1. JAZZ
2. NIGHT TIME AND THE SKY IS MINE
3. BAG LADY
4. HART PLAZA
5. NIGHT
6. THE DUKE
7. CONGOLESE
8. TRAMPLED HEART
9. A HEALING BLUE, A HEALING GRAY
10. MY HEART GOES OUT
11. LEMONADE
12. HER WHISPER, A ROAR
13. FIRST LADY

Musicians

Sheila Landis-vocals   Rick Matle-guitar (7-string guitar tracks 1, 4, 7, 9, 13)   Dennis Sheridan-drums, percussion
Wendell Harrison-clarinet and sax (track 3)   John Lindberg-acoustic bass (tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12)

"Heart Plaza" Reviewed by Poitr Michalowski SEMJA

 "HEART PLAZA" SEEKS TO TRANSFORM THE WRITTEN WORD INTO JAZZ SIMPLY BY OPENING UP A BOOK OF POEMS AND DARING TO BEGIN

While most jazz singers stick to standards, Sheila Landis has developed a unique repertoire of compositions based on contemporary poetry, some of it from her own pen. Much like a rapper, she also revels in improvising lyrics in performance. Her latest recording, Heart Plaza (SheLan SL023), features thirteen texts by Michigan poets, including our vocalist, set to music by Landis and her cohorts. Five of these were improvised by Landis with her regular accompanists, guitarist Rick Matle and percussionist Dennis Sheridan, during a radio broadcast by Detroit's WDET in the great days before it was submerged in babble. On the remaining tracks, which were set down in the studio, they are joined by the wonderful bassist John Lindberg, who at the time was spending a year living and playing in the Motor City. To top things off, Wendell Harrison joins the quartet on one track.

Landis likes to play with a variety of rhythms, and eschews simple swinging standard-like patterns; ranging from various Latin to march-like configurations. When she does break out into easy swing on "My Heart Goes Out," the tenth tune in the recital, it seems welcome and fresh. She then pivots to a waltz, "Lemonade," which features the apposite bowed bass of Lindberg. Indeed, the bassist is a great addition to her regular trio. We normally hear him in more far-out contexts, but on this recording he proves that he can play in just about any style, contributing mightily to the proceedings. Having said that, one cannot avoid noting that Landis and her musicians take chances here, perhaps inspired by Lindberg's presence. Things come back to more traditional sounds on the final track, which is a lovely tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, imagining her famous discovery at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

This is an ambitious recording that covers a broad range of styles and sounds focused on unusual lyrics that are sung with sensitivity and conviction. Landis has obviously been inspired by the great Detroit vocalists who imagined themselves instrumentalists using the voice rather than as traditional jazz or pop singers — Sheila Jordan and Betty Carter — but she does not imitate either of them. She has developed her own approach to music and this recording shows her at her best.