Released seven months after his death in January 2020,
Love Letter finds legendary saxophonist
Jimmy Heath offering a warmly rendered collection of ballads that works as a romantic capstone to his illustrious career. Known for his lyrical sound and nuanced arrangements, most notably with his siblings
Percy and
Tootie in the
Heath Brothers, and with trumpeters like
Chet Baker,
Blue Mitchell, and
Kenny Dorham,
Heath brings all of his experience to bear on
Love Letter. Joining him are pianist
Kenny Barron, guitarist
Russell Malone, vibraphonist
Monte Croft, bassist
David Wong, and drummer
Lewis Nash. Together they craft a deeply heartfelt and enveloping sound that evokes
Heath's classic acoustic work of the '50s and '60s. They offer sparkling and atmospheric reworkings of songs like
Heath's own "Ballad From Upper Neighbors Suite,"
Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma," and
Billie Holiday and
Arthur Herzog, Jr.'s haunting "Don't Explain." Primarily a tenor player,
Heath displays his lithe soprano skills on the yearning "Inside Your Heart." He is also joined by a handful of special guests, including vocalist
Cecile McLorin Salvant, who puts her distinctive stamp on the lesser-performed
Billie Holiday and
Mal Waldron number "Left Alone." Equally engaging is singer
Gregory Porter, who offers a soulfully burnished reading of
Gordon Parks' "Don't Misunderstand."
Heath also engages in dusky harmonic interplay with trumpeter
Wynton Marsalis on
Kenny Dorham's "La Mesha." A masterfully understated and intoxicating album,
Love Letter is just the kind of low-key farewell you would expect from
Heath and one that holds you in its poignantly romantic swell throughout. ~ Matt Collar
![Ellington & Coltrane [Bonus Track]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/8436542012461_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Ellington & Coltrane [Bonus Track]")
![Portrait in Jazz [LP]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0025218108812_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Portrait in Jazz [LP]")
