Replay

There’s no easy way to say this, so we’ll cut straight to the chase. Replay is a jazz album. Played on a banjo.

No wait… really… it’s actually, well, pretty good (but please don’t tell my friends in the card carrying jazz haters society). Odd as it may sound as a concept, the fifteen instrumentals on the album work surprisingly well. Brown’s banjo is only part of the story, sharing equal prominence with John R. Burr’s piano and backed by a flying rhythm section. And the whole thing rolls along nicely, falling into quite an infectious groove.

Brown can certainly play and there are moments of bluegrass style over-enthusiasm, but her input is for the most part restrained and pleasantly subtle.

Aside from an annoying cover of the theme from Spiderman, the material is an effective combination of the two styles, Brown’s plink perfectly complementing Burr’s plonk. Nice.