Michael Mayo – Fly
Slowly but surely, Michael Mayo has built up his reputation as one of the most thrilling male voices around. I saw him back in 2022 at North Sea Jazz, then he could be heard on the brilliant Terri Lyne Carrington album “New Standards – Vol. 1” where he came up with a stunning version of Gretchen Parlato’s “Circling”, he also debuted on his own with “Bones” (2021) and was one of the stars during Terri Lyne’s performance at North Sea Jazz 2023 when he did rousing interpretations of Abbey Lincoln’s “Throw It Away” and Carla Bley’s “Two Hearts (Lawns)” and Gretchen’s song again. Michael, the son of much sought-after background singer Valerie Pinkston-Mayo and former Earth, Wind & Fire saxophonist Scott Mayo, has now come up with his second album “Fly”, also available on orange vinyl.
There are five originals and six standards on the album, opening with the very catchy “Bag Of Bones” with fantastic drum work by Nate Smith and some neat piano playing by Shai Maestro. Michael immediately shows his immense range. His voice can be both tender and caressing, but also pretty powerful and intense. LA Weekly has called him “the best young jazz singer in Los Angeles”. I think that’a tad too restrictive. Tackling well-worn standards like “Just Friends” can be a tricky task, but here, in a pretty sexy and shuffling arrangement and with super cool Rhodes and chugging bass by Linda May Han Oh, the piece gets a totally new revision. Michael strolls through the lyrics in an amazingly nonchalant way and follows it with an equally inspired “I Wish”, another original. Nate Smith burns here.
There is something like an underlying taut groove in his own compositions, like on the charming “Silence” and both his parents support him on the title track, a wordless tune oozing fun, securing an uncanny flow. So what about the other standards then? There are snaps and a shaker on the solo flight over “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was”, reminding me of the best work of the group Take 6 where he includes some vocal percussion as well. He is also solidly going through an unagitated romp on “It Could Happen To You” which swings like hell and has him displaying both his upper register, scat, and bottom register in a convincing way. We get a nice respite on “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most”, the only ballad on the album, easily keeping the tension and proving that here is one of the best singers around. I really like the clap stacks on the Miles Davis classic “Four” and its quirky stance. He concludes his brilliant album with a short, but scintillating take on Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil”.
Michael has upcoming gigs in Philadelphia, Durham, Santa Monica, and New Orleans. He is also scheduled to perform in Stockholm with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on November 1st.
