Jose Mari Chan's Manhattan Connection

What I would really like is to hear Rod Stewart, in one of his ballad moods, sing Refrain. I hear that in my head and I think it sounds great but as of now, Stewart has yet to discover the merits of the Jose Mari Chan composition. Until he does though, why not take note on what is now available.

The country’s favorite Diamond Record awardee several times over for the albums Christmas In Our Hearts and Constant Change has something new for his fans. This is the album, The Manhattan Connection, The Songs of Jose Mari Chan. It is different, more interesting and while a Stewart version will likely stop traffic, the CD’s breezy tracks will send you off on jaunty strolls or relaxing drives with beautiful tunes on your soundtrack.

Recorded entirely in New York, The Manhattan Connection was co-produced by Janis Siegel and Yaron Gershovsky and performed by various jazz artists. Siegel and Gershovsky are very familiar names in the jazz circuit, most notably to fans of the acclaimed group The Manhattan Transfer. They did all the arrangements for the album.

Singer, arranger and producer Siegel is a nine-time Grammy winner and a 17-time Grammy nominee and member of the Manhattan Transfer. Her voice is what you hear singing the lead in many of the group’s big hits like The Boy From New York City, Twilight Zone, Operator, Chanson D’Amour and the Grammy winning Birdland. Gershovsky is the musical director and pianist and keyboard player of Manhattan Transfer. He is also an arranger, composer and producer.

 I guess, this connection to the Manhattan Transfer is from where the album derives its name. It might also be from Jose Mari’s Manhattan memories or the way the sound of the CD conjures up trendy, jazzy dives in New York. But no matter where that comes from, what I find truly remarkable about the album is that new ears got to listen and then, got the opportunity to interpret these songs their own way.

Constant Change, Like Night And Day, Thank You Love, I Have Found My World In You, A Heart’s Journey, Stay My Love, Easier Said Than Done, Love Lost, Walking In The Moonlight, So I’ll Go and Spellbound were taken out of the comfort zone where they have remained for many years and given a new, edgy spin.

Admit it, we would never have thought of these songs as jazz. Think Jose Mari Chan and you get ballads. You want new versions, you get young balladeer Christian Bautista. Nice, but not much different from the original. However, because they were without the baggage of familiarity and ingrained perception, Siegel and Gershovsky saw the songs as something else. And remember, jazz is only a few steps away from R&B and rock or from soul and maybe even hip-hop.

Maybe Stewart will soon get his first brush with Refrain. Maybe not. He might choose something else because Refrain is not in the album. Here is another case of discovering something else in the music of Jose Mari Chan. You think of a tribute album of his songs and almost by reflex action you go to Beautiful Girl, Can We Just Stop And Talk Awhile, Refrain and all those hits. But Siegel and Gershovsky heard the good in other songs and these are what they chose for the album.

Spellbound performed by Miles Griffith is the best of the lot. Makes you think, "Wow!" My favorite though is Walking In The Moonlight in a naughty mood. It could have come straight out of the soundtrack to The Great Gatsby. I also like Thank You Love which sounds divine and done a capella. Also So I’ll Go which got an excellent Beatles treatment.

There is really so much to enjoy in the album that the listener cannot help but play it again and again wanting to get deeper into the wonderful things that happened to these songs. Then maybe we shouId go back and check on the originals and find out why they made it to the CD and Refrain did not.

 The Manhattan Connection retails for P375 in music stores. It was made available at Starbucks starting yesterday where it has the honor of being the first tribute album by a Filipino artist to be carried on the counters of the coffee chain.