here , turning Monkey Slide into a delicious and snarky that's made from piano, guitar, keys and vibes. Reach is a pleasant listen but fails to distinguish itself as an essential track. In My Heart is a classic R&B ballad, circa 1985; complete with saxophone and jazz guitar sound effects. Druk Op De Een is the peppiest song here, complete with disco beats.

My absolutely favorite song here is Time Gone Away, a deep and beautiful ballad that sounds like it's played on baritone guitar. An instrumental tune; Time Gone Away doesn't need words to convey the sad hopefulness that runs through every phrase, passage and note Lee evokes from those six strings. Time Gone Away is a master class in emotive guitar playing. Homecoming is a fairly typical ballad that is a pleasant listen but not particularly consequential. The album closes with Student Jam; three-and-a-half minutes on what sounds like a Casio keyboard with some very funky bass interplay. This is what some folks might describe as elevator music, although a close listen reveals more complexity and diversion than is generally found in the musical Soma of enclosed places.

Jerome Lee's Life This Time is up and down throughout, running from average to amazing. Lee is obviously incredibly talented, but tends to play in a genre/era mix that has been pretty much covered many times over. When Lee really lets his creative abilities out of the box and just plays, the music is sublime. Life This Time is a worthwhile venture.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Review by Wildy Haskell at Wildy's World Blogspot

http://wildysworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/review-jerome-lee-life-this-time.html

I would like to extend my thanks to the staff at HotMusicShop for all the good things that they continue to do for the independent musicians and artists in our world.

It is my New Year's Wish that we all continue to prosper in our lives, and that we keep on giving and receiving love and support from our families and friends.

Peace, JL

Life This Time - Jerome Lee                             July 14, 2008

I liked Jerome Lee and his music as soon as I heard this Jazz/Funk/RnB/Soul release (his first, I think). The music just exudes a happy-live-and-let–live vibe that makes you want to hug the guy who made it all up.

Lee has had a peripatetic life having lived in many American cities, Japan and Europe. Like a lot of serious working musicians, he’s worn a lot of hats in a lot of different milieus. I assume his well rounded resume accounts for the cosmopolitan, man-of-the-world atmosphere of this CD.

A musician who plays a supporting instrument (bass in this case) try to prove their virtuosity by lengthy, complicated solos. Lee is too much of a professional for that. His bass work fits right into the mix without trying to overpower anyone else on the stage. The seams are invisible and the listener isn’t distracted by glaring bass passages. The production values are so good that you don’t even pay attention to them; there’s nothing that sticks out.

Lee’s voice seems a little strained at times, as though he’s singing a bit out of his range. But even this vocal style fits in with the overall feel of the release and no one but a voice nut like me would notice it.

The song lyrics are um…nice. There’s nothing groundbreaking in subject matter or style, but they’re still worth listening to over and over again. Lee speaks from the heart and you can tell he’s sincere. Listeners should go to his site and read his descriptions of the songs; there’s no canned PR blether; just honesty.

Lee is a master musician and songwriter. Why did he wait so long to produce his own CD?

Recommendation: Buy it.

Review by Jeremiah Sutherland at BullFrogMusic Reviews

http://frogblogreviews.bullfrogmusic.com/?p=23

Far Beyond Good...                                                   June 8, 2008

'Prettiest Girl' is an unpretentious cat-call ~ Jerome Lee pulls off the neo-soul sound with an outstanding blend of thick, funky, uncompromising slap and what comes off as a Vandross on Steroids approach. This is gooood stuff. As the playlist begins to take form with 'Monkey Slide' I can see the versatility of the group. 'Monkey Slide' is a fat jazz that makes no excuses. Some might call it experimental...ahem ~ that's what jazz is in it's most pure form. 'Reach' is an endearing search for something completely external and is presented as a lovely bottom end, that would put many woofers to good use ~ and so as not to completely ignore the tweets Jerome Lee offers up some tubular bell work - this creates a great hardy tinny sweep. I absolutely dig the euphoric feel of this tune.

'In My Heart' incorporates some very sweet sax and very clean bass lines ~ a touch of tamborine and some more of the delicious tubular bell accents. The guitar work rounds this piece out as complimentary and only appears where absolutely necessary.

"Druk Op De Een" or "Press On The One" ~ Yes, Yes, Yes. This song just kicks.

There are three more songs on this site...But, I am not going to spoil it for you. This is more than a listen...I highly recommend you crank this work and really get in to what is going on.

Review by FaThEaD on Fuzz.com, June 8, 2008

My thanks to FaThEaD for his kind review, and my thanks to all the music fans and listeners here at HotMusicShop.net and around the world for your continued support!

Note: Fuzz.com is offline as of February 13, 2009.

Hi Everyone!

It is with my great pleasure to inform you all that the song "In My Heart" from my CD 'Life This Time' has been promoted into permanent placement in the SongVault Directory in the Rhythm and Blues category and on the play list at SongVault Radio Network.

http://www.songvault.fm/charts/rhythm_and_blues_songvault_radio.htm

"In My Heart" has become the second song from the CD 'Life This Time' to receive this wonderful promotion, and joins the song "Prettiest Girl". "Prettiest Girl" was afforded its promotion into the SongVault Directory in the Rhythm and Blues category on November 6, 2007.

I send my thanks to Paul John and the staff at SongVault.fm for their support of quality independent music of all genres.

And as always, my thanks to Ray and the staff here at HotMusicShop.net.

And I want to send my deepest thanks out to all the music fans and listeners out there who continue to support my music, and the music of all independent artists everywhere!