Alison Bentley wrote over 300 articles and reviews for LondonJazz News (*), right up to the month before her death from a long illness in September 2023. As a professional singer and singing teacher she really knew her stuff, writing with conviction, insight and passion. What better tribute than an album of eleven original compositions by her partner of 37 years, guitarist Kevin M Armstrong, accompanied by their musical partner of over 20 years, pianist Martin Pickett, supplemented on three numbers by singer and teacher Imogen Ryall.
As with any successful partnership, Armstrong and Pickett offer plenty of give and take, giving each other an equal share of melodies, solos and accompaniment. The compositions are largely andante in tempo and sometimes quite abstract, but shading into differing musical moods and jazz influences. For example, “Immer Glimmer” has a flavour of folk jazz, “All-Day Cat-Food” has a playful quality with blues-tinged guitar, “Cahokia Honey” is rhythmically sparse, “Garden on East St Helen” feels like a ballad, “Valuta” like a bossa, and “Slow Radio” is in 3/4 time with hints of Jewish folk.
Ten of the eleven tracks were recorded in a church, but the album’s overall mood – both musically and acoustically – is intimate and close up, almost like listening to a private concert in a living room. Ryall brings great warmth to all three songs (“Song for Alison”, “Danish Air” and “The End of Longing”), honey-rich and contralto deep in her lower register with clear diction and an expressive vibrato at the end of phrases. Armstrong wrote the lyrics for two of the songs and Ryall for one (“End of Longing”), the lyrics capturing the bitter-sweetness of remembering those no longer with us: lyrics such as “And no gold will buy you a single flower / only tears of joy and sorrow” (from “Danish Air”) or “Here’s to the hope for tomorrow / Here’s to the fear and all the sorrow / That you have left behind” (from “End of Longing”).
In all, Song for Alison is a poignant musical tribute to Alison Bentley, from the person who knew her best.
(*) Prior to the 2024 name change to UK Jazz News
