REVIEW by Andre Avanessian
Simply oozing with style and seeped in both grace and refinement, "Bucket List" is one undeniably smooth sounding jazz tune, the type of track you can easily imagine experiencing in one of New York's famed Jazz clubs with an incredibly large whiskey in hand, it has that very particular "feel" to it, and I really do dig it. Spartacus Jones has cooked up an incredibly elegant and harmonically fascinating jazz piece that's filled to the brim with brilliant performances, a keen eye for detail, and heaps of character. Marvelous!
The lyrics are a real standout, they have a great sense of quirkiness to them despite being themed around a rather bleak and grounded subject matter, this contrasts brilliantly with the smooth jazz setting and its undeniably soothing quality. The lyrics are strengthened by a strong and expressive lead vocal performance that brings them to life with equal parts elegance and gusto.
The performances are superb across the board and there's a great amount of interplay between musicians, bouncing ideas off one another with precision and dynamism, resulting in an arrangement that continuously feels fresh and spontaneous. The track does a fantastic job of balancing tension and release, an obvious staple of the genre but nonetheless, it's handled extremely well and the melodic and harmonic juxtaposition on display is nothing short of fascinating, resulting in a strikingly mature piece of songwriting that ebbs and flows effortlessly from start to finish.
About The Reviewer:
Andre is a freelance session musician, composer, and sound engineer based in the U.K.