John Dokes Our Day

May 11, 2024

John Dokes

Our Day

Swing Theory Entertainment

Last year in an interview with female jazz vocalist sensation Samara Joy, Christian McBride playfully asked, ‘where are all the guys?” Since that time but only coincidentally in response to the playful jibe, we’re heard great albums from baritone Paul L. Chambers, Allan Harris, and mainstays Kurt Elling and Mark Winkler, to name four of them. Now we welcome the return of the mightily swinging baritone John Dokes with Our Day. Dokes fronts a nonet in tunes arranged by trombonist David Gibson, Doke’s musical director who contributed prominently to the vocalist’s quintet albums, Forever Reasons (2017) and True Love (2029). Longtime collaborator George Gee is conducting. This one splits the balance between the large ensemble of the George Gee Orchestra and those quintet recordings. The songs take inspiration from Nat King Cole and Joe Williams, but Dokes’ vocals will inevitably remind us of the late Johnny Hartman, and his expansive style has some Sinatra for sure. Those names might suggest ballads which take a back seat to exhilarating swingers on this effort.

The Oakland born and raised, now based in NYC Dokes says this, “Even though I grew up with hip-hop, I made a transition to something I could do for a longer time in my life. I switched to swing. I came to singing later in my life, but I gravitated to the music I was most passionate about – the eras of the ‘40s, ‘50s, early ‘60s. …Over the years, I’m still learning how to get the best of my voice so I’m going deeper which shows me more of who I am.”

The album opens with the joyous “Our Day Will Come,” a nod to breaking free of the pandemic and his band coming back together. He heard his father, an R&B singer, playing a version of this original 1962 release by Ruby and the Romantics, which was about two hopeful romantics. It sets the stage beautifully for this upbeat album. The bluesy tones of Bobby Timmons’ “Moanin’” with lyrics from John Hendricks may seem somewhat out of place, but Dokes sings it with verve and an attitude that the worst is behind us, emphasizing the line “I’m so tired of paying these dues.” In another reach to classic ‘60s material, he employs vocalese on Freddie Hubbard’s “On the Red Clay” (“Red Clay” is the title of the Hubbard tune) with strong solos from Higgins on baritone and Hashim on tenor. Dokes brings exuberant energy to Billy Ocean’s pop hit, “Suddenly” and channels his inner Nat King Cole on Lerner and Loewe’s “Almost Like Being in Love” and again on “L.O.V.E” and the Rodgers and Hart “This Can’t Be Love,” oft covered by Sinatra.

Michel LeGrand’s “I Will Wait For You” is a bit calmer but still lightly swings. “Don’t Blame Me,” another in Nat King Cole’s repertoire, falls into a similar camp of an album filled with love songs. That is until we get to closer, “Everything Must Change,” sourced from Quincy Jones’s 1974 Body Heat, a song that Dokes’ dad used to sing. Gibson gives it a far different arrangement, slightly funky and lightly swinging, it’s a perfect bookend to the opener with its message of a brighter future. In fact, just about every note, vocal or instrumental, is bright on Our Day. It will surely put a bounce in your step.

Personnel – John Dokes (vocals), George Gee (conductor), Anthony Nelson Jr. (alto saxophone), Michale Hashim (tenor saxophone), Patience Higgins (baritone saxophone), Freddie Hendrix (trumpet), Andy Gravish (trumpet), David Gibson (trombone), Steve Elnerson (piano), Malike McLaurin (acoustic bass), Chris Latona (drums)

Jim Hynes

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