Theo Bennett writes from New Orleans about jazz, brass band traditions, and the blues lineage that runs through both. He treats every record as the next entry in a very long argument.
“Jazz is the longest argument in American music. Pick a side.”
Gwyn English Nielsen’s “Imaginary Paramour” is a graceful pop-jazz character piece — elegant, literate, and gently theatrical — that frames romance as a private theater of longing and carries it on a vocal performance built around the power of restraint.
Jackie’s Boy’s 2022 single “Recipe” is a bright, theatrical, funk-laced R&B song that turns love into a recipe — slick, flirtatious, and built for full-stage showmanship, with enough vocal command to keep the playful concept from tipping into novelty.
Prince’s “The Beautiful Ones,” from 1984’s Purple Rain, is a controlled emotional detonation disguised as a ballad — fragile, jealous, pleading, and finally torn open by one of the most famous screams in pop music.
Michael Franks’ “Abandoned Garden” is a hushed, graceful, quietly devastating vocal-jazz piece from his 1995 album of the same name, dedicated to Antônio Carlos Jobim and built around emotional economy rather than display.
Shelley Dempsey’s “Think of Me”, written with Murray Cook and Pete Purton, is a warm, unpretentious acoustic-pop song with handmade charm, a gentle melody, and sunny folk-pop simplicity.
Shaina Hayes’ “Timid” is a beautifully restrained indie-folk song about the inner life that remains just out of reach of language — warm, thoughtful, and quietly magnetic.
“Sunbeam” by Nitecap and Collin Miller & the Brother Nature is a warm, fluid jazz-soul groove with a strong sense of atmosphere and emotional ease — understated, romantic, and quietly magnetic.
