On May 24, musician Andrew Bird released the album Sunday Morning Put-On, on which he recorded his versions of nine jazz standards, as well as his own composition, “Ballon de peut-être.” Bird started playing classical music on the violin at age four, later recorded and toured with the Squirrel Nut Zippers, and has since become an influential figure in the indie scene. Sunday Morning Put-On’s sparse approach contrasted with the sound of his previous release, 2023’s Outside Problems, an album on which Bird layered his violin, guitar, and whistling to create complex soundscapes. The album has a unique place in Bird’s catalog– while Bird has played jazz before with his group the Bowl of Fire (a group that was active from 1997 to 2003), Sunday Morning Put-On showcases how much Bird has evolved as a musician in the years since the group disbanded.
The same day that Sunday Morning Put-On was released, Andrew Bird uploaded a video in which he performed several of the songs from the album (“I Fall in Love Too Easily,” “Caravan,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” “I Cover the Waterfront,” and “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise”) live in Valentine Studios, the studio where the album was recorded, with drummer/vibraphonist Ted Poor, bassist Alan Hampton, and guitarist Jeff Parker. Credit: andrewbirdmusic (YouTube)Sunday Morning Put-On kicks off with the dark, meandering “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was,” a song previously recorded by saxophonist Lester Young, who is a big influence on Bird. The song features a laid-back, distant vibraphone, ominous drums, a steady bass, and a gloomy five-string violin solo by Bird. “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” is followed by the mysterious Duke Ellington song “Caravan,” which begins with drums and percussive sounds created by Bird on his violin; the shimmering vibraphone on the song supports Bird’s voice well. Bird leaves space in his solo, and the song ends with a recurring vibraphone motif, this time played on vibraphone and violin.
Master jazz keyboardist Larry Goldings makes a special guest appearance playing piano in the third song, “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” originally recorded by Chet Baker in 1953. On this song, Bird’s voice doesn’t sound quite as reverberant as it did previously, and Goldings’ playing impacts the song positively without obscuring Bird.
Perhaps the best track on Sunday Morning Put-On is the Modern Jazz Quartet tune “Django,” a haunting, melancholy recording that has a grandiose introduction before segueing into a swing groove over which Bird solos.
The cavernous reverb that’s featured throughout the album is particularly noticeable in the beginning of “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,” which features a unison line played by violin, bass, and guitar, but it is suddenly reduced at the beginning of the song’s first bridge, before the band gets louder while retaining the mood of the earlier sections during the solos.
The brief “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face,” which has a much more simplistic instrumentation than any of the other songs on Sunday Morning Put-On, is followed by the final (and only original) track “Ballon de peut-être,” (which might be French for “The Balloon, Perhaps,” a whimsical yet ambiguous title open to interpretation by the listener), the most wandering, improvisation-heavy tune on the album, and one of Sunday Morning Put-On’s only two instrumentals (the other being “Django”). This track starts with calm and joyful violin improvisation, and oscillates between serenity and curious uncertainty. It ends with the band gradually fading out.
Overall Review: 7.7/10: Although I originally expected Sunday Morning Put-On to have more improvisation like a typical instrumental jazz recording, the album has grown on me since. Sunday Morning Put-On’s laid-back flavor is great for an early morning or late night listen.
Andrew Bird will be performing at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center with opening act Amadou and Mariam in Vienna, VA on Aug. 21st at 8 pm.
