MARK WINKLER, Hold On

Having enthusiastically reviewed every Mark Winkler album since the late 80s, from his poppy contemporary jazz days to his quarter century of majestic and inspiring straight- ahead sets, it’s a challenge to keep coming up with new words to express my gratitude for the hip, uplifting supreme coolness and heartbreaking sensitivity the ever-poetic musical storyteller continues to bless the jazz world with.

A few new ones come to mind engaging in his latest gem filled collection Hold On, which journeys magnificently from its peppy, percussive (and playfully encouraging) opening title track through the tender, smoky, trumpet laced closing ballad of forbidden love “I Dream of You Each Night” (a magnificent co-write with Spencer Day), The first is prolific, as this is the acclaimed singer-songwriter’s 12th full length album since 2009, a stretch that includes two albums with Cheryl Bentyne, a collaboration with David Benoit and the 2024 interim EP The Mona Lisa Sessions.

The other is partnership incredible creative vibe he’s shared in the studio with the tasteful, highly intuitive, always insightful producer Barbara Brighton over the course of 10 albums since 2000s. While Winkler’s wondrous sense of rhythm, rhyme and snappy turns of phrase ensure that his originals always dazzle, charm and sometimes seem designed to downright make us laugh – check out the snazzy, frolicsome cha-cha “Cat Women on the Moon” here for keen evidence of the latter – he’s also continues to be one of the genre’s premiere male vocal interpreters of pop, jazz and Great American Songbook standards.

On Hold On, swinging hipsterly with some of L.A.’s finest jazz cats (including seven participating pianists, including prominent songwriting collaborators Jamieson Trotter and Greg Gordon Smith), he brings fresh twists to Dave Frishberg’s colorful lyrics on “A Little Taste,” rocks (and jazzes!) the boat winsomely on Frank Loesser’s Guys & Dolls classic “If I Were a Bell” and finds the perfect balance between age-defiant pluck and wistful grace on the Sinatra classic “It Was a Very Good Year.”

The popularity of the new Billy Joel doc And So It Goes, and what it reveals about the inspiration of the legendary singer-songwriter's classic “Vienna,” may for some listener bring extra poignancy to and appreciation for Winkler’s elegant take.

Of his originals, perhaps the most uniquely compelling is the dramatic narrative adventure he weaves on “Train in the Desert,” which was inspired by a classic 1916 painting by Georgia O’Keefe and thrives on the hypnotic locomotive drumming of Christian Euman. My old quote “Winkler is one of those rare artists who not only never misses but keeps getting better with time” applies perfectly to Hold On as well. I’ve mentioned the highlights, now dig in to discover the rest!