Review: ‘Shadow Man’ John McLean and Charles Barkatz

Shadow Man

By Chris Wheatley

Shadow Man, a joint-album released December 4^th via Leaky Shoes Records, is certainly one of the most intriguing prospects of this year. Even a cursory dig into the back-stories of John McLean and Charles Barkatz is enough to stir the imagination. A true Renaissance man, Manhattan-born, Texas-raised McLean wears many hats. Author, composer, theatre director, McLean is also a flute and bagpipe virtuoso, performing with the Menestriers of France, and leads his own jazz quartet.

Parisian Charles Barkatz is a guitarist influenced as much by Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix and Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell. A composer of jazz, blues and folk songs, Barkatz is also a keen scholar of Antonio Carlos Jobim and Latin music. The rest of the line-up is hardly less interesting. Joining McLean on vocals and Barkatz on guitar, are solid Texas-blues guitarist Derek O’Brien, Grammy-nominated bassist Chris Maresh, highly-regarded veteran Nick Connolly on keys and award-winning drummer John Chipman. This core group is augmented by The Texas Horns (Mark Kazanoff, John Mills, Al Gomez), Elaine Barber on harp (the string kind – on loan from the Austin Symphony) and celebrated saxophonist  Alex Coke. Significantly, Shadow Man is produced by Mark “Kaz” Kazanoff himself, a man who has worked with the very best.

We get ten original tracks here, starting with “Lucia,” and what a great start it is. A Latin-inflected, jazz/blues ballad, there’s enough moonlight and magic to sink a fair-sized boat. Production and arrangement are laid-back and super-smooth. Lightly-brushed percussion rolls like a gentle swell. Keys, harp and bass weave around each other with subtlety and nuance, sweet but never saccharine. Guitars are sparing and gentle, the honey-dripping sax soulful and flowing. It’s unmistakably the blues, yet this is the blues in soft, pastel colours.

“Shadowman” kicks things up a bit, skipping and swaying with funky organ vamps, but we’re never very far from big-band show-territory. This is in no way a criticism. The slickness, joy, professionalism and fun ooze out of every second. “She Cry Blues” is a little harder, a crawling bar-room blues with sad-eyed arpeggios and drawn-out chords. “Sister of Mine” takes us back into lush, Latin lands, reminiscent of enduring classics from the aforementioned Jobim. McLean’s vocals are warm and likeable, understated but compelling. “Bathtub Blues” is a full-on riot, winking knowingly while whipping up a dusty storm of honky-tonk piano, wailing guitar and mouth-organ (the latter supplied by Kazanoff).

The second half features the wonderful “Lac D’Argent.” Sung in French, it is, for this reviewer, the standout track, a mystical, simmering night-time journey into the unknown. “Lac D’Argent” brings all the elements together into an extended, impressionistic swirl of blues and blacks, with jazzy, expressive guitar runs, ghostly keys and bright pin-points of harp. It is a beautiful statement. The rattling, Clapton-esque “Black Train” and bright, bouncing and highly enjoyable “New Life” close the show with some aplomb.

Taken as a whole, Shadow Man is an album that is easy to love. Full of personality, with some lovely, light touches and more than a little humour and invention, this is a great way to spend forty-five minutes of your time. The light, jazzy feel of certain tracks may prove a distraction to those dedicated to full-on, hard-edged blues, but it would be a great shame to miss out on this exuberant, smile-inducing set.

 
John McLean Charles Barkatz Online

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