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Kim Joo-hwan
11th full-length album attempting a piano-vocal duo project for the first time in his career, <After Midnight>
Finally mastered the beauty of restraint through minimal arrangement
What exactly is jazz vocal? How is it different from popular music singers such as pop and rock? I have been encountering this question since I started writing about jazz and introducing music. Every time I heard the question, I felt embarrassed, but I still explained it based on my own standards. Here, I would like to mention the two most important and core criteria that I think of myself first. First, the presence or absence of a relaxed Laid Back and Rubato, which are different from existing pop vocalists, and whether or not a definite sense of swing is acquired. Only when these two are in place does a different aesthetic sense and expressiveness from existing pop vocalists begin to emerge, and if an approach with bebop scales or their nuances is added, a flawless typical jazz vocal is produced. So what is laid back? Rather than a specific theory, it can be said to be the attitude and method of a musician handling sounds and rhythms when singing or playing, and it is based on the premise of handling sounds leisurely in a relaxed state. When digesting the melody of a specific song, instead of singing the fixed tempo and pitch as it is, the musician reflects their own mood to sometimes slightly add or change the pitch, and sometimes slightly relax the timing. When attempting this, they inevitably take a rubato and legato approach. In the end, how well can you express this without awkwardness within a song based on your vocal skills and emotions? The key is to see if you can continue singing while maintaining an excellent sense of swing. (There are often cases where this part is missing or weak, but is mistakenly introduced as a jazz vocalist, but if these elements are not present, it should not be discussed as a jazz vocal) In fact, there is no definite answer here, and it is important for each performer to create and express their own level of perfection with their own sense and sensibility. If a singer has mastered all of this, there is no reason not to give them the title of an excellent standard jazz vocalist. Kim Joo-hwan has this. Moreover, he shows aspects of developing every time he releases an album.
The point he looked at for a new challenge
His previous two full-length albums, <My Funny Valentine; Kim Ju Hwan Sings Richard Rodgers Songbook> released in 2020, and <Candy; Memories of Nat King Cole Trio> released in 2022, were 'masterpieces of Korean jazz vocal' that showed his true worth as a standard jazz vocalist without any exaggeration. First of all, from the album repertoire, he selected songs focusing on the composer Richard Rodgers and the favorite standard numbers of pianist and vocalist Nat 'King' Cole, and expressed laid back and swing without any awkwardness in the process of singing these songs. His next attempt to challenge with more confidence in his steps is the piano-vocal duo arrangement. It is not very common in jazz history, but it is not that rare, and quite a few famous singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Mel Tormé, Nat 'King' Cole, and Carmen McRae have made albums with this arrangement at least once. Kim Joo-hwan has submitted his challenge here. This arrangement, which requires more delicate and detailed expression and precise yet well-refined sound selection at all times than when singing with the existing combo arrangement with rhythm parts, is quite difficult for both piano and vocals to handle well. Not only should the musical preparation be good, but the musical compatibility between each other is essential. Both the vocalist and the piano must protect their respective areas and at the same time properly lead mutual communication to produce meaningful results. On the other hand, if someone reveals themselves a little too much or, conversely, consistently acts passively, the balance of the duo will be broken immediately. For these reasons, the results of domestic vocalists working with this piano-vocal duo arrangement so far are only a handful, and Kim Joo-hwan is the first in Korea as a male vocalist to work on an album basis.
For this work, Kim Joo-hwan chose Japanese jazz pianist Yuki Futami, who he had worked with on the previous Richard Rodgers Songbook. Personally, I think this is a very appropriate choice. He has been participating in album work since the Richard Rodgers Songbook period and has a good understanding of Kim Joo-hwan as a singer. In addition, the performer himself has a fluent and natural sense of swing, a high level of laid back, rubato skills, a thorough understanding of the rich standard repertoire, and knows well through various experiences what to prioritize in accompaniment with a vocalist. As mentioned earlier, if the accompanist simply sticks to passive comping, the duo is bound to fail. Yuki Futami is a performer who knows how to encourage and lead the vocalist at times, and knows when to step back, and has both sense and experience.
After choosing such a customized pianist and deciding to work with him, Kim Joo-hwan separately selected 10 standards that he liked but had not included in the album so far, and worked on them by exchanging opinions with the pianist one by one on how to interpret the songs. In particular, Kim Joo-hwan confessed that this vocal recording was more difficult than any other time. It is said that he repeatedly worried and worked on the project to the point of overturning and re-recording only the vocal part after finishing the entire recording because he didn't like it. Although he has experience in making 10 albums, making the entire album as a duo with only the piano gave him a completely different kind of burden from his previous works, and he said that he was very stressed because he was worried about expressing the appropriate expression for each song.
About the songs
From the first song of the album, I Thought About You, Yuki's refreshing and relaxed piano intro immediately gives a good impression, and the song of Kim Joo-hwan that flows out sounds subtly different from before. What has changed? I was able to figure out what had changed only after listening to the second track, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, followed by Always. He was singing while holding some of the sound inside when singing, and at the same time, taking breaths as relaxed and long as possible. Along with that, he does not try to reveal emotional expressions on the front, but puts restrained aspects at the center. Even though a song passes the middle part and goes to the climax, he does not easily shout out the sound, but calmly and calmly sings while maintaining the expression that is digested and converged inside. Regarding this, Kim Joo-hwan said that after working on the previous <Candy> and continuing his activities, he focused on singing with more sound and enjoying it with more relaxation, and has been thinking about how to express deep emotions through restraint. In the process, he said that he was strongly inspired by the vocal approach of singers such as Sandy Stewart, whom he usually likes, and the biggest musical point of this album can be said to be here. And perhaps because of this, those who usually like his songs may not get the same impression at first, but personally, I would like to recommend that you listen to the work repeatedly at least twice. By doing so, I think you will be able to understand and savor the taste of the vocal expression he wanted to make in this album more clearly. Meanwhile, this trend continues in the following tracks, and It Had to Be You and That Old Feeling are particularly appealing to my ears. I think that Kim Joo-hwan's emotional expression and Yuki Futami's piano are active and at the same time show the basic virtue of accompaniment as a supporter.
On the other hand, in the 8th track Lucky to Be Me, composed by Leonard Bernstein, Kim Joo-hwan's old, cool and unconstrained vocalization is revealed without any addition or subtraction. Perhaps in the case of this song, I don't think the overall feeling would have come alive if it had been sung inward. Therefore, I think he realized that the charm of the song would be doubled by revealing more direct emotions and not hiding the vitality of the voice and bringing it to the fore, and taking a different approach from other tracks, including some screaming sections. Personally, I wish I had taken a similar approach to the previous track in
Author: Kim Joo-hwan
Publisher: Biscuit Sound
