Mark Winkler

The Rules Don’t Apply

Café Pacific

The Rules Don’t Apply is the 21^st album for vocalist and songwriter, the L.A. based Mark Winkler. This is the fifth time this writer has reviewed a Winkler effort, one a year since beginning to write on these pages. To his credit, he brings a different configuration and/or approach each time out, and while it would be difficult to top his latest, his 2022 Late Bloomin’ Jazzman, Winkler certainly can’t be faulted for the ambition he musters here, aggregating 19 musicians in various combinations for these 13 tunes, for which Winkler wrote the lyrics for eight. As per usual, Barbara Brighton, who produced Winkler’s past seven albums, does so again. There are six groups of backing musicians, only one of which is a conventional backing trio that performs on “Here’s to Jazz.”  Another is a quartet, expanded to a sextet on “Jazz Swings.” There is another sextet and two other ensembles that respectively boast eleven and. Since many musicians play in more than one of the groups it is best to group them by instrument. Followers of L.A. jazz, especially vocal jazz, should see familiar names.

Pianists include John Beasley, Rich Eames, Greg Gordon Smith, Jamieson Trotter. Bassists are Gabe Davis and Dan Lutz along with drummers Clayton Cameron, Dan Schnell, and percussionist Kevin Winard. Frequent collaborator Grant Geissman shares guitar duties with George Doering. Woodwinds are Katisse Buckingham, Danny Janklow, Bob Sheppard, and Scott Mayo with four brass players –James Ford (trumpet) Errol Rhoden (tuba), Brian Swartz (trumpet), and Scott Whitfield (trombone).

The album kicks off with the largest ensemble on “Sunday in LA,” written and arranged by pianist and harmony vocalist on this track, Greg Gordon Smith. Winkler and Smith collaborated on the lyrics, a light, breezy ode to their favorite city and the one day when traffic is manageable. Frequent collaborator, pianist, composer, and arranger Jamieson Trotter co-write “Joy of Singing” with Winkler and leads a brassy, hip rendition of this tune that weaves through changes, with brief solos from trumpeter Ford and guitarist Geissman, behind Winkler at his exuberant best. The vibe shifts to an easy swinging late-night vibe on “In Love with New York,” another to which Winkler wrote the lyrics, backed by a quartet featuring impressive guitar work from Doering. This unit expands to a sextet on the finger snapping “Jazz Swings,” a co-write between Winkler and Eames with stellar clarinet work from Sheppard and percussion from Winard.

Winkler mixes in cover tunes, the first, Donald Fagen’s “I.G.Y (What a Wonderful World)” has an interesting back story as Winkler was originally targeted for the lead vocalist role in Steely Dan but since Fagen insisted on the being the band’s vocalist, Winkler never got that chance. The backing sextet here features a strong tenor solo from Bob Sheppard. Winkler’s love for the Beatles comes through in Beasley’s organ driven arrangement of “Got to Get You Into My Life” while in another deft sequencing move, they dial down into the cool swinging title track, where Beasley leads the same sextet at the piano, featuring strong solos from Swartz on the muted trumpet and Sheppard on clarinet. This group backs Winkler again on a dramatic reading of Paul Simon’s “Something So Right,” with Beasley’s piano blending perfectly with Doering’s guitar to frame the vocal in this standout track.

The Smith-Winkler co-writing is on display again in the swinging “Just Around the Corner,” where the vocalist challenges the jazz tendency to adhere to tradition – “I don’t dig déjà vu, make it new – reach for the stars. /And it not the stars/ Maybe the sun.” Smith delivers a sparking piano break and Janklow and Buckingham weigh in with strong solos that reflect those ‘reaching’ lyrics. The two collaborate again on “If These Walls Could Talk (They’d Sing),” an ode to the famous Capitol Studios that boasts recordings from Nat King Cole to Frank Sinatra, and others.

The brassy element ratchets up with Errol Rhodes tuba bringing the NOLA touch to an imaginative interpretation of Randy Newman’s “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” which also features brimming trumpet, stinging guitar from Geissman, and terrific trombone from Whitfield, yet another standout track, arranged by Trotter. This same Trotter led ensemble sans tuba and percussion, back Winkler’s contemplative collaboration with Trotter, “Lessons I’ve Learned,” an ode to life earned wisdom.  Trotter and Winkler also deliver the closer, “Here’s to Jazz,” an appropriately hip, trio backed tune that defines Winkler’s signature vocal style as well as any of this superior album’s tracks. Winkler has set such a high bar through his past few albums, yet we find ourselves saying again that this may well be his finest yet.

• Jim Hynes

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