Some Small Dive

Album Review

Some Small Dive collects a number of old standards along with a handful of lost classics, and throws them together in a nice showcase for San Francisco crooner Mark Robinson. Robinson has some classical training and it comes through, intentionally or not. His enunciation is clearer than many crooners (sometimes a side effect of operatic training), and his projection is exceptionally strong. With the projection element combined with the register of his voice, the effect is often strikingly similar to some of the old Johnny Hartman recordings (spin Dizzy Gillespie's recording of "You Go to My Head" to compare). Some of the ballads have a slightly harder time standing up to Robinson's power and have a little sentiment lost under an extra-dramatic croon ("I Keep Going Back to Joe's" is a prime example of this end). However, the arrangements are done in such a way that this is minimized and he can play with the meanings a bit more. There's an affinity for the double entendre in the song choices, for the sly and playful seductions hidden in the old Gershwin or Young & Washington numbers. Current male crooners, much like female jazz singers, generally go to far to one extreme or the other — either just trying to copy Sinatra without anything new (and thus failing in the shadow of the true greats) or disrespecting the great songbook classics with too much divergence. Robinson walks the line pretty well here — the songs are given room to breathe, but the intended meaning is generally left intact. Absolutely worth a listen for fans of the male jazz singer.